WCC news: Geneva’s churches gather at the Ecumenical Chapel for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Members of Geneva’s churches gathered in the chapel of the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, where the World Council of Churches has its offices, for prayers and hymns to mark the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, observed in the northern hemisphere from 18 to 25 January each year. Ecumenical celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, organized by the Committee of the Fellowship of Christian Churches in Geneva (RECG, Rassemblement des Eglises et Communautés Chrétiennes de Genève), took place on 17 January 2027 in the chapel of the Ecumenical Centre. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC 18 January 2024 “Let us keep looking together, to see where we can do something together for the people here in Geneva who are excluded, marginalized and stigmatized,” said Pastor Christian Ferber, from the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church of Geneva in his sermon. He was preaching on the Biblical parable of Jesus about the “Good Samaritan.”  The parable recounts how a person from an estranged religious community, the Samaritans, binds the wounds of a man left for dead after being attacked, but whose plight was ignored by upstanding religious figures from his own religious community. The theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2024 is “You shall love the Lord your God ... and your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10:27), a verse that precedes the parable of the “Good Samaritan.”  In his sermon, Ferber recounted how churches in 2024 are facing conflicts and challenges all over the world, such as the climate issue, the wars in Ukraine and Israel, and a public opinion that is becoming increasingly secularized. “Following in the footsteps of Jesus and in the story of the Good Samaritan, let us accept and take up the common challenge in this New Year 2024,” he said. “Let us find a common prophetic voice where we have to denounce blatant injustice - relentlessly and courageously. “ The ecumenical celebration on 17 January was organized by the committee of the Fellowship of Christian Churches in Geneva, known by its French name, the Rassemblement des Eglises et Communautés Chrétiennes de Genève (RECG), and which currently includes 28 churches and communities. Music was provided by organist Katharina Mainberger-Dellweg and the choir of the Geneva Evangelical Lutheran Church. The liturgy was based on the texts for the 2024 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, prepared by Christians from Burkina Faso and published by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. Welcoming people at the beginning of the celebration, the RECG president, Andrea von Maltitz, invited representatives of different churches to share in drinking water together. The act recalled how in Burkina Faso a host shares water from a traditional water vessel, a calabash, with guests who arrive tried from their journey. Photo galery from the ecumenical celebration with Geneva’s churches Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2024 set to begin: “You shall love the Lord your God ...and your neighbour as yourself…” (WCC news release, 16 January 2024) Learn more about the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2024 See more

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 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland