Christian Churches to Pray in International Day of Prayer For Peace

The World Council of Churches has called on churches around the world, representing some 560 million of the world’s Christians, to mark the UN International Day of Peace on 21 September with an International Day of Prayer for Peace.

Churches are invited to arrange services or vigils for the 21 September, or to include peace in their prayer topics for the Sunday services before or after the event.

The theme for this year’s International Day of Prayer for Peace, “Building communities of peace for all”, was chosen by Asia, the region of special focus for 2005 as part of the “Decade to Overcome Violence: Churches Seeking Reconciliation and Peace” initiative which runs from 2001 to 2010.

Hope S. Antone, Executive secretary for Faith, Mission and the Unity of the Christian Conference of Asia, said the theme conveys a “spirit of celebrating diversity”. In incorporating this theme, Antone said “we Asian Christians would no longer see the other as the mortal enemy, or as the unsaved doomed for hell, or as the poor heathen to convert.

“We would instead look at them as brothers, sisters, partners, whom God also loves, to whom God has also revealed truths, from whom we can learn about life, living and relating, and in whom we can also find the image of God.”

This is the second year of the International Prayer of Peace, which is officially endorsed by Kofi Annan.