World day of prayer

This article covers the former World Women's Day of Prayer . For the World Day of Prayer of Religions for Peace, see World Prayer Meeting .

World Day of Prayer logo since 1982

The World Day of Prayer ( WGT , also known as: World Day of Prayer for Women ) is the largest ecumenical grassroots movement of women. Her motto is: "Pray informed - act praying". The World Day of Prayer is celebrated in over 120 countries in ecumenical services. On site, women of different denominations prepare the design and implementation of the services together. Every year women from another country in the world write the order of worship for the World Day of Prayer. The World Day of Prayer takes place on the first Friday in March.

The ecumenical service for the World Day of Prayer

The ecumenical service for the World Day of Prayer is prepared on site by women of different denominations. All men, women and children are invited to its celebration. World Day of Prayer takes place worldwide on the first Friday in March. The order of worship is drawn up beforehand by women from a certain country and translated into the respective national language by those responsible at the national level in the other countries. The women bring their own hopes and fears, joys and worries, wishes and needs as well as their own cultural diversity into the texts and prayers of the divine service order.

The International World Day of Prayer Committee declares on World Day of Prayer: "The World Day of Prayer is a worldwide movement of Christian women from many traditions who come together every year to celebrate a common day of prayer and which in many countries unites a permanent community of prayer and service."

The exchange and the visible fellowship of all Christian women in the world have been the common concern of the World Day of Prayer from the beginning. That is why the prayers and texts of this day are proposed and written every year by women from another country. The women involved reflect the basis of their country and represent the different Christian denominations from which they come. International World Prayer Day Conferences are held every four to five years. Representatives from all regions come together there. It will be decided which countries will prepare the next services on which topics.

The last International World Day of Prayer Conference took place in Brazil in August 2017. It had over 200 participants from all over the world. At the World Prayer Day services, collections are collected as a sign of global solidarity; each National Committee is responsible for using the collection. Most of the funds collected at the ecumenical services on the first Friday in March in Germany will be used for women's projects all over the world.

Since 1944, the song The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended (German "The day, my God, has passed", EG 266) has been the closing song of the world prayer day services.

History of the World Day of Prayer

As early as 1887, there were days of prayer, which were brought into being by the women's mission organizations in the USA and Canada. In 1897, the first interdenominational "Day of Humiliation and Prayer" was celebrated jointly by women engaged in the US domestic mission. Women from six denominations took part. The order of worship was drawn up alternately by the various denominations. In the years that followed, the date of the day of prayer changed frequently. From 1907 it became simply the Day of Prayer for Home Missions , the "Day of Prayer for the Inner Mission". In 1912, women serving on the U.S. Outer Mission established an interdenominational day of prayer. At the “Interdenominational Conference” in Philadelphia, the women's organizations were recommended to always celebrate this common day of prayer for the external mission at the same time (the first week of January of the year). The response to these days of prayer was still muted at that time. Finally, in January 1926, the executive committee of the Union of Women's Work for External Mission suggested that a world day of prayer be established. The first world day of prayer was celebrated on March 4, 1927. The first WGT committee came into being and also a fixed date: the first Friday in Passion.

In Germany, Methodists held the World Day of Prayer for the first time in 1927 . In 1947 the first ecumenical world prayer day service with American women took place in Berlin on the initiative of the Methodist Luise Scholz. In 1948 Antonie Nopitsch, founder of the Bavarian Mothers' Service in Stein near Nuremberg, got to know the World Day of Prayer at the women's pre-conference of the Ecumenical Council and on a trip to the USA. A year later, the liturgy for the World Day of Prayer Service was printed in stone. 10,000 copies were sent across Germany. From 1952, the Evangelical Women's Aid in Potsdam printed the liturgy for the World Prayer Day services in the GDR.

The range of denominations that took part in the World Day of Prayer grew steadily. In 1970 the Roman Catholic women's associations also joined.

