Press Releases23 Oct 18

Resources now available for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2019

The Rt Revd John McDowell, Bishop of Clogher and Chair, Church of Ireland Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue, has highlighted the resources for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU), which are now available to order for use in parishes. The theme for this year is Only Justice.

Bishop McDowell said: ‘I hope that this annual commendation of the order of service and other materials relating to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, provided by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, is not received simply as a formality. Although it has both its critics and its weaknesses, the WPCU provides all of us with a fixed point in the year to celebrate, initiate, or perhaps revive the emphasis on solidarity in faith between believers in service of the Gospel and the World that is very opportune.  

‘This year the material is inspired and derived from the Christian community in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim–majority country, and is drawn from the great imperative of the Deuteronomist – “Justice and only justice you shall pursue…” (Deut. 16:20) – focusing on the depth of the biblical understanding of a word associated too easily with the iron certainty of the law but intended as a means of restoring right relationships. In an increasingly atomised world and an “individualised” Ireland, there is a great yearning for this call to restored relationships and the reality of mutual dependence.’

Resources are now available to order from Norwich Books and Music (tel. 01603 785925) or to download from www.ctbi.org.uk/weekofprayer