Amman, Jordan – On the evening of May 27, a crowd of believers from all over Jordan – representing nine Nazarene churches and several churches of other denominations – came together to celebrate Pentecost for the second year in a row.

Just as last year, the celebration was the largest gathering of Nazarenes all year. Nazarene leaders also invited evangelicals across the country to join them. Last year the total attendance was 2,000.

This year around 2,800 adults and children came.

Jamil Monsour*, one Nazarene pastor who helped plan and lead the event, believes that on Pentecost day it is important for churches to be together as one body before Christ. 

During the three-hour event, around 200 people publicly accepted Christ as their personal savior. More than half of the audience – around 1,500 people – came forward to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which was three times the number at last year’s gathering.

“The Holy Spirit was poured on people and even children; some children were standing in the front with tears praying together,” said Monsour.

Jordanian Nazarenes prepared themselves for Pentecost with organized prayer and scheduled fasts. For the past 20 days, Monsour’s 400-strong church have been fasting and praying. The prayer effort intensified in the past week, when they opened their church for daily prayer.

“Despite all the opposition we felt in our prayers, God was glorified; He poured His blessings upon us,” said Monsour.

The event was the culmination of Jordanian Nazarenes’ participation in the region-wide Easter to Pentecost emphasis. During this journey, which began the Monday after Easter, Nazarenes across the region sought the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The Easter to Pentecost journey is part of the Power of One missional church initiative – a church planting and leadership training initiative that equips local churches to be missionally engaged.

Just like last year, the other denominations and groups throughout Jordan were invited in hopes that together they could influence the Middle East with the message of holiness and Holy Spirit empowerment. For many people, this is the first time that they have celebrated Pentecost.

Jordanian Nazarenes chose Psalm 24:6 as their theme:  “Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob.”

A special speaker who was invited to the event preached about salvation and the Holy Spirit’s transforming powers. He spoke from Genesis about God’s creation of Adam in His image and authority, and how Adam lost everything through sin but God renewed everything with Jesus. Egyptian worship leader Bebo led worship, and Monsour followed with one hour of prayer. 

The night closed with a ministry dedication. All pastors came before the stage, held hands and bowed down to repent and pray, asking God to clean their hearts and hands, while reciting from Psalm 24. The congregation also held hands, bowing down and repeating the Scripture with them.

One group of 10 children, aged between 10 and 12 years old, came to the front holding hands. As one of them started to pray and cry before God, the others, too, started to pray and cry for one hour with a spirit of repentance.

“Everyone saw them and everyone said how amazing it was to see the kids and not just the adults, crying with tears,” said Monsour.

The planning committee envisions holding the same event every year and would love to see all of the churches attending. Monsour has already noticed progress that has been made in relationship-building with other Nazarene churches.

“After last year’s event, the Nazarenes have now started to work together as this is the one big event that we have to meet, work, make arrangements and pray together,” said Monsour. “Last year, many just came to look, but this year, no. They started to take part in the event.”

Six months in the making, the Pentecost celebration was held in the same open-air location as last year. During that time, the 11 Nazarene pastors from Jordan met several times to plan, and more than 100 volunteers helped make the day possible. Next year, they hope to find a larger location

“What a great privilege for us to attend the event on Pentecost Sunday in Jordan,” said Lindell Browning, field strategy coordinator of the Eastern Mediterranean. “The message of the Holy Spirit restoring the image of God in us was very clear.  The response to a call to salvation, healing, cleansing and empowering of the Holy Spirit was amazing.  I believe there will be lasting fruit and results from this special event."

 

*Name changed to protect privacy