Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Weeks, is one of the three major Jewish festivals. According to Leviticus, this festival was observed fifty days after the offering of the first sheaf during the Passover season, after counting seven full weeks. The church tradition follows this background and commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit on the fiftieth day after Easter Sunday, that is, the seventh Sunday after Easter. Therefore, for the church, Pentecost is not only a continuation of an Old Testament festival, but also an important day marking the coming of the Holy Spirit, the birth of the church, and the unfolding of the gospel mission.
Acts 2 records that on the first Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection, devout Jews from every nation under heaven were living in or gathered in Jerusalem. On that day, the Holy Spirit descended, and God revealed in a wonderful way that His presence had come upon those who followed Jesus. The disciples spoke of the mighty works of God in the languages of different peoples, so that those who came from various places could hear the message of the gospel.
However, the coming of the Holy Spirit was not merely a display of signs and wonders. Peter stood up that day and proclaimed and testified to the crowd that Jesus, who had been crucified, was the Lord and Christ appointed by God, and that He had been raised from the dead. As a result, about three thousand people believed that day. This shows us that from the very beginning of the church, evangelism and missions were closely connected to its identity.
The coming of the Holy Spirit was the promise Jesus gave to His disciples before His ascension. Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The central purpose of the Spirit’s empowerment is not for believers to remain focused on pursuing signs and wonders, but for them to receive power to bear witness to Christ, bringing the gospel from near to far, from their own community to different cultures and unreached peoples.
Easter usually falls between March and April, so Pentecost Sunday often falls in May, though sometimes it may fall in early June. Against this background, it is especially meaningful that MAC holds Missions Month in May. This not only corresponds with the biblical and church tradition of commemorating the coming of the Holy Spirit, but also reminds us that the birth of the church and the beginning of missions are inseparable. The church does not first come into existence and then gradually add missions later; from the very beginning, the church is a community sent by the Holy Spirit to bear witness to Christ.
Since I came to serve at MAC more than ten years ago, the church has already designated May as Missions Month. Many churches set aside one Sunday each year as Missions Sunday to remind believers to care about missions. Yet MAC devotes an entire month to preaching on evangelism and missions, reflecting the church’s long-standing commitment to missions. This also shows that missions do not have to wait until the church is fully mature or well-resourced; rather, missions are part of the church’s essential direction in life.
As we come to the final Sunday of Missions Month, let us reflect together: does missions occupy an inseparable place in our lives? Do we see missions only as the work of missionaries far away, or are we willing to ask ourselves: what can I offer for the sake of the gospel? May we continue to remember missionaries laboring around the world, praying for their needs on the field and for their personal and family needs. May God also move us to respond to His calling with our money, time, and lives, and even to take part personally in mission exposure trips, bearing witness to Christ in different contexts.
Rev. Chiu