A Spirit-filled church? 

What a joy it was to celebrate Pentecost together on Sunday! As we remembered the coming of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of the first disciples in Acts chapter 2, we were also reminded that we too have the wonderful gift of the Spirit as followers of Jesus today, the very presence and power of God within us.

But what does it actually look like for us to be a Spirit-filled church?

We don’t have to go very far in the Bible to get a picture of that. In fact we see it only a few verses later, at the end of the chapter. In response to Peter’s Pentecost sermon, 3000 people turned to Jesus, were forgiven of their sins, were baptised as his followers, and were filled with the Holy Spirit (2:38-41).

However, these new believers didn’t simply go back to their own individual lives. Rather, they were knit together as a new spiritual community. And while there was no repeat of the wind, fire or tongues from earlier that morning, the lives of these 3000 people were nevertheless powerfully transformed by the work of the Spirit, in four significant ways:

1) Learning

Through the Spirit’s power, they became a learning community.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” (Acts 2:42)

As John Stott writes: “the Holy Spirit opened a school in Jerusalem that day, with 3,000 new students”, hungry for the life-giving words of Jesus.

2) Caring

Through the Spirit’s power, they became a caring community.

“They devoted themselves to … fellowship” (Acts 2:42)

They devoted themselves to those who were devoted to Jesus. That meant more than sharing a cup of tea after the service (as good as that is). They shared their whole lives together. In fact, rather shockingly, they were willing to share everything with their fellow believers:

“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.” (Acts 2:44-45)

It’s important to note that they weren’t forced into communal living. They still met in each others homes after all (2:46). Rather, they freely chose to give what they could, when they could, to meet the needs of others.

3) Worshipping

Through the Spirit’s power, they became a worshiping community.

“They devoted themselves … to the breaking of bread and to prayer. … They broke bread in their homes … praising God.” (Acts 2:42, 46, 47)

Saved by God’s grace, they worshiped him in response: sharing the Lord’s Supper together, praying, and praising God with ‘glad and sincere hearts’.

4) Growing

Lastly, through the Spirit’s power, they became a growing community.

“... enjoying the favor of all the people. The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:46-7)

As they lived out the truth, generosity, and joy of Jesus, others were drawn into this community—ultimately to meet the loving Saviour at the centre of it all.

What a vision of the kind of community our churches could all be!

Let’s continue to pray that these four spiritual marks would become more and more a reality for each of our four centres in the Holy Trinity Parish, through the power of the Spirit, for the glory of Jesus.

Yours in Christ,
Mark Barry

Assistant Minister
Outreach & Community Connections

9/6/25

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The image above is a Wikipedia Commons (copyright free) image of El Greco's 1597 Pentecost painting.

How good are you at prepping?

Mark 6:1-13

If I am honest the worst part of going on holiday for me is the preparations. 

I know - I get it - things don't just happen, there needs to be some form of preparation.

But sometimes the extent of those preparations can almost make me question whether I should just stay home.

My wife is great at prepping for a trip - she should have a qualification in it. That's not to say she doesn't get stressed - and you can understand why, when she has to put up with me dragging my feet!

The disciples haven't recently been seen in the best of lights as they fear for their lives in the storm on the Sea of Galilee. With all the talk around fear and faith that has been going on so far in the preceding chapters - if I were one of Jesus' first disciples, I think it is fair to say that my nerves wouldn't be much soothed by the scant instructions Jesus now gives them as he sends them off in the first half of chapter 6.

After all, they are about to head off and encounter demons - yet Jesus says (6:8-9) "Take nothing for the journey except a staff-no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt...". On the one hand that's my kind of prepping - on the other...yikes!

We often get a bit hung up on details don't we. I wonder if that's the point. Jesus is sending the twelve disciples off with 'his authority' (v 7). The task is the same as their master's, the need is urgent and focused on proclaiming the coming kingdom. No time for worrying about personal well-being.

And cutting through this short account is how gracious and supportive Jesus is. Mark hasn't exactly given a complimentary account of these men. So far they do not understand Jesus' teaching (4:10), do not trust his will or power to protect them (4:28), nor are they sensitive to his extraordinary perceptions (5:31). Yet here we have Jesus sending them out nonetheless. 

I wonder if the key for us to consider is that often no amount of preparation, hearing, teaching or observing God at work will be enough. Sometimes you just have to step forward and take a risk, depending on God and believing that He is enough.

Hopefully seeing that Christ is enough will be what shapes us as a community in The Parish of Holy Trinity, Launceston in the months and years ahead.