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Illustration by Jeremy Thomas

Illustration by Jeremy Thomas, one of the winners of the WCC worship songwriting competition.

As part of the project, the winners created a song that is published in the main assembly worship book.

I found out about the competition through a Facebook post that was shared by one of my friends. Im a member of the Church of Scotland. When I saw the post, I had been in a rhythm of writing some of my own words for songs and hadnt pushed myself to write tunes as regularly so it felt like a good and timely challenge,” shared Lynsey Martin Kimmitt, a winner of the competition.

Deliberating on the WCC 11th Assembly theme, Christs love moves the world to reconciliation and unity,” she said, ”My reflections of peace have been influenced by the opportunity to represent the Church of Scotland when visiting Christians in Taiwan. During these visits, I witnessed a little, through listening, engaging, and learning from others of what it is like to live in the constant shadow of potential conflict, and how the knowledge that there are people who stand with you, praying for you can be so unifying, comforting, and powerful.”

Another winner of the competition, Jeremy Thomas, who had been involved in the Working Committee of Unity of Christians in Mauritius associated with the Anglican Diocese of Mauritius, shared how glad he was to receive an email from the youth coordinator of WCC about this competition.

God opened my heart to His global church many years ago and I devoted my life since 2007 to serve for the love and unity within the global body of Christ. Being involved with the Working Committee for Christian Unity, in the preparation of the global Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, I was inspired by the WCC 11th Assembly theme and I wrote this song which was sung by the Unity Choir during the Unity week in Mauritius,” said Thomas.

He further added: As I wrote this song using Mauritian creole and English using a Mauritian rock rhythm to illustrate the diversity, I was also inspired to draw this illustration, where Christ is reconciling two different children as He is the only way to bring real reconciliation. I have seen Christ reconciling people from different ethnicities and denominations, reconciling in amazing ways and I can guarantee that it is only Christs love which can move the world to reconciliation and unity.”

Learn more about the WCC 11th Assembly

Resources for the WCC 11th Assembly