The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is celebrated in the Southern Hemisphere between Ascension Sunday and Pentecost, or at any other time that works for churches to plan an ecumenical service.
The 2027 theme is “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)
The international ecumenical resource is online here. A version contextualised for Australia will be available through NCCA in early 2027.
An ecumenical service can be held on any date that works for local congregations to plan a service together, to express the degree of communion which the churches have already reached, and to pray together for that full unity which is Christ’s will.
2027 Dates (Southern Hemisphere) – between Ascension Day (6th May 2027) and Pentecost (16th May 2027), a symbolic date for the unity of the Church.
The date in the Orthodox church usually differs from the Western church due to the different methods of calculating the date of Easter.
We pray during this week and throughout the year that the Spirit will bring Christians closer together.
Pope John Paul II in his encyclical “Ut unum Sint” (“That They May be One”) quotes the Second Vatican Council: “This change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and can rightly be called ‘spiritual ecumenism.'”
Despite our many differences, the church is united in Christ, and in its constant need for God, and thus its need for prayer. The language of prayer unites Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant believers without letting our differences discourage us or allowing obstacles to get in the way. Prayer also unites us across denominational, national and cultural lines. As Paul says, “…there is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ, for all are one.”
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ARCHIVE Service outline for May 28th 2023