Pentecost

When: 50 days after Easter, always a Sunday (the date changes each year)

Pentecost remembers the day the Holy Spirit came on the friends of Jesus. They began to speak so that people from many countries each heard them in their own language. It is often called the birthday of the church.

Where it came from

Pentecost comes from a Greek word for “fiftieth”. It was already a Jewish festival, the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot, held fifty days after Passover, when people gave thanks for the harvest and remembered the gift of the law.

Acts 2 tells that on that festival, when Jesus's followers were together in Jerusalem, there was a sound like a rushing wind, and something like tongues of fire rested on each of them. They spoke, and visitors from many lands heard them in their own languages. Peter then spoke to the crowd, and about three thousand people joined them that day.

How it is kept around the world

• Red. Churches use red on this day, the colour of fire. People wear red and hang red banners and flames.
• Languages. Some churches read the Pentecost story in many languages at once, or sing a hymn in several tongues. Many welcome visitors who speak other languages.
• Germany and many European countries. The Monday after Pentecost is a public holiday. Spring flowers and greenery decorate churches.
• The United Kingdom. Whitsun, or White Sunday, used to be when new Christians wore white clothes. Towns held Whit walks, with brass bands and banners.
• Orthodox churches. Orthodox Pentecost is a feast of the Trinity. Churches are filled with flowers and branches, and people hold fresh greenery. Worshippers kneel for special prayers at the service.
• Pentecostal churches around the world. For millions of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, Pentecost is the most important day after Easter, because they believe the Spirit still gives gifts to the church today.

Christians differ

All Christians believe the Holy Spirit is God with us. They differ in how they expect to see the Spirit at work. Pentecostal and charismatic Christians expect gifts such as speaking in tongues, healing and prophecy in church life today. Many Catholic, Orthodox and mainline Protestant Christians see the Spirit at work in the church's teaching, prayer and love, and see Acts 2 as a special beginning. They can respect one another's views.

Do it together

Ages 0 to 2

• Wave a red scarf in the air like a flame. Say “wind” and “fire”.
• Hear someone say “hello” in three languages.

Ages 3 to 5

• Make a paper flame and wear it. Say “hello” in the languages you know.
• Blow a feather or pinwheel and say “wind”.

Ages 6 to 8

• Learn how to say “thank you” in five languages and use them with friends.
• Act out Acts 2:1–13 with a wind sound and a red cloth.

Ages 9 to 12

• Look at a map and find the places named in Acts 2:9–11. How many languages could you hear in your city today?
• Compare Pentecost to Shavuot. What does each celebrate?

Ages 13 to 17

• Read Acts 2 and talk about how the Spirit and language go together. How does your own church or family welcome people who speak differently?
• Listen to someone describe how they experience the Spirit, even if it is different from you.

A short prayer

Come, Holy Spirit. Fill us with your peace and your courage. Help us to understand one another across every language. Amen.

Mark as done

Where this comes from

• Acts of the Apostles 2:1 to 41; Leviticus 23:15 to 21
• Paul F. Bradshaw and Maxwell E. Johnson, The Origins of Feasts, Fasts and Seasons in Early Christianity (Liturgical Press, 2011)
• F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005), entries “Pentecost” and “Whitsunday”
• Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism, 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2014)

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.