Someone remarked the other day 'You couldn't get further from a Pentecostal church than Carrubbers'. I laughed, understanding what they meant. But later reflected that this is a common misunderstanding. The Day of Pentecost was the defining day of the Church Age, when God the Father and Son sent the Spirit to birth the Church and begin to gather in the nations through the preaching of the gospel. Historian Iain Murray has somewhere commented that although Pentecost is a unique and unrepeatable event; God has never withdrawn Pentecost as the Holy Spirit's presence in Christians is the defining feature of the Church Age. 

So in our Statement of Faith when we confess that we believe in the Holy Spirit - the blessed third person of the Holy Trinity, who lives and reigns co-equally and co-eternally with the Father and the Son - we really mean it at Carrubbers.

Whatever other styles, expressions, traditions are part of the Carrubbers church experience, we are a people born again by the Holy Spirit, indwelt by Him, sustained by Him, sanctified by Him, sealed by Him, comforted by Him and empowered by Him - therefore we should seek to bear His "fruit", serve using His "gifts", "keep in step" with Him, "be filled" by Him, and not "quench" or "grieve Him". That's what it truly means to be a Pentecostal people!

• Give thanks to the Father and Son for sending us the Holy Spirit to bring us to newness of life
• Pray for the studies at Women to Women this year, tracing the work of the Holy Spirit in the early church. Also pray for the workshops at Men for Christmas, training us to have confidence in Christ.
• Pray for God to bless our evangelistic endeavours and gather more people into the church (for example the upcoming guest night, the church replanting conversations underway, the royal mile primary school, the relationships formed at international cafe and free english classes, etc.)