The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU), from 18 to 25 January, is an important milestone in our ecumenical calendar. We know that many local Churches Together and Christians Together groups hold joint events and services in this period. There are pulpit swaps, prayer relays and pilgrimages. However, it was a particular delight to hear about the WPCU visit by Years 3/4 at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School to their local Anglican church in Broadway, a large village south east of Evesham in Worcestershire.
The Vicar of Broadway with Wickhamford and Childswickham Parishes, Rev Shellie Ward writes…
Although we don’t have a Church of England school in my parishes, we are blessed to have a lovely on-going relationship with St Mary’s Catholic School. And it was a particular joy to be asked to meet Beech Class and Mr Fessey at St Michael’s for Christian Unity week. The children sang Hey Hey Hey, an iSingPop song, which we recently sang at Bishop Hugh’s installation service. (Bishop Hugh Nelson is the new Bishop of Worcester) This has the line ‘taking care and working with each other …praising God’ in the first verse. We had fun with the actions and talked about how we work together.
We also spoke about the similarities and difference between our churches. We spoke about coming together this week to worship God, sharing God’s love. We also prayed together and set the task of praying through doves of peace which the children at St Mary’s created when they went back to class. The children named different things they could put on their doves including wars around the world, the local foodbank and homelessness. These doves were brought back to St Michaels and are now on display in the church.
It was wonderful to have Beech Class with us in St Michael’s church and for them to be so enthusiastic and excited to be there.
Beech Class teacher at St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Mr Michael Fessey writes:
Our visit to St Michael and All Angels Church was a really positive and meaningful experience for the children and a wonderful way to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Rev Shellie made us feel extremely welcome and explained Christian unity to the children in a way that was thoughtful, accessible, and inspiring.
Throughout the visit, the children were particularly reflective about the similarities and differences between St Michael’s and St Saviour’s (the church attached to our School). They noticed that, while both churches are places of prayer, worship, and community, the way these are expressed can look different across Christian traditions.
Victoria said, “I noticed that there wasn’t a tabernacle at the altar like we have at St Saviour’s. Rev Shellie explained that different churches have different ways of setting up their worship spaces, even though they are all Christian.”
Florence shared, “I saw that there were lots of crosses, like in our church, but the crosses at St Michael’s didn’t have Jesus on them. It showed me that churches can look different but still believe the same things.”
The children were also fascinated by the stained glass windows and the way they tell stories from the Bible. Daniel said, “I really liked the stained glass windows. Rev Shellie told us the stories behind them, and I liked how they helped people understand the Bible just by looking at the pictures.”
From my perspective as a teacher, the visit helped the children to understand that Christian unity does not mean being the same, but choosing to walk together with respect and understanding. They came away recognising that, despite differences in layout, symbols, and traditions, Christians share the same core beliefs of love, prayer, and following Jesus. Seeing churches working together in this way was a powerful and memorable experience for them.