‘They were one in the apostles’ teaching,

fellowship, breaking of breadand prayer’

(Acts 2:42)

18th-25th January 2011

UNITY•What does ‘unity’ mean?To unite means to come togetheras one ‘UNIT’

When are we part of ‘ONE UNIT’?

IN OUR FAMILY

•We are part of our family and share many things together

IN SCHOOL

•We are part of our class and learn, play and grow together

When are we part of ‘ONE UNIT’?

IN SPORTS•We are part of a team or a club. Wetrain together, play matches together. We celebrate when we winand support each other when we lose.

When are we part of ‘ONE UNIT’?

UNITY•We we UNITE we come together asONE•We become stronger than we are onour own•We remember and value the things wehave in common

‘Ní neart go cur le chéile’ (an oldIrish saying ‘Strength in unity’)

What is a ‘Christian’?

A Christian is someone whobelieves that Jesus is the Sonof God and tries to live and lovelike Jesus.

•Christianity is a religion (a set of beliefsfollowed by a large group of people)•It is one of 3 major world religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity) that believe in ONE GOD

•It began around 33AD, after the death and resurrection of Jesus

•There are approximately 2 billion Christians in the world today (out of 6 billion humans in total)

•The first Christians were actually Jewish!•Mary, Jesus’ mother was a young Jewish girl•Jesus grew up in the Jewishreligion

•The Jewish people were in factwaiting for their ‘Messiah’ to savethem, only a small group believed Jesus wasthe one they were waiting for!

•Jesus sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to his followers•The ‘Holy Spirit’ was one of the ways that God could remain with his followers and give them His help

•By receiving the ‘Holy Spirit’ every person inthe world would be able to come to know God•Every person who receives the Holy Spiritthrough Baptism is a Christian

The first Christians,along with Mary, theMother of Jesus,received the HolySpirit after Jesus ascended to Heaven. We call this day Pentecost.

•Lived together and shared everything theyhad with each other•Went to the Jewish temple together•Met in each others houses for the ‘breakingof bread’•Loved each other so well that others who were not Christian joined them because ofhow they treated each other

•For many hundreds of years they remainedUNITED in Jesus’ name•They began to build their own churchbuildings and their number increased greatly•They began to have the ‘breaking of bread’(the ‘Eucharist’ or ‘Mass’ as we know it) in these church buildings•They remained united in the teachings of Jesus

•However, around 1000AD, a big division happenedin the Church that Jesus started•It was called ‘The Great Schism’ and it separated the Church in the East (east of Rome) from the Church in the West (Rome and west of Rome)•The reasons for the division are a little complicated(but maybe you could do some research on it for a history project?)

http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/gr/Great_Schism

•After the East-West split, the Christian Churchhad two parts: The Catholic Church (in the West)and The Orthodox Church (in the East)

•These two parts believed in the very same thingsbut the Catholic Church was united under the Popeand the Orthodox Church had various leaders called ‘Patriarchs’

•So up until about 1500AD, this is how Christianswere grouped in the world

•Today, those two parts of the Christian Churchstill remain (in Ireland, we are part of the CatholicChurch)

•Around 1500AD, there was another division withinthe Catholic part of the Christian Church

•It happened during ‘The Reformation’ and it ledto there being many different Christian groupsaround the world

0AD33AD

1000AD

OrthodoxChristians

Catholic Christians1500AD

ProtestantsLutheransAnglicansEvangelicalsPentecostalMethodistPresbyterian

To see a more detailed timeline: http://www.njstthomas.org/site/pics/church_timeline.jpg

‘Father, may they all be one..so that the world may believethat you sent me’John 17:21

18th-25th January 2011Every year ALL CHRISTIANS pray for the unity of Christians

Jesus wants for us all to be ONE in Him

Let us pray..Lord Jesus, help all those who believe in you to be united in the world; so that they may show a stronger, more powerfulwitness to your Good News. Lord, hear us…

Lord, graciously hear us.

Amen

Here are some useful websitesyou can look at:

•http://www.oikoumene.org•http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/weeks-prayer-doc/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20090630_week-prayer-2010_en.html