“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with gladness and generous hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:44-47).

Jesus Christ, after His resurrection told His disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses” Acts 1:8). This was fulfilled at Pentecost experience in the interplay of the gathered and scattered group of 120 people as ‘they were all together in one place,’ empowered and sent out into the streets (Acts 1:1, 14; 2:42-47). The disciples’ corporate life was so impactful that it drew many more non-believers to Jesus Christ through signs and wonders.

Pentecost as a pointer to whole-life discipleship involves some primary missional shifts. The Holy Spirit is for everyday empowerment, equipping individuals to live and speak boldly in their homes, communities, and workplaces. Discipleship in the biblical tradition is not just about learning about Jesus but about becoming like Jesus—doing life as Jesus did.

The call to discipleship, a mission strategy and platform for growing and sustaining the mission on earth, is a command: “Follow me and I will make you fish for people (Matt 4:19). Jesus Christ intended the “Follow me” process of discipleship replication to extend Himself and His influence through an endless network of discipleship who would produce more disciples for God’s mission.

Sadly, the increasing practice and vision of the church, and its maintenance, to overshadow the view of the kingdom of God, and, by extension, the concept of membership, eclipse Christ’s call to discipleship, and remain the main source of church decline.Pentecost celebrates the Holy Spirit empowering believers to follow Jesus in every sphere of life, bridging the sacred-secular divide. It moves faith from a Sunday-only activity to an everyday ‘whole-life discipleship’ movement, where your daily work, family, and community actions are expressions of kingdom living.

Pentecost is important for the Church because Jesus promises it to the disciples to come out of their hiding places and declare their faith openly. Pentecost enables disciples to live openly as a community of faith, demonstrating the life of the Kingdom. The growth of Christianity is beyond church membership. Discipleship was the basic orientation in the first century of the church, thus affecting the effectiveness of the mission and evangelism. Church membership is a very inward-facing, gathering-centric phenomenon shaped by bureaucracy.

This crisis in the church is not that of membership but discipleship. The crisis of church members in relation to ‘little or no growth, membership apathy, disloyalty, sporadic church attendance, and growing apostasy’ is first and foremost a spiritual crisis, because it goes beyond church leaders and organisations going back to the organisational drawing board to rethink growth and conservation strategies.’ The crisis in the church is the lack of Pentecost, a call to being the resident lifestyle that defines community of faith. Ruthen Roy explained that ‘one can be a member of a church and not be a disciple of Jesus Christ. The dilemma of Christian denominations today is that they possess few members, but even fewer disciples. Church membership must always be defined and regulated by Christ’s personal call to discipleship. Discipleship was always intended to be the immovable framework that shapes and defines the believer’s life and practice, with membership being the automatic outcome. Accepting the personal call of Christ makes one a member of His body, not just of an organisational structure. Christ’s call to discipleship is not another evangelistic option for the church. Rather, it is the lifeblood and the lifestyle of the church. We simply cannot grow the kingdom, or its people, without giving heed to and embracing discipleship.’

Jesus said, make disciples, not members. Jesus’ personal promise, “I will make you,” tells us that the call to discipleship is for missional transformation rather than hierarchical or institutional formation (Matt 4:19). All the human titles – appendages and accomplishments, awards, frailties and failures- melt away in the presence and power of “I will make you!” Everyone is a candidate for something, and there are no exceptions; hence, the Great Commission is everyone’s mission. Churches do not need more members; they need more disciples that are making disciples. Let us prayerfully sing together:

1 Breathe on me, breath of God:
fill me with life anew,
that I may love as you have loved
and do as you would do.

2 Breathe on me, breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until my will is one with yours
to do and to endure.

3 Breathe on me, breath of God;
fulfil my heart’s desire,
until this earthly part of me
glows with your heavenly fire.

4 Breathe on me, breath of God;
so shall I never die,
but live with you the perfect life
of your eternity – Edwin Hatch (1835 – 1889)