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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ
I am writing to congratulate and thank you at the Ontmoetingskerk in Ijsselstein for becoming the 1000th follower of the World Council of Churches' Twitter feed at twitter.com/oikoumene. We have local churches and individual Christians from all regions of the world following us on twitter and we hope that you will continue to enjoy exploring and developing this and other social media in the life of your congregation.
At the World Council Churches we are in the midst of the final preparations for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation which will take place from 17 to 25 May in Kingston Jamaica. Over a thousand people from around the world will be meeting to celebrate the promise of a just peace. We are encouraging Christians and congregations across the world to be part of the event in their own contexts by joining in a World Sunday for Peace on Sunday 22 May. I really hope that your church will be able to join in this Sunday for Peace.
On the dawning of the World Sunday for Peace, we ask all youth groups, their communities and their churches to celebrate this day with a vigil. This sunrise vigil can be anything from a prayer meeting, a bible study, singing of songs or silent meditation as the sun rises. The materials in the booklet I enclose with this letter can be used during the vigil. We also ask that in solidarity with each other as sisters and brothers in Christ, we begin each vigil with an act of peace – the planting of a tree. This tree will become a lasting symbol of our united efforts to bring the peace of Christ to our suffering world. As the sun rises, over the world – may there be peace.
We are encouraging people and congregations around the world to use twitter and other social media like Facebook and Flickr to share about you are marking the Sunday for peace. We look forward to reading your prayers for peace in tweet and other formats.
Thank you for following our updates on Twitter and congratulations on being our 1000th follower.
I want to take this opportunity to wish God's blessing on you congregation’s work and witness for God's kingdom.
Yours in the peace of Christ,
Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit
General Secretary
