Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
At least once a year, many Christians become aware of the great diversity of ways of adoring God. Hearts are touched, and people realize that their neighbours' ways are not so strange.
The event that touches off this special experience is something called the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Traditionally celebrated between 18-25 January (in the northern hemisphere) or at Pentecost (in the southern hemisphere), the Week of Prayer enters into congregations and parishes all over the world. Pulpits are exchanged, and special ecumenical worship services are arranged.
Ecumenical partners in a particular region are asked to prepare a basic text on a biblical theme. Then an international group with WCC-sponsored (Protestant and Orthodox) and Roman Catholic participants edits this text and ensures that it is linked with the search for the unity of the church.
The text is jointly published by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and WCC, through the WCC's Commission on Faith and Order, which also accompanies the entire production process of the text. The final material is sent to member churches and Roman Catholic dioceses, and they are invited to translate the text and contextualize it for their own use.
Theme for 2012
We will all be changed by the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ
(cf. 1 Cor 15:51-58)
Brochure for 2012
Keep on praying throughout the yearThe Ecumenical Prayer Cycle enables you to journey in prayer through every region of the world and through every week of the year. |
This week we pray for |
Related news
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Related documentsResources for the Week of Prayer for Christian UnityThe resources are offered in the hope that they will be appropriately modified to suit particular local situations and that they will continue to be used throughout the year.
Students and Youth Call to Prayer and Action for Christian UnityOn the occassion of the Week of Prayer's 100th anniversary, global Christian youth organizations are encouraging all their members to take action for Christian unity. They strongly encourage all members at the local, national and continental levels to organize common actions during the week with other Christian student and youth organizations.
So we believe, so we pray: towards koinonia in worshipThis letter and report are not "official statements" of the WCC, the Faith and Order Commission, or any of their member churches. It is the record of a gathering of experts coming from a wide variety of Christian traditions, churches, and regions of the world at a Faith and Order Consultation in
Ditchingham, England, August 1994 .
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Related publications
100th anniversary of the Week of PrayerThis issue of Ecumenical Review celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with a selection of articles by authors from various countries and churches.
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