wfn.org | Title: The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches * Feature
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 09/12/2003 - feat-03-15

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity:
A "good news" story for today

 By Kersten Storch and Tom Best

					  Free photo available -
see below.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an ecumenical
initiative that,
each year, involves Christian communities all over the world.
Traditionally, it is celebrated from 18-25 January. In the
southern
hemisphere, where January is vacation time, churches often find
other days
to celebrate it, for example around Pentecost.

Christian unity: a challenge for today

What makes a "good story" for the news media? Something new,
unheard of or
at least unusual, but also something with high emotional
content.
Catastrophes and scandals are therefore well covered by news
media. From
this perspective, churches are all too often good "news makers",
given
their struggles and the on-going scandal of their divisions.

Yes, scandal: "Divided churches cost lives," said a pastor in
Northern
Ireland, where Protestants and Catholics were identified,
however unfairly,
with different sides of this bitter sectarian conflict. In
Georgia, a
radical group from one confession attacked an ecumenical
prayer-meeting.
And at the ecumenical Kirchentag (church day) in Germany in May,
2003, it
was clear that communion between the two largest churches there,
is far
from complete; that rather than uniting them, bread and wine
served in the
name of Jesus at the eucharistic table makes their division
plain for all
the world to see. And the list could be continued.

What is true for the secular news media also applies to the
church press
world-wide: articles abound on the "crisis" of the ecumenical
movement, its
methods and goals. Many analyses of the ecumenical situation
suggest that
while things are just fine at the "grassroots" level, the
"higher up" one
goes in the churches, the more difficult it is to worship and
work
together.

Doubtless, this reflects the experience of many Christians. But
it would be
wrong to conclude from this that little is being done - and can
be done -
about the divisions among and within the churches.

The question of unity is not new. Indeed it has been a burning
issue since
the beginning of the Christian faith, as we see already in the
New
Testament. Thus, in Acts 15 Peter, James, Paul, Barnabas and
other apostles
gathered in Jerusalem to discuss the limits of diversity within
the one, early
Christian community.

The specific challenges to unity have changed over the course of
history:
the doctrine of the church; the understanding of the Bible; the
role of the
Holy Spirit in the life of the church; the place and role of
women within
the community of believers - these are just a few of the issues
which have
divided the churches over the centuries. And the challenge for
the churches
today remains fundamentally the same: to confess, worship, work
and witness
together despite all their differences.

The churches do not always meet this challenge; the search for
Christian
unity has seen its share of difficulties and setbacks. Yet the
goal of
unity has remained. The longing for unity has always inspired
movements,
communities and personalities who passionately worked and prayed
for the
visible unity of Christs church. Such groups and persons, of
course, do
not often make it into the headlines.

But sometimes they do! Last years Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity
service in Komarno, in the Slovak Republic, was one of those
"major media
events". In Slovakia, where different church traditions and
confessions -
not to mention diverse ethnic groups within the same church -
seek to live
together, the question of unity is highly relevant. And what is
true in
this newly established Eastern European state also applies to
many
countries and regions all over the world. Churches which seek to
follow
their calling, and to offer a strong Christian message to the
society and
context in which they live, can do so only when they confess,
worship, work
and witness together.

The Week of Prayer: a continuing call to unity

Each year, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity offers a key
opportunity
for Christians and churches to reaffirm their commitment to
unity, and to
bring the skandalon of their own brokenness and divisions before
God. It is
one place where they lament and mourn their divisions - but
where they do
it together; where they pray and search for ways to overcome
their
disunity, to accept and to love each other, to pray and witness
together so
that their discipleship becomes a vivid reality in and for the
world.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity can trace its inspiration
back to
the second half of the 18th century where, in Scotland, the
revivalist
message of a Pentecostal movement included prayers for and
within all
churches. Over the years, important impulses came from Father
Paul Wattson,
then an Episcopalian priest; from the Lambeth Conference of
Anglican
Bishops; from the Roman Catholic Church, not least from Abb*
Paul Couturier
of Lyon; from the Faith and Order movement; and from many
individuals
throughout the churches.

In 1966, the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of
Churches
(WCC) and the Secretariat [now Pontifical Council] for Promoting
Christian
Unity began their official joint preparation of the Week of
Prayer
material. Since 1975, the initial draft of the material is
prepared each
year by a local ecumenical group. Each years material is
revised for
world-wide distribution by representatives of the WCCs Faith
and Order
Commission, and the Roman Catholic Churchs Pontifical Council
for
Promoting Christian Unity.

