The prayer vigil for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will take place at Xxxxxx XXXXXXX on XXXXXX XX January 2026 at 19:00.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity traditionally takes place from January 18 to 25, while in the Southern Hemisphere, where January is often a holiday period, churches often celebrate the Week of Prayer around Pentecost.
The theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2026 is based on a text from Paul’s Book of Ephesians ???. As usual, an international team appointed jointly by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity [DPCU] and the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches worked with the authors to finalize the materials. For this year, the prayers and reflections for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity have been prepared by the faithful of the Armenian Apostolic Church, along with their brothers and sisters of the Armenian Catholic and Evangelical Churches.
THEME FOR THE YEAR 2026:
“There is one body and one Spirit,
just as you were called
to the one hope of your calling”
(Ephesians 4:4)
Unity is a divine mandate at the core of our Christian identity, more than simply an ideal. It represents the essence of the Church’s calling – a call to reflect the harmonious oneness of our life in Christ amidst our diversity. This divine unity is central to our mission and is sustained by
the profound love of Jesus Christ, who has set before us a unified purpose. As the Apostle Paul asserts in his letter to the Ephesians, “there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling” (4:4). This Bible verse, chosen for this year, encapsulates the
theological depth of Christian unity.
Ephesians 4:4 summarizes the teachings of Paul about unity, emphasizing, here too, that the followers of Christ represent “one body and one Spirit,” united in a single hope. This metaphor signifies the Church as a unified entity transcending barriers of geography, nationality, ethnicity,
and tradition. Paul uses the metaphor of the Church being the Body of Christ to describe its unity with the diversity of its members. He writes to the Corinthians, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is
with Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12). To the Colossians, Paul elaborates on Christ’s role as the head of the unified body of diverse members, stating, “He is the head of the body, the church.” (Colossians 1:18). Thus, the Church, although composed of many parts, functions as a cohesive
whole. Each member has a unique role and contributes to the overall life and mission of the Church. Recognizing that we are part of one universal Body in Christ encourages global collaboration in spreading His gospel and serving humanity, shifting the focus from internal divisions to a collective mission. Conversely, to limit the Lord’s Great Commission to go into the world and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19) to a community defined by ethnic, geographic, or socio-economic boundaries would deprive that community of one of the Church’s
essential foundations established by the Lord – the unity of His followers worldwide.
In a world with diverse and often divided traditions and expressions of Christian faith, Ephesians 4:4 reminds us that all believers are part of the “one body” of Christ. This unity is not about uniformity but a common commitment to the core truths of the Christian faith. It serves as
a powerful witness to the transformative power of the Holy Spirit when Christians of varied backgrounds come together with a shared goal and vision with authenticity and sincerity.