Has the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity run its course?
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
in Purgatory
I am a committed ecumenist. My church regards itself as ecumenical, I have served as Chair of local Churches Together Groups, I represent my denomination at regional events - and so on.
For many years I have sought to engage with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which runs from January 18-25. In past years events have tended to draw the same - and diminishing - "faithful few", who come along more out of a sense of duty than with any real excitement. This year the Week is not being observed in our locality at all.
It seems to me that the high point of formal ecumenism was in the 1970s; and much of what was done then has enabled the more informal inter-church relationships of today. However the mainstream" churches that were ecumenically involved are much declined; many new churches have been formed; and the desire for structural unity has evaporated.
Is Christian Unity, at least in the traditional sense, (I speak from a British perspective) a dead duck, and the Week of Prayer a forlorn hope of fanning the embers?
(PS Please forgive the mixed metaphor!)
For many years I have sought to engage with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which runs from January 18-25. In past years events have tended to draw the same - and diminishing - "faithful few", who come along more out of a sense of duty than with any real excitement. This year the Week is not being observed in our locality at all.
It seems to me that the high point of formal ecumenism was in the 1970s; and much of what was done then has enabled the more informal inter-church relationships of today. However the mainstream" churches that were ecumenically involved are much declined; many new churches have been formed; and the desire for structural unity has evaporated.
Is Christian Unity, at least in the traditional sense, (I speak from a British perspective) a dead duck, and the Week of Prayer a forlorn hope of fanning the embers?
(PS Please forgive the mixed metaphor!)
Comments
It was actually the topic of propagandistic hymn lyrics at the time.
As for the direct topic, as a past participant in and now interested observer of Christian churches, yes, it wouldn't surprise me overmuch if(to continue the mixed metaphors) the full ecumenical vision has fallen by the wayside in the past few decades.
The various denominations - or at least, their leaders - have a good rapport, and meet together regularly, but their congregations are, for the most part, indifferent to joint services, and in any case are (with a couple of exceptions) shrinking rapidly.
Energy levels are being as closely rationed as money.
That said, I do think the expression of commitment to unity is not at the forefront of many churches' practice at the moment but apart from those whose doctrinal basis means they avoid ecumenism I'd say the heart of unity is still beating here in the Chichester churches.
On the plus side relations between churches are much warmer than they were in the 70s. and church members are heavily involved with food banks and charity shops, so churchy things get chatted about and mulled over in less formal settings.
We also have an annual street nativity in the town centre and an annual Red Wednesday service which is a joint enterprise.
So other things are happening.
And I think that is about as far as ecumenism will go. And it has been a considerable distance in one lifetime. Corporate/structural union is all about definitions, jobs for the girls and boys and who gets to pay the bills. And those nettles are too painful to grasp.
I was a teenager back then and although aware of some of the hymns and prayers for unity, wasn't really aware of any moves towards that end. Our local parish church was in decline - a long, slow death which appears about to be realised 50 years on - and all the non-conformist chapels were struggling.
Even our local Pentecostal church fizzled out - although there are new ones around.
I think what's been said about a grass-roots warmth and informal cooperation is very true in Protestant circles where denominational labels are increasingly unimportant. That said, I do think that there's a 'market-place' mentality there with people gravitating to whichever church offers the 'best' programme - however that's defined.
I don’t think RC and Orthodox churches are immune from that either I hasten to add.
I do wish my own Church was more involved in ecumenism than it is - some of the beardy-weirdy ultra-traditionalists and starry-eyed new converts and catechumens are distinctly anti-ecumenical. They see that as part of their defining identity I'm afraid.
On an individual level, though, relations can be cordial and I go out of my way to ensure that they remain so in my own case. Heck, I'm 'seeing' (or 'dating') a Protestant Christian... but I'd be lying if I said that conversations with her and with people in her congregation weren't difficult at times.
But I persevere.
As indeed we all must.
I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anything related to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in real life, except perhaps occasional references in denominational news releases. I see a variety of ecumenical endeavors, but the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has never been one of them.
Several occasions during the year were promoted or celebrated jointly, including the ( Methodist) Covenant Service, Lent study groups, Good Friday procession of witness, Stations of the Cross, a soup lunch during Christian Aid week, Children’s Week in August, Remembrance Day in November and carol singing in December. Services in care homes were led by a team drawn from all churches. A welcome pack to occupants of new houses was a joint project.
Sadly none of this happens now, not so much because the concept of unity is outdated, but because the co-operation necessary for these things to happen was withdrawn from one side, for “ theological reasons”.
That said, I'm sure a lot of British churches wouldn't have been aware of it at all, particularly independent ones. Anglicans, Methodists, Baptist Union churches and the URC would be the most aware of it I think among the Protestant churches. The Kirk in Scotland too, of course.
Of course one thing it indicates is that pastors sometimes do these things without telling people. You and I attended a church that observed this, but did not know it. (I only know because it came up in a side conversation I had with one of the leaders.)
