In January we celebrated the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This is a world-wide initiative that aims to draw Christians of different denominations closer together. In Wirksworth we are fortunate to have very good relationships with the other churches. We know many people by name in other churches and the work of Churches Together is extensive throughout the year, which is really good.

This year, for the second time running, we celebrated our joint children’s work with a fantastic Praise Party during the Week of Prayer. We had invited Doug Horley (or ‘Duggie Dug Dug’) to run this professional event again and it was a great evening with more than 60 children attending. It was a wonderful witness to the churches’ ability and desire to work together with and for children. I also enjoyed playing air guitar for the first time in my life!

I was also tremendously encouraged by the daily gatherings for prayer that took place during the 8 days of prayer. This had been done some years before but had been abandoned in recent years due to poor attendance. For the duration of the week morning prayers were held in a different church and the numbers grew every day. It started out with less than 10 people on the first day and grew to about 30 people towards the end of the week. There was a great sense of excitement and joy in coming together which I am sure was felt by all who attended. Although we already do so many good things together, it felt to me that God was doing something new. I am left with the feeling that God has something new in store for the churches in Wirksworth, and I pray that we may be led into deeper visible unity and new ways of serving and witnessing together.

Later this month the ‘Crossways Players’ will be performing in Glenorchy – this is a drama group made up of members from the URC, Baptist and Methodist churches. It’s one way of working together and drawing us all closer. We look forward to seeing the fruits of their efforts!

We also continue our 3 Church explorations, as this year we will be looking into the possibility of joining together to become an LEP (a single church made up of three denominations).

As we give thanks for the good relations and the good work of Churches Together in Wirksworth we are challenged to continue to deepen our unity, by Jesus’ words: “I pray that they may all be one” (John 17:21) May God bless us and guide us by his Spirit as we reflect on those words. Camilla