How bold are we in our Christian mission?

Major Julian Watchorn reminds us that God equips us to go out and make disciples.

In addition to my role at THQ, I am privileged to be a member of Regent Hall Band and grateful for the unique opportunity we have for outreach ministry on Oxford Street each Sunday morning. With encouraging regularity, people stop and listen and then follow the band back to the morning meeting.

For 140 years, the band have been communicating the love of Jesus through music in and around our community and beyond. In May, we visited Guernsey and marched down the high street of St Peter Port. Back at the hall, the congregation there swelled with people coming to the Army for the first time.

However, it is important to ensure that this ministry is not just about being seen or playing music. Only last Sunday a lady stopped to chastise us that it was merely entertainment unless we were talking about Jesus. It was a pity that she did not wait for just another 30 seconds to hear that exact proclamation and invitation, but she made a good point: we need to be courageous in our communication.

Of course, such evangelistic methods are only possible and appropriate given the suitable resources and the right environment. For many, if not most, this style of engagement is a thing of the past, but that should not mean that we do nothing in its place.

Fulfilling our mission is not dependent on large numbers; across the territory there are countless examples of people being bold in proclaiming the gospel, showing love to their community, stepping out and speaking up against injustice, and being Jesus. Whether that is a table outside the hall, conversations over a cup of tea, a herald distributing hope through Army publications in the high street or other innovative means, people are finding ways to tell their story – God’s story – and letting the Holy Spirit do the rest.

How are you telling the story of God at work in you? What does that look like? Perhaps you are waiting for the right opportunity. Perhaps you are not sure what to say.

The account of Pentecost in Acts 2 should be the most inspiring and reassuring affirmation of the Holy Spirit’s power, but the boldness of Pentecost is not sharing the good news in itself. The boldness is the disciples being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is an inside-out boldness. In saying yes to the Spirit, we are saying yes to his power and guidance, not only for our own comfort – although he is, indeed, the Comforter – but for others to know God for themselves as well.

God is already there. When we step up and speak out for him, we can have faith that these are situations and conversations he has long been preparing. We are simply catching the wave and connecting his presence with his power. It is no coincidence that the more often you make yourself available for God to use, the more often he does, giving you the right words for the right time.

Does the very thought of not being in control prevent you from boldly saying yes to the Holy Spirit? Does it inhibit what the Spirit might do in and through each of us?

We are The Salvation Army – a Movement. We should not be stagnating in side pools, content with our lot and our own company. We need to be disturbed by the Spirit, challenged by those who would ask us awkward questions about the realities of life and how Jesus can make a difference to them as we claim he does for us. We won’t find those people or those questions unless we go looking for them. They won’t come to us – we have to meet them where they are.

God equips those he calls, and he calls each of us as his disciples to go and make disciples. It doesn’t matter how we do it, just that we demonstrate our faith by confidently using what he gives us. How bold are you?