THE SUNDAY FOLLOWING TRINITY SUNDAY IS MARKED AS COVENANT SUNDAY AND THIS YEAR IT FALLS ON 26 JUNE

It is a pleasure to present some news from the Commission of the Covenanted Churches in Wales in the run-up to Covenant Sunday 2011.

We celebrate the renewed commitment of the Presbyterian Church of Wales, the Church in Wales, the United Reformed Church, the Methodist Church and some Baptist congregations to the Covenant, to the Commission of the Covenanted Churches in Wales also to its proposed agenda for the next five years.

This agenda is broad and exciting and includes work in areas such as:
• seeking common ground amongst the churches on matters of Church Governance and Pastoral Oversight,
• identifying areas where a Local Ecumenical Partnership might be established and holding local conversations to facilitate this,
• identifying specific communities, such as new housing developments, which could act as experimental models for ecumenical ministerial deployment,
• revising the Commission of Covenanted Churches’ Baptism and Eucharistic rites,
• working locally with other denominations who are members of Cytûn.

We are also busy planning a Gathering of Covenanted Churches’ representatives. So here’s advance notice encouraging you to keep Saturday 13 October 2012 clear in your diaries and come to the University at Aberystwyth to hear more about and to celebrate the work of the Commission and the Covenanted Churches. The Keynote speaker at this event, alongside other eminent speakers from Wales, will be the Revd Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. We ask for your prayers for the success of this event.

And so I ask you kindly to draw to the attention of your churches and congregations at every possible opportunity, and more especially on the occasion of Covenant Sunday this year, the work of the Commission. We ask for your continuing prayers for the members and the work of the Commission but the following are prayers which can be used specifically on Covenant Sunday:

Collect:
Loving Father, you never cease calling us back to your loving purposes for our lives and for your Church. Inspire us by the power of your Spirit to continue in Covenant with one another and with you; to seek the unity which is your will and to proclaim your love in word and deed, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns, now and forever.

Preface for Eucharist:
Always and everywhere we give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. He calls us into a Covenant of love with Him and with our sisters and brothers; he gives us strength and encouragement for the journey and leads us into all truth.

NOTE:
There is no Free Church equivalent for the above, but if a formal service order is used then these words may be used. A free prayer could be offered if thought more appropriate which could be based on this wording.

If you would like more information about the work of the Commission of the Covenanted Churches please contact Rhian Linecar - rhian@cytun.org.uk - 02920 464371