Each day during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we provide a starting point, reflection, questions and a prayer based on the theme. Here you can turn your reflections into action with our Go and Do points. Please check here for any updates.
Day 1
- Personal: Who do you know that is living in a place of fear? Consider how you can walk alongside them.
- Local: Find out what Christians are doing together in your area to share Christ’s hope, and get involved.
- Global: Join the World Council of Churches Prayer Cycle and commit to praying regularly for your neighbours and understanding them better: https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/prayer-cycle
Day 2
- Personal: As Bartimaeus leaves his cloak behind to journey with Jesus, consider what clothing you can give to a local clothes bank.
- Local: After naming disunity around us, identify a bridge that needs to be built. Take the first steps in doing this.
- Global: Connect with a charity that works with people with visual impairment. (For instance: https://www.sightsavers.org/about-us/)
Day 3
- Personal: Consider what makes you fearful and find ways to gain a deeper understanding of what is really going on, allowing for God’s hope to be present.
- Local: Explore ways of sharing local stories of unity, peacemaking and the building of God’s Kingdom where you are, that cannot be tainted or tarnished by hearsay or spin.
- Global: Engage with a number of different sources to hear stories from around the world of God’s Kingdom being made real, and explore how your faith community can join in.
Day 4
- Personal: Reflect on areas in your life where challenges may become opportunities, and act on one of those opportunities.
- Local: Volunteer at an event or with a local organisation that offers comfort and support in the community.
- Global: Explore how you can give, act and pray with a global international development organisation. For example https://www.christianaid.org.uk/ or https://cafod.org.uk
Day 5
- Personal: Take time to stop, to be still and to notice meaningful moments of unity that you have been involved in. Explore some ways of deepening this experience.
- Local: Find meaningful ways for your faith community to ‘wait with’ and to ‘be present with’ people in your community.
- Global: Develop relationships with Christian communities around the world and share stories of how Jesus is empowering strength and unity.
Day 6
- Personal: Reflecting on where you hope God will bring renewal and healing in your own life, write a prayer to express that hope.
- Local: Identify an aspect of the work of reconciliation that has been neglected or marginalised in your local church community and take action to bring attention to this need.
- Global: Share a hopeful message or news story from a different international context using social media or other forms of communication.
Day 7
- Personal: Visit a church of a radically different tradition from your own (ideally with others from your church) and reflect on the experience.
- Local: Find groups in your community that advocate for peace and seek to make common ground with them.
- Global: Make contact with one church or other faith group living in the midst of conflict and engage with them.
Day 8
- Personal: Reach out to someone you are estranged from and seek reconciliation.
- Local: Explore a local issue where there is tension. Find ways of being intentional in your listening, focusing on understanding rather than responding.
- Global: Pray and act for peace in an overlooked place mired in civil war or internal conflict.