Leads me to think that maybe the week for Christian unity thing is more a clergy thing these days than a lay thing. If churches are going to do it, they should talk about it.
You're right, I do remember that now that you mention it. But that was very geeky church with a high clergy-to-lay ratio.
I think...maybe...this is a thing for a particular kind of ecumenism geek and hasn't really broken out of that shell. Noting for strangers that I think "geek" is a term of affection and not an insult, meaning a person with a very particular interest in a particular topic.
But my experience, at least, is that in the US, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is something that is not typically marked on a local basis; it’s mainly on a more national basis that church bodies might take note of it. (And as @Gwai says, it may be that clergy take more note of it than folks in the pews.)
That doesn’t mean ecumenism doesn’t happen at the local and regional level. It does. But in my experience, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has not typically been part of that local or regional ecumenism.
We might be better to focus on less visible forms of unity.
This.
I note that FatherInCharge states on his weekly pew-sheet that the Week begins on 18th January, but there is no mention of any united service or event.
The Ugandan Choir's gospel concert last Sunday appears to have been Our Deanery's contribution - maybe they had to fit us into a tight schedule! FInC and A N Other were the only people from Our Place in attendance...
And how long would the unity last?
That is a fine observation. Politically...yep. I don't think that's just churches. Maybe that's why Protestants haven't bothered uniting all of our various and sundry factions. Too much bother for something that wouldn't mean anything.
[And yes, nothing creates a fight like insisting that people get along...yikes.]
Or at least 2. "Mending" the Disruption only left a rump on the Free Church of Scotland side.
Hopefully, the Anglicans will join in, whether officially or not. Are there any other denominations likely to be involved?
Yes, I meant the United Church of Christ.
Being a little pedantic here: We believe the Word as it is testified to in the Bible. To quote Luther: The Bible is the cradle in which the Word of God is found.
Which is a long-winded way of saying that maybe we were pursuing the wrong sort of unity anyway.
And for those young people newly discovering the Christian faith, denomination matters not a jot - it is authenticity which counts.
I could guess that, if chapel A with 20 members decide to close and merge with chapel B which has the same number of people, at least 10 from A will be "lost" in the process. More if there are ancient rivalries and/or transport difficulties.
See!
I rather think that we have the beginnings of that unity already, if not more. I mean, there's no way God would allow Christ's prayer to go unanswered, is there? And generally speaking, while he allows us to participate in the work he's doing in the world, he never leaves the fulfillment of it completely in our hands--"Without me, you can do nothing," he says, and knows far better than us just how true that is.
So that inclines me to look around and ask, "What unity do we already have that might be a fulfillment of Jesus' prayer--and how can we build on it?"
We don't have structural unity--and indeed, we never truly did have that, we took our start from a handful of congregations planted across the Middle East, and while everyone looked to the apostles for guidance, AFAIK nobody ever bothered them with questions of administration, governance, or finance--the kinds of things we have bureacracies for here now. (Before someone starts with me about the food distribution in Acts etc., I'm talking here about one congregation elsewhere sending a request for guidance to the apostles who weren't there already--not to what might happen within a congregation that happened to have an apostle or three on hand.)
What we did have (and still have, to a degree) are these things:
1. We trust, worship, and follow Jesus Christ. We are not looking for a successor to him, and we are certain nobody will ever supersede him.
2. We acknowledge him to be both God and human.
3. We all agree that Jesus died for our sake and was raised by God from the dead, and continues alive today.
4. We all look for his return as he promised.
5. We all admit that any human being may be a Christian and receive God's gifts of forgiveness, salvation, adoption, etc. No gender, age, ethnicity, or disability can keep a person out of the faith.
6. We all admit that our lives ought to reflect obedience to Jesus' teachings, even though he's handling our salvation himself (that is, we're not effecting it--he is). Possibly another universal would be this: We all admit that we're fucking up.
7. We share one baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
8. We practice the Lord's Supper and it is recognizably the same thing, in spite of our conflicts over who eats together.
9. We recognize the same canon, although some of us have the deuterocanonical books too. That is, we are all people of the Book, and it's the same book, even though we have arguments about a subsection.
10. We have the custom of meeting together weekly, if not more often, for corporate worship (and I never realized how much we take this for granted until I started working among and caring for people who have NO corporate worship, only private, and realized how deeply that gift has formed our various cultures.
11. We have the charge of Jesus to take this faith to everyone in the world--and though we fuck it up, we all know a. we ought to be doing it, b. we ought not to do it by force, and c. those we evangelize become our brothers and sisters, not our subordinates or dependents.
I would like to add the doctrines of monotheism and the Trinity to the list, but expect that someone will pop up to start an argument about whether the JWs and the Mormons are Christians (no, I say), and then the thread will get dragged off in that direction to nobody's profit IMHO. So I'll hold off.
