Photo: © Shutterstock.com/Jetrel
This year’s theme comes to us from the churches of Brazil. Brazilians, who have traditionally been tolerant of their various social classes and ethnic groups, are now living through a time of growing intolerance made manifest in high levels of violence, especially against minorities and the vulnerable. The logic that undergirds this kind of behaviour is competition for the religious market. Increasingly, in Brazil, some Christian groups compete with one another for a place on the mass media, for new members and for public funds.
The Brazilian churches have begun to recognise that intolerance should be dealt with in a positive way – respecting diversity and promoting dialogue as a permanent path of reconciliation and peace in fidelity to the gospel. We can share this recognition. Although the competition between churches is less obvious in our islands, we are well aware that competition and violent discrimination lie beneath the surface of our lives together. Jesus challenges us to acknowledge that diversity is part of God’s design, to approach one another in trust and to see the face of God in the face of all men and women.
Dates
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is traditionally observed from the 18th to the 25th January – the octave of St. Peter and St. Paul. However, some areas observe it at Pentecost or some other time. To allow for local decision making, the material has only the year on it and the days are denoted by the numbers one to eight, so you can use it at any time of year.
Christian Aid
Our partnership with Christian Aid continues with Christian Aid providing the Go and Do action points for each of the daily reflections – linking into the important work of Christian Aid in the relief of poverty and advocacy of justice.
Resources
The resources for 2015 are available as downloads below. There is also an order form to purchase the material in a published format.
Resources from 2014, 2013 are also still available to download. Older resources are available on our archive website.
Printed resources
Printed copies of The Well is Deep pamphlet, which includes daily reflections plus an order of service, are available to order from:
Norwich Books and Music
Tel: 01603 785925,
or download and print out the flyer/order form below.
The pamphlet is available in English, large print English and Welsh/English.
A3 posters are also available in English, Welsh and Irish.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – Order Form
For download
Download help
If you have problems with downloads, please consult the Help.
Printing A5 booklets
Many of the downloads are designed to be printed as A5 booklets on A4 paper. Please see the printing help from 2013 as a guide to printing the PDF documents. Word documents are set up as A5 booklets and can be printed in landscape mode onto A4 paper, using your printer’s duplex printing option (or manually refeeding the paper) to print on both sides of the paper.
Pamphlet: The Well is Deep
English
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – English Pamphlet (PDF, 1.7MB)
(Please note this is a large file – see download guide)
* This is designed to be printed as an A5 booklet on A4 paper
(please see the printing help from 2013) but can also be printed as A4
(in Adobe Reader 10/11, choose File/Print, then under Size Options select ‘Fit’).
For a Large Print version print the pamphlet as A4 (see above).
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – Order of Service
(Word, 2.43MB)
(Please note this is a large file – see download guide)
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – English Reflection for 8 days (Word, 460k)
(Please note this is a large file – see download guide)
Editing Note: the Reflection for each day is a table embedded in a text box.
The text may not be visible onscreen until you try to edit the text box
eg move position or resize, but will still print.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – English Cover (PDF, 765k)
Use this cover in conjunction with the Word versions of the Order of Service and Reflection for the 8 days (above). Note: You can add your own text using the latest Adobe Reader software or Word 2013 (see Editing the Poster, below, for details)
Welsh/English
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – Welsh English Pamphlet (PDF, 3MB)
(Please note this is a large file – see download guide)
* This is designed to be printed as an A5 booklet on A4 paper (please see the English printing help from 2013 as a guide), but can also be printed as A4 (in Adobe Reader 10/11, choose File/Print, then under Size Options select ‘Fit’).
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – Welsh English Order of Service (Word 2.5MB)
(Please note this is a large file – see download guide)
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – Welsh English Reflection for 8 Days (Word 570k)
(Please note this is a large file – see download guide)
Editing Note: the Reflection for each day is a table embedded in a text box. The text may not be visible onscreen until you try to edit the text box eg move position or resize, but will still print. Please note: in order to get English and Welsh pages side-by-side, there are 3 blank pages at the back. Please use these for notes or rearrange as desired.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – Welsh English Cover (PDF, 770k)
Use this cover in conjunction with the Word versions of the Order of Service and Reflection for the 8 days (above).
Note: You can add your own text using the latest Adobe Reader software or Word 2013 (see Editing the Poster, below, for details)
Irish
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – Irish Order of Service (PDF, 2.5MB)
(Please note this is a large file – see download guide)
* This is designed to be printed as an A5 booklet on A4 paper (please the English printing help from 2013 as a guide), but can also be printed as A4 (in Adobe Reader 10/11, choose File/Print, then under Size Options select ‘Fit’).
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – Irish Reflections for the 8 Days
(Please note this is a large file – see download guide)
* This is designed to be printed as an A5 booklet on A4 paper (please use the English printing help from 2013 as a guide), but can also be printed as A4 (in Adobe Reader 10/11, choose File/Print, then under Size Options select ‘Fit’).
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – A agua – music (Irish) (PDF, 780k)
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – Vem Santo Espirito – music (Irish) (PDF, 730k)
Leaders Notes
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – Leaders Notes (PDF, 1.1MB)
All Age resource
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – All Age Resource (PDF, 248k)
Poster (A3/A4)
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – Multilingual Poster
Text in English, Irish and Welsh (Please note this is a large file – see download guide). This can also be printed on A4 paper: in Adobe Reader 10/11, choose File/Print, then under Size Options select ‘Shrink oversized pages’.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – English Poster (PDF, 4.9MB)
Text in English only (Please note this is a large file – see download guide). This can also be printed on A4 paper: in Adobe Reader 10/11, choose File/Print, then under Size Options select ‘Shrink oversized pages’.
You can add text to the local information box using the latest version of the free Adobe Reader software (download from http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/).Click on the pen and paper icon (third from the left on the top menu), then click on ‘Add text’ in the panel on the right hand side. You can then click in the local information box and start typing.It is also possible to open and edit PDF files in Word 2013.
Powerpoints
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – Powerpoint (English) (.pptx 763k)
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – Powerpoint (Welsh English) (.pptx 914k)
Music
The music for a agua and Vem, Santo Espirito is included in the pamphlet. The music for the smaller songs such as Senor, ten piedad de nostoros (Lord, have mercy upon us) is included in the international version of the resources (below).
International version and background to the theme
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2015 – International Version (PDF, 1.5MB)
