World Communion Sunday 2003

World Communion Sunday -- celebrated the first Sunday in October -- is one of the most venerable of “special Sundays.” The day has taken on new relevancy and depth of meaning in a world where globalization often has undermined peace and justice -- and in a time when fear divides the peoples of God's earth.  On this day we celebrate our oneness in Christ, the Prince of Peace, in the midst of the world we are called to serve -- a world ever more in need of peacemaking.

2003 Marks 67^th Year for World Communion Sunday

 World Communion Sunday (originally called World Wide Communion Sunday) originated in the Presbyterian Church (USA). In 1936, for the first time, the first Sunday in October was celebrated in Presbyterian churches in the United States and overseas.  From the beginning, it was planned so that other denominations could make use of it and, after a few years, the idea spread beyond the Presbyterian Church.  

            The Department of Evangelism of the Federal Council of Churches (a predecessor body of the National Council of Churches) was first associated with World Wide Communion Sunday in 1940 when the department’s executive secretary, Jesse Bader, led in its extension to a number of churches throughout the world.

            Today, efforts to promote World Communion Sunday are carried out by participating denominations, and several produce materials geared toward this observance.   Please contact your denomination’s national offices to inquire about the availability of such materials. Click below for a few examples of ways that denominations and congregations lift up World Communion Sunday. If you have other resources to suggest, send an e-mail and tell us about them.

Among the denominations that offer World Communion Sunday resources are:

• Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

• The United Methodist Church

• Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

• United Church of Christ: Ideas for Worship Planners and Multicultural Hymns
  

Congregations and individuals also share World Communion Sunday resources that they have created. Some that are available on the Web from past years include:

• Worship Resources Prepared for the Peacemaking Program of the Presbyterian Church (USA) by Bruce and Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, Co-Pastors, First Presbyterian Church, Pitman, N.J.

• Sermon by Rev. Dan Ivins of First Baptist Church of Silver Spring, Silver Spring, Md.

• Sermon by Rev. Lanny Peters of Oakhurst Baptist Church, Decatur, Ga.

• A story of how Muslim immigrant women baked bread for a World Communion Sunday observance at St. Johns United Church of Christ, Kutztown, Pa.

• A litany written by Katharine Hawker for Union Church UCC of Tekonsha, Mich.

• A Christian Century article on World Communion Sunday by Dr. Robert Wall, professor of biblical studies and ethics at Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Wash.