Why pentecost is the churchs birthday

Is Pentecost the birthday of the Church? Asked By:. Was there ever a greater birthday? The "Pentecost" event described in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 is often referred to in liturgical tradition also as "Whitsunday," or the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit" narrated there in Acts.

It ranks, after Easter, as the second festival of the church, and there are references to its celebration as early as the 4th century. The reference to the event as the "birthday of the church" is, so far as I know, a more informal label, not an official one.

Majority opinion, but not universally held. I too have heard that Pentecost is the birthday of the church. It certainly is a seminal event in the book of Acts, for at that time the twelve apostles Matthias has just replaced Judas Iscariot, are filled with the Holy Spirit, they speak so that those gathered in Jerusalem from all over the world can understand, Peter preaches, and people are baptized Thus begins the movement--predicted by Jesus--in which the apostles bear witness "in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" CEB.

I would say that the "majority opinion" is that Pentecost is the "birthday of the church. This opinion is not universally held, however. A writer from an "Orthodox perspective" argues that the Church Fathers held that the Church had no beginning but that it existed before all things.

I wish to "cast my lot," so to speak, with the dissenters: It is not particularly helpful to speak of Pentecost as the birthday of the church. Pentecost comes from a Jewish harvest festival called Shavuot. People passing by at first thought that they must be drunk, but the apostle Peter told the crowd that the apostles were full of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost is a special day for any Christian, but it is emphasised particularly by Pentecostal churches. Pentecostal Christians believe in the direct experience of the Holy Spirit by believers during all of their services.

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