Article June 25, 2007 Issue

The birthday of the Christian Church

By Genelle Austin-Lett

Have you ever sung the hymn that begins, "I love to tell the story"?* The story is all about Jesus. His disciples loved to tell Jesus' story. It's what Jesus wanted them to do. He told them to go out into the world and tell everyone about the gospel—the good news of God's kingdom that he had taught them.

But before they did, something very special happened. You can read about it in the Bible in the book called Acts of the Apostles, chapters 1 and 2.

About ten days after Jesus had ascended, his disciples and some friends gathered in a house in Jerusalem. Mary, Jesus' mother, was there. So were Peter, James, and John and other disciples, Jesus' brothers, and possibly Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and Salome. They were going to celebrate the Jewish spring harvest festival day of Pentecost. That event had been celebrated since the time of Moses. But this day was going to be very different.