WCC prayer on overcoming racism “based on love for all”

The World Council of Churches (WCC), closing the Week of Prayer for Overcoming Racism and Xenophobia, drew people together to reflect that humans are made in the image of God.  Photo: Albin Hillert/ Life on Earth Pictures 28 March 2024 The closing prayer was held on 25 March, the UN International Day for the Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.   In one of the opening prayers, Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith, strategist for Pan-African and Orthodox Faith Engagement, Bread for the World, National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA governing board member, and WCC president from North America, said: “God of the universe, all praise honour and glory be to you. You are an awesome God whose ways are unfathomable but always based on love for all.”   Bishop Everald L. Galbraith, president of the Conference of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, shared a reflection. “This world is God’s world, and the peoples are all God’s creation,” he said.   Those gathered also, within the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, prayed for the churches and people of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia. Resources for the prayer were drawn from the Week of Prayer for Overcoming Racism and Xenophobia  and prayers prepared by Pan African Women of Ecumenical Empowerment Network - PAWEEN.   WCC shares Week of Prayer for Overcoming Racism and Xenophobia (WCC news release, 21 March 2024) Learn more about the WCC work on overcoming Racism, Discrimination and Xenophobia 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