I think what I'm fumbling to say is--we don't see groups that are half-Christian--groups that accept maybe half the things on that list, and repudiate the rest. Christianity is not a spectrum with indefinable edges that shade off into something else. You really have to dig to find groups that are questionable in major ways, and they tend not to last very long, historically.
I'm not sure the last bit is strictly accurate. I'm Orthodox. Like the RCs and many evangelical churches, we're suddenly getting an influx of yoing people who are newly discovering the Christian faith. Those I've spoken to specifically want to express and pursue that in an Orthodox context. Some have explored other options and some haven't.
There are a lot of Orthodox apologists - and proselytisers online - some of them with highly questionable credentials. Most of the young people - largely young men - we are getting have picked all sorts of things up online and they seem attracted by what they see as the rigour of it and often strident claims that we are the One True ChurchTM.
The same thing seems to be happening to some extent in RC circles.
Big truth claims can attract.
What us older folk are noticing is that they're picking up very quickly on the internal politics (Orthodoxy has that in spades) and the very polemical tone of some of the 'Interdox' pundits.
Thankfully, when they stick around a bit they realise that it's actually about Christ and not about some kind of macho anti-woke crusade.
I'm hoping that they'll shed the nasty stuff as they mature.
Whatever the case, in the instance of those youngsters who are choosing 'niche' spiritual homes such as Orthodoxy or traditional Roman Catholic parishes I don't think your observations apply, @March Hare.
I've spoken to young people - women as well as young men - who have gravitated towards Orthodoxy because they feel patronised by the fare on offer at trendy evangelical churches. Others who haven't visited any other kind of church but came along because somebody told them on a podcast that it was the only option. Still others who've looked at everything from Judaism to Buddhism to the Quran to Roman Catholicism and every flavour of Protestant.
Ok, this is a subset of young people I'm talking about but it does illustrate that particular church affiliations are important to some of these new converts and enquirers.
I agree with your elucidation of points I was struggling to make.
It wasn't the authenticity issue I was pushing back at, but the idea that all the young people we are seeing exploring the Christian faith aren't in the least bothered about differences in church affiliation.
Many of those gravitating towards Orthodox or RC settings will be doing so because they believe those expressions of Christianity are more 'authentic' or represent the real-deal as it were.
Otherwise they would be more than happy to rock up at their local Methodist, Baptist, URC or Anglican church.
It does seem to me that 'quiet revival' or no 'quiet revival', most of the young people we are seeing exploring the faith are doing so in churches that either make big truth claims or which are 'exotic' or distinctive in some way.
Hence they are turning up at charismatic evangelical churches or RC and Orthodox churches rather than what we might call bog-standard mainline Protestant churches where things might be see as somewhat beige.
Ok, perhaps some of them will gravitate to more liberal or nuanced churches in the fullness of time. I'm not saying you can't find nuance in the other settings I mentioned but you know what I mean.
FWIW I obviously believe that younger people exploring faith is a good thing, wherever it occurs. That doesn't mean I aim to overlook some of the baggage or issues some of them are bringing with them in my own setting.
Given that older generations have been somewhat divided between traditionalists and Vatican 2 enthiusiasts with liturgy being used as a flag to rally behind on both sides .... this would seem to be a positive development.
@Alan29 - ha ha - nice one! I'd not heard that. Thanks for sharing it.
I think that's a positive development too, although I have heard it said that some French yoof are turning to these things in rebellion against the liberalism of their parents.
I imagine there will be a range of factors and motivations.
As there will be with us older folks.
A US Episcopalian priest observed to me back in the summer that a similar influx of people into more liturgical and sacramental churches in the States was to some extent American 'rebelliousness' all over again.
Their forebears had rebelled against 'state-churches' and more formally liturgical churches to set up independent congregations. Now they were rebelling against that...
Perhaps da French yoof - les jeunes Francaise - are demonstrating some kind of both/and way forward ...
Incidentally, does everyone have any stats on the French scene? I read somewhere that there are 10,000 more people attending Mass in France than there were pre-Covid. That's encouraging but if true hardly represents a mass movement in a country the size of France.
In 2024 7135 adults were baptised at Easter and 5025 adolescents. In 2025 10000 + adults and 7400 adolescents were baptised at Easter according to statistics issued by Catholic bishops in France.
That doesn’t mean that the end of their exploration they won’t feel drawn to and connected with one particular denomination or tradition. In other words, that they don’t care one whit about denominations when they begin exploring doesn’t mean they still won’t care one whit when they finish exploring.
I have come across young men who have started investigating Orthodoxy though without giving that much attention to the alternatives. These are mostly key-board warrior types.
Most seem to have done the rounds though or looked at religions other than Christianity too.
Whether they'll move on elsewhere remains to be seen.
But I take the point you are making.
@Alan29 - yes, I've heard that too. The Muslims taking their faith seriously leading to French youth doing the same.
And thanks for the stats @Forthview.