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Women's World Day of Prayer
1.1 The service this year, held on Friday the 4 of March, was prepared by the women of Poland with the theme, ‘ Let our Light Shine’. A theme which reflected the many hopes of the people of the country.
1.2 The borders of Poland have been moved several times as the result of wars and partition. The Polish people have suffered much, before and during, and after the Second World War. They have been divided, occupied and subjected to many atrocities. The concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau stands as a permanent reminder not only to the millions of Jewish victims of the holocaust, but to the thousands of Poles who lost their lives there.
1.3 There have been many famous Polish people. Most notably in recent times is Pope John Paul 11, who was elected Pope in 1978. In 1979 Pope John Paul led a Service in the centre of Warsaw whilst the country was still under communist rule. The fact that someone who did not conform to communism was allowed to speak in public, without restrictions, was incredible.
1.4 In October 2003 the Bible Society invited two representatives from our national committee to join them as they visited their office in Warsaw, I was privileged to be one of the committee members chosen for this memorable event. As the Polish WWDP national committee has close links with the Bible society we all joined together to meet with the writers of this years Service.
1.5 Whilst in Poland we met with Bishop Pikas, a Roman Catholic, who is a great supporter of the Week of Prayer for Christian unity and has worked hard to bring the churches of Warsaw together to share in this. There are seven churches belonging to the Polish Ecumenical Council: the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Old Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist and Baptist
1.6 The Services held throughout England, Northern Ireland and Wales were very well attended with over 350,000 orders of service used. Especially translated service and information sheets are produced for the Welsh speaking churches.
1.7 Services were held in Cathedrals, Churches, Halls, Hospitals, Nursing homes, and Schools where the special children’s service sheets, along with the teacher notes are used at assemblies. The children’s information is also used in many of our Junior churches groups.
1.8 Day conferences and preparation days have continued to increase to the extent that we now have three conference co-ordinators arranging conferences in different areas of the country.
1.9 The service for 2006 has been prepared by the women of South Africa with the theme ‘A Sign of the Times’
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