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Denise and Benoît Lokila, of the Cana Fraternity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, sitting next to each other in front of the camera

Screenshot from a video testimonial by Denise and Benoît Lokila recorded for the Chemin Neuf community's Week of Prayer series.

What was your strongest experience during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021?

For us, Benoît and Denise, our most cherished memory of the week of unity 2021 is the joy of praise together, the Catholic songs, the Protestant hymns; we all sang and danced together, we felt the unity of the sons of God.

What was new for our group this year 2021 was that we were bringing together four different religious denominations, with the Salvation Army and the Reformed joining us. In the past there had only been two religious denominations: the Catholics and us evangelical Protestants. This year we experienced a great warmth of love. And that made it difficult to part ways at the end of the Week of Unity!

The theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021 was: “Abide in my love and you shall bear much fruit.” How do you experience being rooted in Christ’s love – alongside Christians from other traditions? Which fruits have you seen grow?

We have agreed to meet once a quarter from now on to pray together outside of the week of unity. This year’s theme ties in well with what we are experiencing. Both of us, elders in our church, are in the Chemin Neuf Community. We share our daily lives and all prayer times together. We celebrate Mass with our Catholic brothers and sisters every morning, we eat and drink from the same cup, and certain Sundays they join us for prayer in our church. Here we effectively live in unity; it is not just theory. We believe that this is the answer to Jesus’ prayer, “that all may be one, so that the world may believe”.

Read also:

www.oikoumene.org/week-of-prayer

International brochure for 2022

Blog post: Sailing on a wave of prayer, by Sister Marlieke, Grandchamp Community