A Witness of Unity, Love, and Life Together in Ecumenical Community – January 2026

The gift of brothers and sisters from many churches

by Ruthie Munk

As a particularly charming middle schooler, I remember asking my dad why he continued in a Greek-speaking church and in a community that was sometimes difficult. He said that the Lord had invited him to the Orthodox Church and to our community, and then hadn’t given him a direction to leave, so – unless the Lord sent him elsewhere – he was staying where God put him, even if was more complicated to do so.

In many ways, this is a big part of the reason I am involved in an ecumenical community: God put me here, and He has not sent me elsewhere, so here I stay. The other reason, though, is that I am confident that ecumenical community is a gift of the God Who gives good gifts to His children, even when they come in complicated packages.

On April 5, my father Jerry passed away. I thought I knew about grief; it turns out, I knew next to nothing. The funeral was beautiful, the prayers have been very much appreciated, brothers and sisters have loved me and have come to walk with me in my raw and very unlovely season of fresh grief… and I have been a mess. God has given me the gift of dear brothers and sisters from many churches, from many countries, and from many experiences of life. He has given me also the precious witness of brothers and sisters who have already learned how to grieve with hope. In so many ways, the relationships that have supported me through these difficult months are the inheritance I have received as the fruit of my father’s faithfulness, but they are also the good gift of my Father who knows how desperately I need the help of a rather large cloud of witnesses. Thank you, Lord.

Ruthie Munk is a member of the Work of Christ Community in Lansing, Michigan (USA). She is a music teacher and directs the choir at her local Greek Orthodox parish.

We serve a God of love who heals and unites

by Steven Maier

From the very beginning of my life with Christ, he has used men and women from various churches and traditions to bring me nearer to Him. From my Methodist grandfather, my Catholic high school friends, and my unchurched younger brother who told me about his dreams of Jesus, I experienced the same thing: God reaching out to me through them.

I could not understand it when I found animosity among us Christians. It was so far from my experience of how God had reached me. Over time I realized that when Christ placed me in his body, he called me to be a part of a broken family. I come from a broken family, and I have felt the pain of a family breaking apart. It is hard to see the worst of the body of Christ. We who were told to show Jesus Christ to the world in our unity and love for one another, instead bring shame on his name by our hatred and division. I know that God feels this pain and is faithful to heal.

We who have experienced Christian unity have such an abundance of riches to share. People from all different walks and traditions in our body have sacrificed for me, encouraged me, admonished me, prayed for me. I have had Catholic friends defend me, a Protestant, from prejudice. I get to see that God has so generously poured out his Holy Spirit on humanity, and I meet him in people of many ages, races, languages, nationalities, traditions – is this not one of the most awesome manifestations of God’s surpassing power? We serve an abundant God. May all the world come to know it more!

Steven Maier is currently in seminary and is part of The Light of Christ Community in Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA). Before this, he and his wife Sarah served for several years in our Sword of the Spirit outreach in Lexington, Texas.

Bearing with One Another in Love

by Ignacio Miranda

I was raised a Catholic, and it was in the Catholic Church that I experienced God’s personal love for me. But from an early age I also enjoyed a unique and exceptional ecumenical experience: my father welcomed Christians from different traditions into our home, sharing common projects, friendship and brotherhood with them.

One of the visitors was an Evangelical Christian, a distributor of the “Gideon Bibles”, with whom my father exchanged books. This brother even visited my Catholic school, to which he donated Bibles and gave occasional talks to the students, telling them about God’s love. This is how I came to realize that God loved and acted in different ways through Christians of different churches. I have always felt called to work for Christian unity.

Today, besides serving in my community, I participate in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service (CHARIS) and in the Ecumenical Council of Santo Domingo. These two organizations function as a bridge within and between the churches, in a country where ignorance or indifference make it difficult to reach greater unity between Evangelical, Orthodox and Catholic Christians.

I thank God for calling me to the Sword of the Spirit and allowing me to meet brothers and sisters from different churches, and to appreciate the specific richness that each one brings to the greater mission we all have, to go out into the world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).

All of us who believe in Christ are children of God (John 1:12). We are all called to overcome our divisions so that the world may believe (John 17:21). I try to walk step-by-step towards the unity that the Lord wants and pray that the thirst he has instilled in me may awaken in more Christians, that together we may see visible fruits of unity for the extension of the kingdom.

Ignacio Miranda, and his wife Carolina, are part of the Body of Christ Community in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Ignacio serves the community as one of the coordinators.

Witness of shared life from different traditions

by Sella Gokchenian Moughalian

I was born into an Armenian Catholic family and grew up attending the Armenian Catholic Church. My family was not deeply rooted in a spiritual foundation, but we attended church on special occasions. During that time, my prayer life was limited, and my understanding of Scripture was superficial.

