This last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday, a day that traditionally commemorates the day when the Holy Spirit rested upon and filled Jesus’ followers after he ascended to heaven, giving birth to the Church. Here’s the story:
"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them… Those who accepted [the] message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” (Acts 2:1-4, 41).
In our association of churches, The Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA), this last Sunday was also Church Multiplication Sunday. So as we looked back to the beginning of the Church and the spread of the gospel, we also looked forward to a future with more people coming into a life-changing relationship with Jesus through more and more churches doing the work of the gospel. And as we looked to a future with more missional churches, we prayed, not just for our own Kingdom work here in the Ukiah Valley, but also for more established churches and church plants near and far reaching the yet-to-believe in their own communities.
“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37-38). Be encouraged to continue to pray for more laborers and more churches doing the work of the gospel. We are living in a world that desperately needs the good news of Jesus. Let's pray for this good news to continue to spread through the agency God has chosen: the Church.