The local materials - coming in recent years from places as
diverse as
Malaysia, Italy, Syria and Argentina - are rooted in the
challenges facing
the churches there in their search for unity. And because the
search for
unity is not an abstract exercise, the Week of Prayer for

Christian Unity is based each year on a biblical passage which
speaks to an
issue of immediate relevance for the churches in our
contemporary world, an
issue which the churches must face together.

Of course, the concern for unity is not limited to one week each
year! Thus
the churches are encouraged to make prayer and work for unity a
part of
their life throughout the year.

The Week of Prayer for 2004: "My peace I give to you"

It was an ecumenical group from Aleppo in the North of Syria -
from a
region suffering from a long and difficult history of tensions
and
conflicts - which suggested the theme for the Week of Prayer for
Christian
Unity in 2004: "My Peace I Give to You"  (John 14:27). Coming
together as
Christians from different churches, they were longing for peace,
meditating
and reflecting on the insights and inspiration which the Bible,
and their
respective traditions, offered for their work as peace-makers
and
bridge-builders. In their situation, where fear and mistrust and
hate
prevail and conflicts never cease, they turned to their faith
for help.

The concerns of the Christians and churches in Aleppo are shared
by others
in every region and every land. Peace is all too rare in our
world today.
Wars, armed conflicts, terrorist attacks and violence of all
kinds rock our
world daily. And it is not only since 11 September, 2001, that
the
realities of violence in all its forms have touched nations and
people
everywhere!

Churches want to work for peace, for true peace which can endure
because
justice has been done, and reconciliation won. But in order for
the
churches to be credible witnesses and promoters of peace, peace
needs to
reign within and among the churches themselves. This is true for
Aleppo and
also in all the places, all over the world, where churches raise
their
voice, crying and working for peace.

"My peace I give to you" (John 14:27): the context in Johns
Gospel from
which these words of Jesus come reminds the churches that peace
is found
where the will of God is done. This can happen in many ways and
on many
occasions: where broken relationships are healed, where
oppression and
injustice are overcome, where forgiveness and reconciliation are
enabled.
The calling of the Christian churches is to contribute to these
processes
of peace-building, to pray and to work for reconciliation and a
just peace.
And it is their calling to do this together, "so that the world
may
believe" (John 17:21).

During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2004, churches
will come
together in countless places all over the globe to reaffirm
their
commitment to unity, to bring their divisions before God for
healing, and
to pray and work together for reconciliation and a just peace in
the world
around them.

This is a "good news" story, isn't it?

Rev. Kersten Storch, an ordained Lutheran minister from Germany,
and Rev.
Dr Thomas F. Best, a pastor of the Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ)
from US, are both members of Faith and Order team at the World
Council of
Churches.

	 Tips for Observing The Week of Prayer for Christian
Unity

The common worship service

   Make the service interesting and accessible
   Include laypersons in planning and holding the service
   Show how unity is important locally  include a commitment
to witness
   and work together as Christians in your own community
   Include worship material from the region (for 2004, the
Middle East, see
   below)
   Be open to the symbols cherished by other Christians   if
they are
   strange  to you, ask what they mean!
   Dont be afraid to adapt the materials for your context
   Reach out to a church or Christian community which has not
participated
   before

Beyond the Week

   Christian unity is not just for one week! Plan two more unity
events
   during 2004
   Make unity a theme throughout the year: pray for unity at
each Sunday
   worship,  at church council meetings, at fellowship dinners,

   Pray for unity during pastors meetings and other clergy
events
   Stress our unity in our baptism into Christ :
	    make clear that baptism is into the whole church,
not just one
	    denomination
	    encourage the use of common baptismal certificates
	    when baptisms are performed, invite representatives
from other
	    churches as a sign of our unity in Christ

2004 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Preparatory material

Resource materials including an order for worship, biblical
texts
accompanied by commentary and prayer, and additional prayers
from Oriental
liturgies have been proposed  for the 2004 Week of Prayer for
Christian
Unity by the churches of Aleppo, Syria. (The material
incorporates some
revisions made by the international preparatory group.) The
worship service
follows the model of ecumenical celebration regularly used by
the Orthodox,
Catholic and Protestant churches of that city, in an ecumenical
partnership
in which each church fully recognizes baptisms from the other
churches as
well as mixed marriages.

The material for the preparation of the Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity
2004 is available on-line at:
http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/wop2004.pdf 

Additional prayers can be found at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/wop-prayers-e.html 

A free photo is available at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/wop04yangon.html 

For more information contact:
	 Media Relations Office
 tel: (+41 22) 791 64 21 / (+41 22) 791 61 53
 e-mail:media@wcc-coe.org 
 http://www.wcc-coe.org 

 The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now
342, in
 more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all
Christian
 traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church
but works
 cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the
assembly,
 which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was
formally
 inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is
headed by
 general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in
Germany.