We all know the importance of a first impression. As kids, we all learned about strong handshakes and heard, “First impressions are the most lasting,” and “You don’t get a second chance at a first impression.”
Think of all the firsts in your life: your first best friend, your first day of school, your first car, your first job. And on a deeper level, your first understanding of family and your parents’ love, your first experience of God’s grace, your first connections with neighbors and your community.
Now, think of how all of those firsts played a part in who you are today—how you think and act, how you experience joy and hardship, and how you seek and understand God.
The vast majority of these experiences occur during “the first third of life”—the time from childhood through young adulthood when we all develop our first impressions of how the world works and how we fit into God’s plans for it.
The Pentecost Offering Is Your Chance to Help Make the Best Impression Possible
The ministries supported by the Pentecost Offering provide positive, faith-filled mentorship, experiences, and service—to support children, youth, and young adults as they grow and encourage them to consider what God has in store for their lives.
Building the Foundations of Their Faith
Helping youth to grow closer to God and build a faith that lasts a lifetime is what the Pentecost Offering is all about.
- Research has shown that youth who grow up in churches with active mentorship and community service opportunities are 3 to 4 times more likely to remain faithful as adults.1
Shaping Who They Will Become
What happens to our children early in their lives shapes how they view the world, how they experience joy and hardship, and how they build relationships with other people.
- The “Educate a Child, Transform the World” national initiative seeks to strengthen early education, provide safe haven, and reduce the dropout rate of at-risk children and adolescents.
Determining Their Life Goals
Ministries supported by the Pentecost Offering help guide our young people as they prayerfully ask, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” and, “Who is God calling me to be?”
- Of those who’ve served as Young Adult Volunteers, 32% go on to become ordained church leaders, and 66% go into a service-related field such as teaching, social work, or community development.
Help Raise Up Kids in Your Church and Around the World
If your heart is with the youth in your own church, you should know that 40% of your gift to the Pentecost Offering stays with your congregation to support the ministries most important to your youth and community. And know that every gift helps children, youth, and young adults here at home and around the world—providing them a better first impression of our world, our future, and God’s love and grace.
Please share gladly and give generously:
- Through your congregation
- Text YOUNG to 20222 to give $10
- Online at presbyterianmission.org/give/pentecost