‘They were one in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer’ (Acts 2:42) 18 th -25 th January 2011

UNITY What does ‘unity’ mean? To unite means to come together as 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. We train together, play matches together. We celebrate when we win and support each other when we lose. When are we part of ‘ONE UNIT’?

UNITY We we UNITE we come together as ONE We become stronger than we are on our own We remember and value the things we have in common ‘Ní neart go cur le chéile’ (an old Irish saying ‘Strength in unity’)

What is a ‘Christian’? A Christian is someone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God and tries to live and love like Jesus.

Christianity is a religion (a set of beliefs followed 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 Jewish religion The Jewish people were in fact waiting for their ‘Messiah’ to save them, only a small group believed Jesus was the 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 in the world would be able to come to know God Every person who receives the Holy Spirit through Baptism is a Christian

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

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

For many hundreds of years they remained UNITED in Jesus’ name They began to build their own church buildings 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 happened in 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?)

After the East-West split, the Christian Church had two parts: The Catholic Church (in the West) and The Orthodox Church (in the East) These two parts believed in the very same things but the Catholic Church was united under the Pope and the Orthodox Church had various leaders called ‘Patriarchs’ So up until about 1500AD, this is how Christians were grouped in the world

Today, those two parts of the Christian Church still remain (in Ireland, we are part of the Catholic Church) Around 1500AD, there was another division within the Catholic part of the Christian Church It happened during ‘The Reformation’ and it led to there being many different Christian groups around the world

0AD 33AD 1000AD Orthodox Christians Catholic Christians 1500AD Protestants Lutherans Anglicans Evangelicals Pentecostal Methodist Presbyterian To see a more detailed timeline:

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

18 th -25 th January 2011 Every 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 powerful witness to your Good News. Lord, hear us… Lord, graciously hear us. Amen

Here are some useful websites you can look at: cils/chrstuni/weeks-prayer- doc/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_ _week-prayer- 2010_en.htmlhttp:// cils/chrstuni/weeks-prayer- doc/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_ _week-prayer- 2010_en.html