Week of prayer for Christian Unity 2020 – Overall Theme: Unusual Kindness

Throughout the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity members of many of the church denominations in Leyland have been gathering in different churches to pray together. This year as part of our Week of Prayer for Christian Unity we were delighted for one of the daily services to be hosted by Leyland Baptist church.

A blessing for everyone involved was a historic event on Thursday 23 January when for the first time in the history of CTL, Leyland Baptist hosted the service of prayer. People came together in large numbers to pray for greater unity, celebrate the unity that already exists and worship God for his glory, in the week of prayer for Christian Unity.

Sandra Crawford, the present minister led the service with the able help of Tony, her husband. Apart from the prayerful singing, Sandra reflected on the story of St Paul’s shipwreck on Malta with 274 companions on board and how the native Maltese welcomed them all with Unusual Kindness. We were asked to reflect on what does welcoming the lost and the poor mean for us today as members of Churches Together in Leyland?

Sandra illustrated her talk with her experience in the “Jungle Refugee Camp” of Calais where she and a group of others have gone to support and give generously to the refugees. Her experience amid the ghastly sufferings of the refugees who have traveled over vast miles of land and sea in grave and continuous danger, was that it was the refugees who had nothing, who taught the team what generosity truly meant. In a context of no running water, no proper toilets, no proper homes, destruction of the little they did have on a regular basis, and yet …….the refugees were the givers. They showed generosity of heart and Unusual Kindness in ways that do and should humble us.

The photograph shows the group present just after the worship ended. We thank God for this new step that has been taken on the path to unity here in Leyland.