The Mandate for Global Missions
As taught in the Pentecostal / Charismatic tradition
The Church's priority to reach all nations through evangelism and compassionate ministry.
In the Pentecostal tradition, the question of global missions is not merely one of ecclesiastical strategy or charitable outreach; it is a question of the very nature and survival of the Church itself. "Why must the Church go?" The answer, for the Pentecostal, is found in the intersection of divine command and supernatural empowerment. Within this tradition, the mandate for global missions is understood as an eschatological necessity—a "Latter Rain" outpouring of the Holy Spirit designed specifically to gather a global harvest before the imminent return of Jesus Christ. This subtopic addresses the fundamental Pentecostal conviction that the Church exists primarily as a missionary community, birthed in the fire of Pentecost for the express purpose of witnessing to the "uttermost parts of the earth."
By the end of this lesson
- **Identify** the specific biblical mandates for global missions within the Synoptic Gospels and the Book of Acts.
- **Distinguish** between a general humanitarian approach to missions and the Pentecostal emphasis on Spirit-empowered proclamation accompanied by "signs following."
- **Explain** the theological relationship between the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the "witness" (martus) described in Acts 1:8.
- **Articulate** the "Eschatological Urgency" that drives Pentecostal missiology, linking the "Latter Rain" to the global harvest.
- **Trace** the historical development of Pentecostal missions from the Azusa Street Revival to modern indigenous church-planting movements.
- **Defend** the necessity of cross-cultural missions as an essential, non-negotiable function of the local church.
- **Apply** the principles of the Great Commission to personal evangelism and the support of global missionary efforts.
- **Compare** the Pentecostal "Signs and Wonders" model of missions with traditional cessationist or purely "Educational" missionary models.
Scripture
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