Gather25

What if Jesus were to return in 10 years? With this thought in mind, a bible teacher and author named Jennie Allen organized a worldwide event on March 1, 2025, called Gather25.
She invited individuals and churches worldwide to experience 25 hours of worship, thanksgiving, repentance and commissioning. And so, one after the other, gatherings took place in America, New Zealand, Malaysia, India, the persecuted church, Romania, Rwanda, England and South America, which could be followed and celebrated via livestream all over the world (www.gather25.com). Churches and groups worldwide connected, worshiped and prayed in unity. Powerful and touching! They estimated that 7 million people celebrated together!

At the end of last year, I completed a piece of art on the subject of unity. A circle, densely embroidered with countless red stitches, symbolizes the unity of the churches worldwide. God desires that we stand together, love one another, praise and serve him with one heart, as we experienced during these 25 hours.

As I stitched, I prophetically and patiently visualized unity. My prayer is that with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will create this unity with other global communities, as well as individually with other people and the churches in our city! And I pray that this circle will become much larger!

Together with our church in St. Gallen, we too celebrated Gather25, with live worship, on-site prayer and via livestream, with various contributions and sermons. It was motivating and encouraging to hear in the messages how thousands of students in American universities are coming to faith and being baptized, as well as in many other places around the world. More and more people are coming to know Jesus and following him.

That made me think. When I imagine that Jesus might actually return in the next 10 years, does that change how I live my life? As I thought about this, various questions arose in me:

Do I know not only in theory but also in my heart that Jesus is real?
What happens when I completely surrender my life to Jesus and am authentic in doing so?
What happens when I ask Jesus in prayer for advice in all situations and then do what he says?
How important is it to me for friends and relatives to get to know Jesus, when I myself know what a huge difference he has made and continues to make in my life – especially in regard to life after death? Why don’t I talk about him more?
Would I like to see people close to me again in eternity (and others too)?
Am I, are we as a church ready for his return? Have we set our focus entirely on him and are we walking with him?
Do I want the circle of churches, as in my artwork, to include all people or at least as many as possible?

I find that I have many questions and my answers are not always perfectly clear.
God shows that he is at work, something is happening in the spiritual world. This inspires me and I want to be a part of it. When I put my “will” into the mix, God is happy to add the rest. I want the circle to become much, much bigger, even if it means leaving my comfort zone and taking a courageous step!

What do you think? Are you inspired?