The Activity of the Holy Spirit in the Birth Process
The second reason for this multiplication of churches comes from the activity of the Holy Spirit in this birth process. He works to bring new believers into being but also to bring new churches into being. Boer points out that the impetus for the growing church came not from the commandments to evangelize but from the impetus of the Spirit to move out. He says “Two things stand out with great clarity in Acts: the irresistible missionary expansion of the Church, and the power of the Spirit in that expansion.”
The expansion in Acts 13 comes about as the Spirit moves Barnabas and Saul to give themselves to the work of planting new churches. Much missiological thought has been involved in the discussion about whether this was a modality (church structure) or a sodality (mission structure) planting new churches. From an exegetical point of view, it seems as though a modality type structure of an “apostolic team” is present here. However, the sending out of this team was within the context of the believers in the church at Antioch. Their being sent out from the church to plant new churches was not planting daughter churches (where a solid group forms the nucleus of the new church). This event does show us, nevertheless, that when the Spirit is at work, the church (or at least its leadership) recognizes the need to be willing to let others move out from within the church to plant new churches.
Emil Brunner clarifies this:
Mission work does not arise from any arrogance in the Christian Church; mission is its cause and life. The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no Church; and where there is neither Church nor mission, there is no faith.
So how could a church not envision reaching out to begin new churches in new areas if it is truly “on fire”? The Holy Spirit is given to make believers “holy” by working in them for he is the Holy Spirit. However, he is also the Holy Spirit. As such He has a ministry to make these holy believers “moving” witnesses who expand the church geographically by the power of their testimony (Acts 1:8). The result should be the creation of new bodies of believers wherever these witnesses go. It is striking to note the multiplication of daughter churches among Pentecostals in France. One reason seems to be their recognition of the fact that groups of believers in an area become the core of a new church. France has long been recognized as resistant to evangelism, yet in this resistant soil, the Pentecostals have seen many churches planted. According to Operation World, Revised 7th Edition, the Assemblies of God alone have created 920 congregations in France with a membership of 65,714 and an affiliation of 230,000. Has their theology of the Spirit and the congregating of believers encouraged this multiplication?
