A worship service for The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will be held Sunday afternoon, January 23, 2011 at 4:00pm hosted by St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church at 916 E. Rusholme Street, Davenport, IA.
The theme for the 2011 celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is "One in the Apostle' Teaching, Fellowship, Breaking of Bread and Prayer". It comes from the Book of Acts chapter 2 verse 42.
It is generally held that the 1910 World Mission Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland marked the beginnings of the modern ecumenical movement. Now 101 years later we continue to celebrate that the message of unity is still central to the Christian calling. This worldwide celebration is sponsored and developed each year by the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute based in Garrison, NY.
The Quad City area planning committee is composed of both area Catholic and Protestant churches, including from Moline: First Congregational United Church of Christ and Hope United Church of Christ, from Rock Island: St. Pius X Catholic Church, St. James Lutheran Church ELCA, and 15th Avenue Christian Disciples of Christ; and from Davenport St. Paul the Apostle Catholic and Faith United Church of Christ; along with Churches United of the Quad City Area.
FEATURED SPEAKER
The speaker for this unity service will be the Rev. David Geenen, Pastor of 15th Avenue Christian Church, Rock Island. Rev. Geenen is one of the younger members of the clergy in the Quad Cities and will bring that perspective as he looks at ecumenical involvement both that which has gone before since the 1910 World Mission Conference and looking ahead to what may be the future involvement of congregations and church bodies working as one to bring the message of justice and love to the world. David is a 2007 graduate from Fuller Theological Seminary with an emphasis in Peace and Justice. David is currently the Vice President of Quad Cities Interfaith and he serves on the National Board of Disciples Home Missions in Indianapolis. He is also the Co-leader and founder of theplace2be - a faith-based as well as community services effort to create a safe haven for our communities' displaced/homeless youth.