For the last three months, the world has engaged in the unescapable battle of a pandemic, together.
For the last week, the United States has grieved a senseless murder grounded in years of racial injustice, together.
Last night, The Wesleyan Church joined in the largest global prayer gathering in its history, united in prayer, TOGETHER.
Wesleyans from 40+ nations celebrated Pentecost, praying for the Holy Spirit to be unleashed in us, so that we may be Unleashed as a Kingdom Force from Everywhere to Everywhere.
We prayed, as a Wesleyan faith family, to be filled and led by the Holy Spirit, to be disciples making disciples, to be bold in marketplace ministry, to reach every generation, to multiply churches, to be a Kingdom Force, to experience miraculous healing and to serve from everywhere to everywhere.
Hosts Debbye Turner Bell (Kentwood, Michigan), Ashley Jennings (Red Rock, Arizona), Kevin Myers (Gwinnett County, Georgia), Hector Perez and Isabel Castaño (Medellin, Colombia), Carrie Whitcher (Buffalo, New York), Olivia Eckart (Grand Rapids, Michigan), Alfred Kalembo (Lusaka, Zambia), Arlynn Ellis (San Antonio, Texas), Karl Eastlack (Allentown, Pennsylvania) and Monalisa Biswas (Dhaka, Bangladesh) led the evening in prayer. Josh Lavender, Raynah Diggins and Taylor Wilding from Wesleyan Worship Project led in worship.
Social media stats show over 3,865 unique devices were connected to our service and 2,935 messages were posted on our live chat. I celebrate every person, family and small group who participated.
The numbers are important, but they are only one way to measure the engagement of The Wesleyan Church family. We spent a little over an hour together humbling ourselves before the Lord. It was a holy time. The fervency of our collective desire for the Holy Spirit’s leading was tangible. The Holy Spirit was moving.
I ponder and I ask, can a denomination like The Wesleyan Church ever become a movement again?
In our own power: no.
But if every one of us is seeking the Holy Spirit and the light of Christ shines through us, then, as Christ says in John 14:12, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.”
May we not be finished praying for an unleashing of the Holy Spirit.
When the disciples left the Upper Room 2,000 years ago, we are told the Holy Spirit was unleashed in them, and they were unleashed in the world.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to be newly, freshly, powerfully unleashed in us, and in turn, may our Wesleyan family from around the world be unleashed, may The Wesleyan Church be the Spirit-led, prayer-fed movement, so Your Kingdom comes, oh God.
For the next eight weeks, I will be hosting a time of prayer on Facebook, Fridays at 12 p.m. (ET). Would you join me as we embark on a new commitment of prayer?
Download our prayer guide, complete with eight themes designed to focus our prayer, and let’s persist in asking the Lord for the continued unleashing of the Holy Spirit. Watch a recap of TOGETHER.
