This year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity takes place between 18-25 January.
Comprehensive resources in English and Welsh (as well as other UK languages) have been prepared by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. Those materials were compiled this year by the Burkina Faso Council of Churches and some of the country’s other denominations in west Africa, with the work coordinated by the local Chemin Neuf community.
As well as daily meditations, there is also a congregational form of service that can be used during the week.
Siôn Brynach, Chief Executive of Cytûn, said:
“The theme chosen for this year by the churches of Burkina Faso for these materials is “Go and do likewise” which is Jesus’ instruction at the end of the parable of the Good Samaritan. In their introduction to the materials, they say:
äIn choosing this passage of Scripture for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the churches of Burkina Faso have invited us to join with them in a process of self-reflection as they consider what it means to love our neighbour in the midst of a security crisis. Communities in the British-Irish context may be less vulnerable to acts of mass violence than in Burkina Faso, but there are still many living with the memory and/or the threat of serious violence, centred on issues of identity and belonging. There are also groups within communities, including people from ethnic minority backgrounds and people seeking asylum, who feel particularly vulnerable to violence or being displaced by the threat of violence.
‘Our neighbours in Burkina Faso call us to embrace anew God’s dream for us – a dream of unity based on the bonds of love and compassion. This challenges us not only to reflect on what we have learned on our ecumenical journey thus far, but also to broaden that vision.’
“These materials, together with our reflections individually and collectively, will serve as a means for us to consider afresh the meaning of ecumenism, and how we individually, and as congregations across Wales, can contribute towards Christian unity during 2024.”
The materials for the week of prayer for Christian Unity can be dowloaded from the CTBI website – https://ctbi.org.uk/week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity-2024/