The Purpose of the Power
Reports of unprecedented global revival and the movement of the Holy Spirit among the peoples of the earth are now an almost daily occurrence in the times in which we are living. Probably more than anytime in modern church history we are hearing of the multiplied millions of Christian believers who are being empowered by what the Pentecostal/Charismatic world knows as the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit.”
What is troubling, however, is when believers and churches miss the point, “the purpose of the power,” and begin to explain the reason for this Biblical experience in a variety of ways. It is clear, however, from the last promises and commandments of Jesus that, once endued with this power (Acts 1.5, “…you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” NIV) that Christ-followers will be witnesses, “…in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1.8 NIV). What part of “you will be baptized” and “you will be my witnesses” don’t we understand?
The connection between the two (baptism and witness) was clearly understood by our Pentecostal fathers and mothers in the early days of the Azusa Street Revival. William Seymour, the recognized leader of the Azusa Street Mission, constantly admonished the people as they left the meetings, “Now, do not go from this meeting and talk about tongues, but try to get people saved” When they published the first edition of the revival’s periodical (circulated internationally), here is how they interpreted what was happening among them (italics mine):
The power of God now has this city agitated as never before. Pentecost has surely come and with it the Bible evidences are following, many being converted and sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues as they did on the day of Pentecost. The scenes that are daily enacted in the building on Azusa street and at missions and churches in other parts of the city are beyond description, and the real revival is only started, as God has been working with His children mostly, getting them through to Pentecost, and laying the foundation for a mighty wave of salvation among the unconverted (The Apostolic Faith, September 1906, p.1)
The believers at the Azusa Street Revival became “street car and sidewalk evangelists,” bearing public testimony of the power of God at work among them. During the initial years, from 1906 – 1908, scores of Pentecostal evangelists (women and men, laity and clergy, young and old) headed for the far-flung corners of the globe. Propelled by the triple convergence of their own personal Pentecost, the witness of incredible signs and wonders, and their belief in the imminent return of Jesus, they became known as “the missionaries of the one-way ticket.” In scores of informal newsletters, tracts, and magazines, they began to publish their understandings of “the purpose of the power.”
By August 1908, here is how J. Roswell Flower, a young Pentecostal editor, expressed the Biblical integration of the power of the Holy Spirit and its role in world evangelization. From my own research, published in Azusa Street and Beyond (see www.AzusaStreetandBeyond.com for details), the following could be one of the first published statements on “Pentecostal missiology,” with specific reference to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (italics mine):
“The baptism of the Holy Ghost does not consist in simply speaking in tongues. No. It has a much more grand and deeper meaning than that. It fills our souls with the love of God for lost humanity, and makes us much more willing to leave home, friends, and all to work in His vineyard, even if it be far away among the heathen… ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’ This command of Jesus can only be properly fulfilled when we have obeyed that other command, ‘Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem till ye be endued with power from on high.’ When we have tarried and received that power, then and then only are we fit to carry the gospel. When the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts, the missionary spirit comes in with it; they are inseparable, as the missionary spirit is but one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Carrying the gospel to hungry souls in this and others lands is but a natural result of receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost” (The Pentecost, August 1908, p. 4).
Those are the passionate and perceptive statements from a Pentecostal pioneer one hundred years ago. Exactly a century later, America’s oldest continuing Pentecostal denomination will gather in August for its General Assembly in San Antonio, Texas. There, and in the ripple affect from that gathering, may thousands experience their personal Pentecost and understand its resulting evidence, “In speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance and that it is the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Ghost” (Church of God Declaration of Faith, Article 9).
But may it not end there. In the days following that spiritual gathering, may a new generation of pioneers commit to the “purpose of the power” and give themselves to be evangelistic, church-planting witnesses for Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.
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Dr. Grant McClung is an author, member of the Church of God International Executive Council and the Missions Commission of the Pentecostal World Fellowship.
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