WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY
JANUARY 18–25, 2020
PREPARATION: Religious Educational Materials
Tools for Religious
Education / Catechesis
Using the Brief History
An option for consideration and use at all ages of religious education is to tell the story of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The history is available on this website and it could be used as stepping stone to teaching your students about prayer and Christian Unity and how the church is divided but has common beliefs found in the Nicene-Constantinople Creed.
For Junior and Senior High School—An Essay Contest
For Junior and Senior High School student develop an essay contest around the quest for Christian Unity using either the 2020 theme or some aspect of ecumenism that your students could find interesting such as what another religious community believes and how it relates to what they believe.
Organize a Church Visit
Talk to the pastors of local churches and arrange for your students to visit another church. Encourage them to attend the worship or prayer of another denomination and have a discussion afterwards with the pastor or youth minster. You might even want to ask the minister or priest to invite some of the students' peers to discuss their religion.
Use Visual Tools and Social Media
Youth today are surrounded by a variety of messages from many different mediums of communication. For Junior and Senior high school students consider using the media they watch or use on a regular basis. Episodes of various television series are widely available today for your use. One could also consider asking the student to create their own work on the quest for Christian unity or on questions of their concern related to their Christian identity. They could use such social media tools as YouTube or Facebook for a creative exchange of ideas with their peers.
You might also do a web-search for power-point presentations on ecumenism that might be helpful.
Using the Puzzles
The puzzles that follow can be used in any religious education setting with children ages 10 and above. The words contained in the puzzle are words that can be used as teachable moments to explain the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the many aspects of praying for Christian Unity. The second puzzle when completed will reveal the 2020 theme: They Showed Us Unusual Kindness.
Christian Unity
| ACTS | APOSTLES | ATONEMENT | CALLED |
| CHRISTIAN | CHURCH | CLERGY | COMMUNITY |
| DIALOGUE | DISCIPLES | DIVIDED | ECUMENICAL |
| EPISTLE | FRIARS | FRIENDSHIP | GOD |
| JESUS | KINDNESS | LOVE | MALTA |
| MUSIC | ONE | PEACE | PRAYER |
| RECONCILED | SUNDAY | UNITY | WEEK |
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2020
This puzzle is called a Cryptogram. At the top there is a KEY that lists all the letters from A thru Z with a box below. Each of the letters has a corresponding number.
The bottom part contains a secret phrase. Each of the blanks has a number underneath it. Fill in the letters that correspond to the numbers below the blanks to solve the phrase.
Created by Puzzlemaker at DiscoveryEducation.com
Christian Unity Word Scramble Solution
You can give clues to the answers. A suggested clue is given for each answer but you should be as creative as possible and use the clues as teachable moments to reinforce theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Unscramble each of the clue words. The answer key is follows followed by possible clues for each word.
Christian Unity 2020— Words related to Christian Unity
| inyut | |
| seJus | |
| churhc | |
| ifhat | |
| mthiyg | |
| sact | |
| odLr | |
| igdaouel | |
| ipisdlces | |
| oflwlero | |
| oeelpp | |
| ameotennt | |
| viefgsesnor | |
| yrecm | |
| elvo | |
| sioreigul | |
| iepstr | |
| rafeht | |
| restsi | |
| decall | |
| calimrpo | |
| drifne | |
| ieetlps | |
| ayprer | |
| ateopsl | |
| tecnoaricilnio |
| inyut | unity | The opposite of division is this |
| scihrt | Christ | Another name for the Lord |
| churhc | church | Where you are supposed to be on Sundays |
| ifhat | faith | One of the virtues |
| mthiyg | mighty | Another word for strong and powerful |
| sact | acts | A group of actions taken by a person |
| igdaouel | dialogue | When two or more people talk together with each other |
| ipisdlces | disciples | Followers of Jesus |
| oflwlero | follower | Someone who does not lead |
| oeelpp | people | Another name for a group of persons |
| ameotennt | atonement | Franciscan Friars who began the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at Graymoor |
| viefgsesnor | forgiveness | What Jesus gives us for our sins |
| yrecm | mercy | Something you show another person when they have wronged you |
| elvo | love | When you really care about someone it is said that you...them |
| sioreigul | religious | Men and women who profess vows in the catholic church |
| iepstr | priest | One who is ordained |
| rafeht | father | Another name for a priest |
| restsi | sister | Another name for a nun |
| decall | called | What you are when you follow Jesus in a life of ministry |
| calimrpo | proclaim | To speak loudly and announce the Good News |
| drifne | friend | Someone who is close to you and who appreciates you |
| ieetlps | epistle | Another name for a Letter in Sacred Scripture |
| ayprer | prayer | Words we offer to God or Jesus |
| ateopsl | apostle | One of Jesus’ closest friends |
| tecnoaricilnio | reconciliation | when opposing views come together |
A Fun Way to Promote Unity
A new tool that can be used in schools and religious education settings has been created to promote unity in a world that seems so divided. It is a new game called, "webelieve2," and it is an Interfaith Board Game. It is being used by congregations, families, interfaith groups and schools, to provide opportunities for folks to discover their common spiritual journeys while learning about other's beliefs, as well. It's designed for players from teenage to adult and works well with players from either similar or diverse backgrounds. If you are interested, please look for it at the following website: Amazon.com: webelieve2
Another new game is an interactive card games that challenges people’s perspective on how they see the world. This game is clearly designed for adults so it would serve as a great tool for using in adult education. The game is titled, “How Do You See The World?. If you are interested, please look for it at the following website: https://authenticagilitygames.com A new version of the game is soon to be released called “Religious” which will permit players the opportunity to discover why and how other’s political and religious beliefs are formed.