In 1956 it was the prayer of the Sioux Indians that was prayed on the World Day of Prayer in 134 countries. In 2011, the order of worship for the World Day of Prayer for women from Chile came. For 2012, women from Malaysia wrote the divine service regulations on the subject of "Stand up for justice". In 2013, the World Day of Prayer for women from France came.

criticism

Public criticism of the divine service texts was expressed above all when the liturgy - as in 1994 - had been drawn up in Palestine itself or in a country neighboring the State of Israel . The allegation was that Israel was solely responsible for injustice and human rights violations in the Middle East conflict . For example, in the run-up to the World Day of Prayer in 2003, which was developed by Lebanese Christians, women theology students from Berlin wrote an open letter and spoke of the fact that the liturgy from Lebanon contained unilateral accusations of blame on Israel and thus represented “quite open anti-Semitism”. Theology professor Peter von der Osten-Sacken thereupon criticized the students for hastily applying the term anti-Semitism: “With the accusation of anti-Semitism, if only to prevent inflationary and ultimately ineffective use, one should in fact circumvent it carefully and only then raise it if it is sufficiently well founded and thus made clear in what sense it is being used. ”Nonetheless, von der Osten-Sacken essentially shared the students' criticism of the divine service texts. For example, there is a passage, the content of which, when thought through to the end, “would result in the termination, dissolution or elimination of the State of Israel.” Accordingly, the German Coordination Council of the Societies for Christian-Jewish Cooperation did not speak of anti-Semitism, but described the worship liturgy as simply “ hostile to Israel ”and as a burden for the Christian-Jewish relationship. Anti-Israel, for example, is that the suffering of the Palestinians in the Lebanese refugee camps is blamed on Israel alone, without taking into account that Lebanon is forcing the refugees in the camps to isolate them and systematically preventing integration. The German World Prayer Day Committee defended itself by pointing out that the anti-Semitism allegation was a "manslaughter argument". Susette Menzendorf regretted that the World Prayer Day Committee had not faced the discussion: "The refusal of the World Prayer Day Committee to correct the one-sided attribution of guilt to Israel ... is ultimately a refusal to deal with one's own prejudices."

Organization in Germany

The non-profit organization World Prayer Day of Women - Deutsches Komitee eV in 90547 Stein is active as the German representative of the international world prayer day movement. The committee consists of twelve church women's associations and organizations from nine different denominations. These are:

• Office for pastoral care for women in the German dioceses
• Working Group of Mennonite Congregations in Germany (AMG)
• Association of Old Catholic Women in Germany
• Association of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany
• Federal Association of Community Officers and Religious Teachers iK in the Dioceses of the Federal Republic of Germany
• The Salvation Army
• Evangelical Brethren Union - Herrnhuter Brothers Congregation
• Evangelical Women in Germany V.
• Women's work of the Evangelical Methodist Church
• Catholic women's community in Germany
• Catholic German Women's Association
• Commission of the Orthodox Church in Germany

