Christians around the world to pray for peace on 21 September
Blessing by light at the march for peace in Porto Alegre, 2006.
This coming 21 September Christians from Congo to the US, and from Colombia to Switzerland to South Korea will join in prayers during the International Day of Prayer for Peace.
On that day, women at the Socopao Limete Presbyterian Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo - a country where a five-year war has claimed an estimated three million lives - will meet for fasting and prayer. They will not be alone. The congregation of the First Christian Church in Shelbyville, Indiana, US, will, too, pray for peace on that day.
In Colombia, the Ecumenical Network and the Evangelical Council of Colombia are planning to participate in the initiative. So do a small ecumenical prayer community of sisters in Switzerland and congregations belonging to the peace fellowship of the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea.
These are but a few examples of how Christian communities worldwide are responding to the WCC's invitation to celebrate an International Day of Prayer for Peace on 21 September or the Sunday preceding or following it.
For 2007, the WCC office for the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) has made available prayer and liturgical resources developed in the context of this year's DOV focus on Europe and its theme "Make me an instrument of your peace".
The initiative was first proposed at a 2004 meeting between WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia and the then UN secretary general Kofi Annan. The WCC's invitation to pray for peace on 21 September coincides with the United Nations International Day of Peace.
