Member Church News: World Prayer, Peace Pilgrimage

On 1 March, Christians all around the world come together to celebrate the World Day of Prayer. This year’s service was written by a group of Palestinian Christian women before the current conflict and deals with their own personal experiences. Their hope was to encourage and inspire other women around the world to bear with one another in troubled times. As has happened before, this year’s service has been overtaken by events which are having a profound effect on the region, and all peoples living there. By joining in on this global day of prayer, and listening to the voices of these women, you will be standing alongside Palestinian Christians at a time when our prayers, and our support, is needed more than ever.

In the USA, pilgrims trek for 200+ kilometers calling for ceasefire in Palestine: The Pilgrimage for Peace, which lasted from 14-21 February, stretched for about 225 kilometers, split into daily segments so that pilgrims could rest for the night in local hotels or with family or friends. Local churches along the way offered respite as well, with snacks, hot beverages, and warm hospitality.

Hear from United Church of Christ members why they joined week-long “Pilgrimage for Peace” for Gaza.

Reformed Worship has provided a service of prayer for the Middle East: Remembering the Forgotten Church.

A new book seeks to disrupt colonist narratives surrounding theology. Unsettling Theologies contains work from a wide variety of theologians, including Jione Havea, Faafetai Aiava, Mark Brett, Andrew Picard, Therese Lautua, Matua Wayne Te Kaawa, Naomi Wolfe, Garry Deverell, Te Aroha Rountree, Emily Colgan, Faafetai N Luse, Maina Vakafua Talia, as well as Michael Mawson and Brian Fiu Kolia.

The Christian Conference of Asia, along with its member church in Timor Leste, the Igreja Protestante iha Timor Lorosa’e (IPTL), jointly organied a national-level training programme on “Christian Theology on Good Governance and Transparency.”

Lisa Fields on the Christian heritage of Africa: Exploring African Christianity’s golden era and its continued impact on global Christianity helps Black millennials and Gen Zers see themselves in God’s redemptive history. It also provides a needed corrective to all who identify Christianity as mainly a white religion.

Shortly before his retirement, the outgoing Secretary General of the United Evangelical Mission (UEM), Pastor Volker Martin Dally, takes stock of his eight years in office. In an English-language YouTube video, he describes the milestones he achieved during his time as chairman of the community of churches in Africa, Asia and Germany. The 63-year-old theologian considers his greatest personal success to be overcoming the historical dominance of the minority German members in favor of the majority of African and Asian member churches and the associated creation of balance between the regions.

On the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, World Council of Churches General Secretary Jerry Pillay lamented the destruction of so many lives and called for an immediate end to the conflict.

On the occasion of the fiftieth year of its founding, the Middle East Council of Churches, in partnership with Télé Lumière and Noursat TV channel, is launching a new TV program entitled “Ecumenicals.”