Topics and countries

year	country	theme
1932	British India	Remain strong in prayer
1933	China	follow me
1934	South African Union	Prayer for the peace of Jerusalem
1935	Netherlands	Carry each other's burden ( Gal 6,2  EU )
1936	Chile	Peace on earth for the people on whom his good pleasure rests ( Lk 2.14  EU )
1937	Africa	Son of the living God
1938	New Zealand	The Church - One World Community
1939	United States	Let's put our love into action - to make it come true
1940	England	By being quiet and hoping you would be strong ( Isa 30:15  EU )
1941	Shanghai ( China )	Your kingdom come ( Mt 6.10  EU )
1942	French refugees , German refugees	I am the way ( Joh 14,6  EU )
1943	United States	That they are all one - they in us ( Joh 17:21  EU )
1944	Unknown	One bear the other's burden
1945	England , Wales , Northern Ireland	The Church universal
1946	Central African Republic (French Equatorial Africa)	What would bring you peace ( Lk 19.42  EU )
1947	British India	Prepare the way of the Lord in the desert ( Isa 40,3  EU )
1948	Unknown	The Lord's Prayer - The World in Prayer
1949	China	The Lord keeps you ( Ps 121,5  EU )
1950	Japan	Faith for our time
1951	Germany	Love drives out fear
1952	United States female farm tenants, migrant workers and Indian women	Christ is our hope
1953	Africa	Walk as children of light ( Eph 5,8  EU )
1954	India	So that they have life ( Joh 10,10  EU )
1955	Buenos Aires ( Argentina )	Abide in me ( Joh 15,4  EU )
1956	United States	Love drives out fear
1957	Hungary	One flock, one shepherd
1958	Australia	The bread of life ( Joh 6,35  EU )
1959	United Arab Republic	I believe Lord ( Joh 9,38  EU )
1960	Canada	We are God's co-workers
1961	United States	Lead the changing times: Be grateful in everything ( 1 Thess 5:18  EU )
1962	Uruguay	Because God loved the world so much ( John 3:16  EU )
1963	South Korea	In all of this we overcome far through the one who loved us
1964	France , Switzerland (World Council of Churches)	Lord, teach us to pray ( Lk 11.1  EU )
1965	United States	What does the Lord ask of us? ( Wed 6.8  EU )
1966	Scotland	You are my witnesses ( Isa 43,10  EU )
1967	Tonga	There will be no end to his empire ( Lk 1.33  EU )
1968	Ceylon	One bear the burden of the other ( Gal 6,2  EU )
1969	Africa	Let us become one in Christ
1970	Egypt , India , Jamaica , Philippines , United States	Courage to live
1971	Jamaica	Changed people change the world
1972	Europe	Live from joy
1973	New Zealand	Awake in our time
1974	Japan	Build on peace
1975	Egypt	Live from unity
1976	Mexico , Union of South American Nations	Learn from life
1977	German Democratic Republic	Love becomes action
1978	Canada	Living in the spirit of community
1979	East Africa	Grow spiritually
1980	Thailand	Responsible for freedom
1981	United States	Our earth God's creation
1982	Ireland	People of God - in prayer and action
1983	Caribbean	Becoming new in Christ - living as new people
1984	Sweden	Hope in Christ - source of life
1985	India	Pray for peace - do peace
1986	Australia	Choose life
1987	Executive Committee of the International WGT Committee	Come, rejoice - 100 years of the World Day of Prayer
1988	Brazil	Open doors
1989	Burma (Myanmar)	Jesus, teach us to pray
1990	Czechoslovakia	Our hope - justice for all
1991	Kenya	On the road together
1992	Germany , Austria , German-speaking Switzerland	Live in wisdom with creation
1993	Guatemala	Bring healing as God's people
1994	Palestine	Walk - see - act
1995	Ghana	The earth - a house for all people
1996	Haiti	Called to answer by God
1997	South Korea	Grow - like a seed to a tree
1998	Madagascar	Fihavánana! Who are my neighbors
1999	Venezuela	God's tender touch
2000	Indonesia	Talitha kumi - young woman, get up!
2001	Samoa	Learn from one another - pray together - act together
2002	Romania	Challenged to reconciliation
2003	Lebanon	Holy Spirit fill us
2004	Panama	Women shape the future in faith
2005	Poland	Let us be light
2006	South Africa	sign of time
2007	Paraguay	United under God's tent
2008	Guyana	God's wisdom gives new understanding
2009	Papua New Guinea	We are many, but one in Christ
2010	Cameroon	All that has breath, praise God ( Ps 150.6  EU )
2011	Chile	How many breads do you have? ( Mt 15.34  EU )
2012	Malaysia	Stand up for justice
2013	France	I was a stranger - you welcomed me ( Mt 25.35  EU )
2014	Egypt	Water currents in the desert
2015	Bahamas	Do you understand my love? ( Joh 13,12  EU )
2016	Cuba	Take in children and you take me in
2017	Philippines	What is fair?
2018	Suriname	God's creation is very good! ( Gen 1.31  EU )
2019	Slovenia	Come on, everything is ready! ( Lk 14.15–24  EU )
2020	Zimbabwe	Get up, take your mat and walk around!
2021	Vanuatu	Build on a Strong Foundation ( Mt 7.24-27  EU )
2022	England , Wales , Northern Ireland	I know the plans I have for you ( Jer 29.11  EU )
2023	Taiwan	I have heard about your faith ( Eph 1.15–19  EU )
2024	Palestine	I beg you… bear with one another in love ( Eph 4.1–3  EU )
2025	Cook Islands	I made you wonderful ( Ps 139.14 (1-18)  EU )
2026	Nigeria	I will give you rest: come ( Mt 11 : 28-30  EU )

