All four Gospels and the book of Acts describe the Son of God as sent of the Father to baptize humanity in the Spirit and fire, and Christ receives the Spirit towards this end. Frank D. Macchia suggests that the Son fulfilled this mission by pouring forth the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (and continues to fulfill it), incorporating others into himself and into the love of the Father.

By focusing on the event of Spirit baptism, Macchia proposes a Pneumatological ecclesiology that is dominated by a Pentecostal confessional concern but is also open to a larger ecumenical conversation. This ecclesiology will begin by exploring the dogmatic (Trinitarian) foundations of the Spirit-baptized church. This Spirit-baptized ecclesiology helps us to appreciate the richly Pneumatological (vastly participatory and far-reaching eschatological) nature of the church's marks (starting with the church's charismatic structure and apostolicity but also including its unity, holiness, and catholicity) and its kerygmatic, sacramental, and missional practices.