{"id":989,"date":"2019-05-28T20:46:16","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T20:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.presbyterianmission.org\/weekly-offerings\/?p=989"},"modified":"2019-05-28T20:46:16","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T20:46:16","slug":"pentecost-the-greatest-love-of-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2019\/05\/28\/pentecost-the-greatest-love-of-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentecost: The Greatest Love of All"},"content":{"rendered":"

The children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.<\/em><\/h4>\n

Remember that song from the 1980s? It is called \u201cThe Greatest Love of All.\u201d And what greater love is there than God\u2019s love for the children? \"\"<\/p>\n

The chorus in that song goes \u201cthe greatest love of all Is happening to me. I found the greatest love of all inside of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

While serving as a Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer, Cherokee Adams experienced the greatest love of all. She said that during her service, \u201cthe Holy Spirit took me and changed me in ways I wasn\u2019t expecting.\u201d Now Cherokee hopes to go to seminary and be a pastor. She wants to share the greatest love of all, God\u2019s love, as it was shared with her, with as many people as she can touch.<\/p>\n

It is so important that we support young people like Cherokee because a foundation of faith established during childhood through young adulthood helps ensure lifelong faith and service. The programs we support through the Pentecost Offering helps our youth \u2014 church of the future \u2014 to embrace the true meaning of God\u2019s love in their own lives. Perhaps Kylie, a young woman from South Dakota, said it best when recalling her own experience at the Presbyterian Youth Triennium. \"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore confirmation, it was like you went to church because your parents did, but now we have a more personal connection with faith,\u201d she explained. \u201cThen we went to\u00a0 Triennium, it became even more personal. It was amazing to see all the people who were there sharing the same faith as I did and felt the same way about it as I did.”<\/p>\n

The Pentecost Offering is also dedicated to helping children at-risk. One such\u00a0 program is Rising TIDE, an after-school ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Long Beach, California.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who come from helpful and supportive families experience the Rising TIDE family as a supplementary family,\u201d says Rev. Rob Langworthy, who co-founded Rising TIDE with his wife, Rev. Adele Langworthy. \u201cOthers who don\u2019t have that kind of family at home find Rising TIDE as their source of support and inspiration and guidance and encouragement.\u201d \"\"<\/p>\n

And forty percent of the Pentecost Offering stays in congregations so they can provide support, inspiration, guidance and encouragement as well to young people in their own communities.<\/p>\n

Bottom line, through your gifts to the Pentecost Offering we are sharing the greatest love of all\u2014God\u2019s love. And what better gift could we possibly give our children than the gift of faith, and love, to last a lifetime?<\/p>\n

\nLet us pray<\/h4>\n

God of love, draw us together in\u00a0 your Holy Spirit with all your children. May we shape the next generation even as we are shaped by them, and transform each of us\u00a0 through the power of your love. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n

Join us<\/h4>\n

For more information and resources related to the Pentecost offering, visit\u00a0presbyterianmission.org\/pentecost.<\/a>
\n<\/u> This post is based on the Minute for Mission script which can be found on our\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0as a\u00a0script<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Please give generously to the Offering:<\/p>\n