literature

• Elfriede Dörr: World Day of Prayer as a place of learning. Approaches to ecumenical prayer through the World Women's Day of Prayer. With a preface by Margot Käßmann , Forum Systematik 34, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 3-17020-715-6 .
• Ulrike Bechmann : World Day of Prayer for Women , in: Dictionary of Feminist Theology. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2001, pp. 575-577.
• Ulrike Bechmann: World Women's Day of Prayer . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 10 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2001, Sp. 1076 .
• Helga Hiller: Ecumenism of women. KlensVerlag, Düsseldorf 1999, ISBN 3-87309-173-9 .

Web links

• World Day of Prayer Germany
• World Day of Prayer Austria
• World Day of Prayer Switzerland
• World Day of Prayer Liechtenstein
• Guiding Principles for World Day of Prayer; Decided at the 11th International WGT Conference in Toronto 2007. (pdf, 142 kB) In: weltgebetstag.de. 2007, archived from the original . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Praying informed - acting in prayer. Leaflet for the World Day of Prayer, published by the World Day of Prayer for Women - Deutsches Komitee e. V. (Status: 08/2012)
2. ↑ Questions and answers on the German World Prayer Day website ( Memento from January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
3. ^ International WGT Conference 2007: Guidelines for the World Day of Prayer. (pdf, 142 kB) In: weltgebetstag.de. 2007, accessed November 24, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Organization. In: weltgebetstag.de. Retrieved November 24, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Your collections and donations strengthen women worldwide! In: weltgebetstag.de. Retrieved November 24, 2019 . 
6. ^ Joyce Archibald: A History of the World Day of Prayer. In: World Day of Prayer - Scotland. September 30, 2019, accessed November 24, 2019 . 
7. ^ Pray informed - "act in prayer", leaflet for the World Day of Prayer, published by the World Day of Prayer for Women - Deutsches Komitee eV (status: 11/2009)
8. ^ Helga Hiller: Ecumenism of women . KlensVerlag, Düsseldorf 1999, ISBN 3-87309-173-9 , p. 51
9. ^ Helga Hiller: Ecumenism of women. KlensVerlag, Düsseldorf 1999, ISBN 3-87309-173-9 , p. 52
10. ^ Helga Hiller: Ecumenism of women. KlensVerlag, Düsseldorf 1999, ISBN 3-87309-173-9 , p. 63
11. ^ Helga Hiller: Ecumenism of women. KlensVerlag, Düsseldorf 1999, ISBN 3-87309-173-9 , p. 82
12. ↑ Informed Prayer - Praying Acting. Leaflet for the World Day of Prayer, published by the World Day of Prayer for Women - Deutsches Komitee eV (Status: 11/2009)
13. ↑ World map on the German World Prayer Day website
14. ↑ Quoted in Susette Menzendorf: "Criticism of Israeli politics is not anti-Semitism". An analysis of the controversy surrounding the World Prayer Day Liturgy 2003. In: Encounters. Zeitschrift für Kirche und Judentum 4/2003, pp. 8–17, here p. 8.
15. ^ ^{A b} Peter von der Osten-Sacken: Accusation of anti-Semitism against the World Prayer Day Liturgy 2003: Opinion. In: haGalil . January 22, 2003, accessed November 24, 2019 . 
16. ↑ ^{a b} Quoted from Helmut Frank: Controversy about the liturgy. Is World Day of Prayer Anti-Israel? In: Sunday paper. Evangelical weekly newspaper for Bavaria 9/2003, March 2, 2003, pp. 4–5, here p. 4.
17. ↑ Susette Menzendorf: "Criticism of Israeli politics is not anti-Semitism". An analysis of the controversy surrounding the World Prayer Day Liturgy 2003. In: Encounters. Zeitschrift für Kirche und Judentum 4/2003, pp. 8–17, here p. 17.