How to Motivate Our Churches for Gospel Witness

Receiving Power from on High

The Holy Spirit empowers believers for Christian witness. Jesus commissioned his people to be his witnesses (Acts 1:8). Consequently, every believer and every church is called to bear witness about Christ. But until motivated by the Spirit, our public witness is often weak and fickle. Consider the example of Peter: before the resurrection, he was an unfaithful witness. When questioned by a servant girl, Peter responded with fear, swearing he did not know Jesus (Mark 14:71). But after Pentecost, Peter was a faithful witness: he preached the gospel with courage, rebuking the leaders who crucified Jesus (Acts 2:23, 36). The difference is that Peter had been empowered by the Spirit. As promised by the Father, the Spirit of Christ was sent to indwell all believers and to motivate their gospel witness in the world.

How might the Holy Spirit motivate our churches to be witnesses of Christ? The sovereign Spirit of God is free to use many different means. But he usually motivates us by giving us a vision of God’s mission and by arousing our passion for God’s glory. After the resurrection, Jesus explained the Scriptures to his disciples, opening their minds to see the grand vision of God’s mission. It was necessary for Christ to accomplish redemption before the message of this redemption would “be proclaimed in his name to all nations” (Luke 24:47). Jesus then commissioned the church, promising to send the Spirit to empower them and to bear witness with them (cf. John 15:26–27). In the same order today, Christ opens our minds to understand his mission and then empowers us with his Spirit to participate in it as his witnesses.

Enduring Hope in God’s Mission

The Holy Spirit fills us with missional hope as we learn from the Scriptures to see what God is doing. Missional hope is a joyful anticipation of the future success of God’s mission (Rom. 5:2; 15:13; Col. 1:27). From ancient times, God’s people celebrated what God was preparing to do in the world, and by faith they envisioned its success (Ps. 22:27–28; 72:8–19; Isa. 11:6–9; 56:6–8; Mic. 4:1; Mal. 1:11). Likewise today, we hope for the spiritual growth of Christ’s church among all nations and the increase of true worship everywhere (Mark 11:17; Acts 13:47; Rom. 15:8–13; Phil. 2:20–11; Titus 2:13; Rev. 5:13).

The end goal of God’s mission includes the universal triumph of Christ’s kingdom, the consummation of the covenant, and the fully revealed glory of the Triune God. By faith, we know this outcome is exceedingly certain and sure! Furthermore, our sovereign God has also decreed the means to complete his mission: the co-witness of the word by his Spirit and his church. Therefore, our hope is enduring: God’s mission will succeed; his church will be gathered; his eternal purposes will be accomplished, all to the praise of his glorious grace (Eph. 1:11–14; 3:9–12).

Missional hope is aroused by this spiritual vision of what will soon be fully realized. It is built exclusively upon God’s promises (Gen. 12:3; Ps. 67; Dan. 2:44; Hab. 2:14). It is doubly anchored in God’s unchangeable oath and character (Heb. 6:13–20). Accordingly, it kindles assured confidence to follow God fully, whatever the cost. Our theology of Christian witness is not complete until we are stirred up with this missional hope and the piety that follows.

Responding in Worship and Prayer

The Holy Spirit often uses missional hope to motivate missional piety. As an essential part of spiritual godliness, this piety overflows spontaneously from biblical knowledge of God’s mission joined with passionate prayer for the increase of Christ’s kingdom and the fullness of God’s glory. This piety is intellectual, rooted in biblical theology; it is emotional, stirring up holy passions; and it is practical, demonstrated in self-sacrificing love and good deeds. It is also mystical, sharing in both Christ’s suffering and victory, as well as communal, since the fellowship of the saints is itself a most powerful witness in the world of God’s triune love (John 17:21). Biographies abound of men and women who were constrained by this holy passion, giving their lives to be faithful witnesses of Christ (cf. Acts 18:5; 2 Cor. 5:14; Phil. 1:20–23).

The Holy Spirit fills us with missional hope as we learn from the Scriptures to see what God is doing.

Missional piety is expressed by the church in worship as a joyful celebration of what God has already done and will soon do to complete his mission. Declaring God’s mighty deeds and his glory among the nations is the song of the church in all ages (Ps. 96; 98; Rev. 5:9). This piety is also expressed in passionate prayer for the success of God’s mission. “Ask of me” says the Father to the Son, and therefore we echo the same prayer: “May people from all nations worship the Son to the glory of God the Father. May the whole earth be filled with his glory. May your name be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven!” (Ps. 2:8; Ps. 72:19; Matt. 6:9-10; Phil. 2:10-11). Further, this piety encourages passionate participation in God’s mission. Worship, fasting, and prayer were the activities of the church leaders in Antioch when the Holy Spirit urged them to send out Barnabas and Paul on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:1–3). Likewise today, the Spirit unites us in worship and answers our prayers by filling us with his zeal and boldness for gospel witness (cf. Acts 4:31).

Building on the Best Foundation

What is the best way to motivate our churches for gospel witness? We can share data about the urgency of needs in this dying world. We can evoke human pity with pictures of dreadful suffering. We can correct church members for their negligence and indifference. Yet these motivators may only treat symptoms, not the cause. Rather, enduring motivation for Christian witness is produced by the Spirit within believers. Our minds are opened to understand the power of the gospel, not only for ourselves personally but also as “the manifold wisdom of God” now being made known among all nations (Eph. 3:7–11). We see in Scripture the historical unfolding God’s redemptive mission, and the Spirit guides us in prayer for gospel success to the praise of God’s glory (Acts 26:23; 2 Thess. 3:1). These truths resonate within our hearts and encourage us towards faithful obedience.

The Holy Spirit uses missional hope and missional piety to motivate participation in God’s mission. This vision and zeal, this personal experience and passionate hope, is stirred up within us and our churches when Christ’s Spirit of mission fills us afresh and motivates us to gospel witness. Then, by faith, we joyfully anticipate God’s mission accomplished. Then, we are filled with evangelistic love for all people. Then, in thankfulness, we offer our lives as willing sacrifices for the cause of Christ’s kingdom.

Practical Ways to Motivate Witness

Is your church a faithful gospel witness, like the churches in Rome, Thessalonica, and many other places throughout church history (Rom. 1:8; 1 Thess. 1:7–8)? We desire to live intentionally as witnesses of Christ, making disciples both locally “and to the end of the earth” (Matt. 28:19). We long for a revival of true religious affections in our community and for the salvation of our unsaved neighbors. We want our church to be filled with holy passion for the universal fame of Christ’s name. Many of us recognize, however, that our church is not yet the witness it ought to be. Often the problem is not a lack of opportunity, since there is much need near and around the world. Nor is it a lack of personnel, as every believer is called to be a witness. It is not even a lack of knowing what to do, though more knowledge would minimize misguided efforts. The lack of biblical motivation is usually the greatest challenge.

What should we do to motivate our churches for gospel witness? Consider these four activities you can do together with your church:

1. Pray together for the Spirit of mission to fill your church afresh, pleading on the promises about Christ’s fame and God’s glory.

2. Envision together what God is doing to accomplish his mission.

3. Celebrate together the story of God’s mighty deeds among the nations. Meditate on the glorious record of God’s mission in redemptive history, and read again the beautiful biographies of faithful Christian witnesses throughout church history.

4. Work together to stir up the whole church to participate in God’s mission by gospel witness.

Brian A. DeVries is the author of You Will Be My Witnesses: Theology for God's Church Serving in God's Mission.

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