Pentecost 20: From mass gathering outside to mass gathering online 

How churches in Caversham reorganised their Pentecost plans - Martyn Strong explains more 

At the end of August 2019 the Caversham churches started to organise a a Pentecost festival to be held in the local park, bringing the 13 churches together and drawing on each of the churches traditions.

Although plans had moved on considerably, it was obvious by March 2020 that our planned Pentecost 20 event wasn't going to be able to go ahead.  So, what could we do to celebrate the birth of the church in 2020 with lockdown keeping us out of our buildings and socially isolated?

All 13 churches of Caversham came together to create an online service to celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the church. The service had a variety of styles, and 80 different people featured, across all denominations of Christianity, to celebrate both the unity and also the diversity within the Church. This virtual service included a variety of musical items and testimonies from three very different Caversham Christians, as well as appearances by some of our civic and church leaders.

One of the highlights is the "Come Holy Spirit" prayer where each church leader has a line and over 60 of our congregation members feature saying "Come Holy Spirit".



It was a powerful online service with a lot of people feeling really blessed by it. The service is available to watch throughout the week:

Martyn Strong is a member of Caversham Baptist Church