WCC NEWS: Churches pray for Christian unity

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World Council of Churches - News

CHURCHES PRAY FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY

For immediate release: 25 January 2012

Despite all the divides and divisions, churches and congregations
observed the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the month of January,
with a profound theme for this year, “We will all be changed by the
victory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (cf. 1 Cor 15:51-58).

Sponsored jointly by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=6008443076a8241a5d55 )
and the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=313a0e7ff84f6594bcf9 ), the Week 
of Prayer
for Christian Unity (Link: 
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=4141c8fef9a7b721830c )
is celebrated from 18-25 of January (in the northern hemisphere) or at
Pentecost (in the southern hemisphere).

This year, the materials were prepared by churches in Poland, reflecting
and sharing from their own history of partition and victory over
oppression.

Through the WCC and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
the texts were received by the churches, and were adapted for local
celebrations of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity around the world.

In the Philippines, where people have been faced with governance crisis,
churches took the lead towards national unity in setting aside their
doctrinal differences. Together they marked the Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity dedicated to prayers for change and peace in the country.

Similarly, Churches together in Britain and Ireland (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3cd4fc994c12a85ae381 ) stressed the 
significance of
“change”, as an integral part of theology and unity among the
churches.

“Change is also at the heart of the ecumenical movement. When we pray for
the unity of the church we are praying that the churches that we know, and
which are so familiar to us will change as they conform more closely to
Christ,” they emphasized.

Celebrations also took place in France and Switzerland, and throughout
Europe, where various churches including Orthodox, Roman Catholics and
Protestants reflected together on the theme of Christian unity in prayer
and meditations.

Across the USA and Canada, local Christian communities marked the Week of
Prayer for Christian Unity, with special worship services and community
gatherings.

According to Rev. Victor Kim from Grace Presbyterian Church in Calgary
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=1f3d13a2897c332d2223
), “It's a week that is ecumenical in nature. So it's not about one
particular denomination, one particular strand. It's a week that joins
together the Roman Catholic and Protestant and other traditions, including
Orthodox, and it's celebrated all over the world.”

For Tamara Grdzelidze, programme executive of the WCC Commission on Faith
and Order, the theme offers various perspectives showing the strength of
faith as one uniting factor, which keeps us rooted in our diverse
situations as churches.

In a special service for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on 23
January at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Grdzelidze said in her
reflections, “The reading from the Epistle, indeed, manifests the key
antinomy of Christianity according to which the defeat changes into the
victory, the crucifixion changes into the resurrection, death, in a
twinkle of an eye changes into life.”

Grdzelidze highlighted the significance of Christian unity that the week
promotes. She said, “Indeed, to follow the Lord, to serve Him and attain
the honour of victory over death, we are called to the unity in our faith
in its manifold expressions whether charitable, prayerful, meditative,
active or pro-active. Unity in faith is indeed victory over the hatred,
wickedness, idle talk, sloth.”

Read also:

Full text of the reflections for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=24e41e4e1bf97a2c08b8 )

During week of prayer for unity, Philippine churches set aside differences
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=303de0d6d1baf35256ad ) (ENI
feature article of 19 January 2012)

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=45ff470318505a85169e )

WCC Commission on Faith and Order (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=90883a4bd932ddbc69f6 )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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