Jesus is the Head and Builder of the Church, and He did not make a mistake in how He built it. We have a blueprint of what He did in the form of the vital, growing church of Acts 2, which was born through prayer and with the Spirit as power.

One of the strongest doctrinal cases for Spirit empowerment is in the call to carry out the transformative mission of God among both unchurched people and stagnant, uninspired believers. With the challenges facing the Church today, we cannot rely on our own ingenuity, intellect and human effort. God has not abandoned us to that fruitless recourse; but when we take hold of the Spirit as power, He fully equips and emboldens us to present hope to a lost world.

The Spirit’s power is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that those who believe in Him would do the same works He did — and even greater.

The first-century Church believers received the Holy Spirit willingly, demonstrated power supernaturally, were led effectively, prayed fervently, fellowshipped regularly, taught sound doctrine consistently, preached the gospel passionately, shared resources liberally and grew exponentially. This last result was a consequence of all those factors that preceded it — perhaps most notably, the empowerment those in the Upper Room first received when the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost, the first event recorded in Acts 2.

We cannot expect to operate in our own strength to accomplish God’s work on the earth. We must experience the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

Truly, we can do nothing apart from Him — but with God, all things are possible.

Transformation Is Possible

Transformation occurs both at a personal and a congregational level. Though our western mindset tends to focus on the individual, without whom there would be no group, it is not enough for just a few people to experience the transformational empowerment of the Holy Spirit to carry out the Great Commission by themselves. Congregational transformation and Spirit empowerment are necessary to ensure that our churches, regardless of size, are healthy and experiencing relationship with Christ.

Congregational transformation is more than the process of changing beliefs and behaviors; more than just changing goals, technologies, or systems; and more than examining our present condition and asking the right questions. Transformation is the necessary work of the Spirit that creates these processes and forms relationship at a corporate level — and it is this relationship that engenders lasting change.

Transformation is possible for any congregation, but it does not happen overnight. It is a process, not an event. It is a journey, not a destination.

Every person ... every church ... every leader has a next-level potential.

Definition of a Healthy Church

A healthy church does the following:

• Engages and maintains loving relationships (connect —
• fellowship)
• Develops and mobilizes the people (grow — discipleship)
• Acts with clear direction and outward focus (serve — gift-oriented ministry)
• Reproduces and multiplies Christ’s mission in other peoples
• and places (go — evangelism/missions)
• Pursues and obeys God passionately (worship)

We need strong, healthy churches regardless of size — churches of influence that are making a difference in their communities. We need churches that are united, free of dissension, biblically designed and Spirit-anointed.

Personal Testimony

I became a pastor without even one day of pastoral ministry experience. Though First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, Arkansas, received scores of résumés, each from people with more pastoral experience than I had, for some reason they chose me. I had never baptized anyone, dedicated a baby or done any of the dozens of ministry tasks even a young pastor has done many times. However, God kept me at First Assembly for 15 years and blessed the church. Why? I believe it was because of the transformation that occurred. We were on a journey of Spirit- empowered change, along with a biblical process that kept taking us to new levels.

I do not say this to pat myself on the back — quite the contrary. I share it to reveal that I felt completely unqualified for the task; but because the Holy Spirit had carte blanche in that congregation, transformation was possible — and that enabled us to carry out God’s work there despite my lack of experience.

You may be reading this and thinking that the task before you is intimidating, discouraging and humanly impossible. Satan may be insinuating that transformation is impossible, that the downward slide is inexorable, and that defeat for the Church on earth is already spelled out.

You may feel underqualified, insufficient and underpowered. You may feel locked into the “mom and pop” model where you are doing the entire ministry — and burning yourself out.

I would argue that if this is the case, you are in exactly the right place. Recognize you do not possess the power, ingenuity and ability to succeed. Only the transformative power of the Holy Spirit will allow you to rekindle the passion for evangelism and mission, change the climate of the church, engage in a biblical process and disciple a priesthood of believers within the church.

Truly, we can do nothing apart from Him — but with God, all things are possible.

There is hope.

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2018 issue of Called to Serve, the Assemblies of God Ministers Letter.