The International Missions Director (IMD) of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe, has stressed the importance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the propagation of the gospel in contemporary times.
According to him, the nine charismatic gifts – Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, Discerning of Spirit, Prophecy, Speaking in different kinds of tongues, Interpretation of tongues, Faith, Working of miracles and Gifts of healing – are a ‘game-changer’ in the Church’s effort to evangelise the world and ‘possess’ nations.
The IMD said this last Friday when he joined participants of the Ashaiman/Tema Zone for the final day of the Evangelism Conference (EVACON).
Speaking on the topic ‘Spiritual Gifts’ based on 1 Corinthians 12, Apostle Bekoe mentioned that there are three main models in Christian evangelism. He said the first is the ‘Jesus-Samaritan Woman’ model (John 4), where the evangelist proclaims the gospel on a person-to-person basis, otherwise known as Personal Evangelism or Witnessing. The second, he noted, is the ‘Day of Pentecost’ model (Acts 2:1-42), where the evangelist proclaims the gospel to a crowd, also known as Mass Evangelism.
He further revealed that the ‘Spiritual Gifts’ model, which is the third approach, is where believers demonstrate the supernatural ability of God to unbelievers, making it easier for them to believe in the existence of the Almighty God and the testimony of His son, Jesus Christ.
Apostle Bekoe, therefore, urged Christians to constantly seek the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church to augment their personal and mass evangelism efforts.
Inasmuch as Christians desire spiritual or charismatic gifts, the IMD also urged them to equally yearn to bear the Fruit of the Spirit (Character) since the latter helps to put the former in check.
He said: “There is a reason why the spiritual gifts and the Fruit of the Spirit are both nine in number. It is because every spiritual gift (Charisma) has a corresponding fruit (Christ-like character) to protect it from possible abuse.”
“So you cannot only possess the Charisma and not the Character. They must go together. Having one without the other is like a bird with one wing. But with both (Charisma and Character), the Church would fly and soar high!” he added.
This year’s Evangelism Conference (EVACON), which was themed “A Revived Church in an Aggressive Evangelism and Informed Intercession” (Ezekiel 37:1-10), took place from October 27 to 30, 2021 at various centres nationwide.
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