Believers in Jesus Christ in the northern hemisphere will be praying together for one week starting Wednesday for more unity in the Christian body in observance of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

This year's theme is taken from the apostle Paul's first letter to the Corinthians saying that "We will all be changed by the Victory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:51-58).

The week will be marked by ecumenical services and activities with between Protestant, evangelical, Orthodox and Catholic congregations and communities.

A suggested liturgy, prayers, and bible study texts have been prepared jointly by the Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the World Council of Churches' Commission on Faith and Order for churches that wish to use them. The materials are available in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.

The Rev. Ken Howcroft, a minister at Ponte Sant' Angelo Methodist Church in Rome and the Ecumenical Officer for the British Methodist Church, said that he believes the observance "helps a great deal" in forwarding ecumenical relations .

"I think it's really important that people pray together and that people meet…people that we don't normally don't pray with," Howcroft told Vatican Radio. "We encounter each other as people and as Christians and as fellow disciples and out of that all sorts of other initiatives start to happen throughout the year."

Ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic Church and the World Methodist Council is one of the world's oldest established conversations, stretching back to 1967. Howcroft's church will be hosting a service on Sunday evening called Churches Together in Rome.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity takes place annually from January 18-25 in the northern hemisphere and around Pentecost time in the southern hemisphere.

For resources and more information, go to www.oikoumene.org