In the year 2000, at the age of eighteen, a friend introduced me to the Illuminator’s Lamp Community in Lebanon. I still vividly remember my first visit. Being surrounded by joyful people worshiping the Lord with freedom and sincerity deeply moved me. I longed for such a vibrant, personal spiritual life and a living faith. Joining the community became the turning point in my spiritual journey. It led me to a deeper understanding of Christianity, a richer knowledge of the Bible, a more meaningful prayer life, and a greater awareness of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Within this community, I found genuine fellowship – people I could rely on for their unwavering love, care, and loyalty. Despite coming from a different church background, I was welcomed wholeheartedly. After some time, I met my future husband and invited him to the community. As he was Armenian Orthodox, I joined the Armenian Orthodox Church when we married. Throughout the years, community life helped me strengthen my relationship with the Orthodox Church. The Divine Liturgy began to hold new meaning. Holy Communion became a vital and cherished part of my spiritual life.

In 2006, I began working at an Armenian Evangelical School. I have had the privilege of leading worship and teaching God’s Word to students in a Protestant context. I have served in Vacation Bible School programs within different Evangelical institutions. Although it was in a different cultural environment, my ecumenical spiritual foundation built through the teachings and relationships in the Sword of the Spirit allowed me to adapt and share my faith freely.

Sella Gokchenian Moughalian, and her husband Vatche, have been married for twenty years and are blessed with a daughter and a son. They are members of Illuminator’s Lamp in Beirut, Lebanon. Sella serves on the community’s women leadership team and oversees the Children’s ministry.

The blessing of being in an ecumenical community

by Terence Chew-Lau

I am greatly blessed to be a part of the Servants of the Lord community, which is the only ecumenical community in the Asian Region. While our membership is mainly Catholic, we have brothers and sisters from several other Christian traditions: Methodist, Anglican and Evangelical churches.

To me, the blessing of being in an ecumenical community comes from personal experiences of being loved and served by my Protestant brothers and sisters and being able to love and serve them in return. Until recently, Lim Tau Kok, a Methodist, served as our Senior Coordinator. He poured his life’s work into holding our community together, especially through many challenging times. He has demonstrated a level of generous, faithful, and persevering service which I have not encountered elsewhere.

Worth mentioning too is one of the brothers in my men’s group, an Anglican. He has such a great thirst and hunger for God’s word that he continues to attend his church’s intensive, seven-years long, weekly Bible study program. The same is true with the other Evangelical Christians in our pastoral group – they continue to inspire me with their love for Scripture and their conviction that God will greatly bless and sustain them through all the ups and downs of life.

Of course, being in the Servants of the Lord community means that I must be ecumenically sensitive. For example, I must be careful with sharing aspects of my Catholic faith that might cause discomfort or unhappiness on the part of my Protestant brothers and sisters. Overall, I would say being in an ecumenical community has been a source of tremendous joy and has trained me to see other Christians through the eyes of faith. Indeed, we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord!

Terence Chew-Lau has been a member of the Servants of the Lord Community in Singapore for 30 years. He serves in leadership in the community.

Blessings and gifts of shared life in community

by Cal and Mary Ritchie

Belfast has a history of complex relationships within the Christian church, particularly between Protestants and Catholics, as traditional political differences often strain unity.

“Growing up, my dad’s side of the family was Protestant and my mum’s side were Catholic” – says Cal – “We attended a Protestant church which was, alongside Protestant youth camps, the place of my early Christian formation.” Mary adds, “I grew up in an environment dominated by Protestantism. I knew a few Catholics at school, but my household and area were largely from my same church tradition.”

Both were changed when they encountered UCO (University Christian Outreach) at university. When Cal got involved in UCO, “I was struck by the beauty of the charismatic worship, the relationship with Christ exhibited by the members, and the love they had for one another and for new people.”

Cal says, “My faith was helped so much throughout my time at ‘uni’, that I joined UCO staff and the local Sword of the Spirit community. During my time in UCO, I invited Mary, my girlfriend (now wife), best friend, and three younger brothers into UCO and the community!”

“Our ecumenical life was a great blessing to me,” continues Cal. “Some of my Catholic brothers impacted me immensely. Tony and Cedric, from Lebanon, prayed with me to receive the Holy Spirit and had innumerable conversations with me, teaching me how to have a deeper relationship with the Lord. I was inspired by the example of Cormac, a man who served God and others with such humility. I benefitted from the wisdom of Tadhg Lynch, a Servants of the Word brother in Belfast. Without brothers and sisters from different traditions, I do not know where I would be today.”

“I encountered Catholics in UCO whose fellowship and outlook enriched my understanding and experience of faith in Jesus,” says Mary. “I grew up with little knowledge or experience of the Holy Spirit, and found my eyes opened by the brothers and sisters’ powerful and beautiful testimonies of the Spirit’s work and gifts in their lives.

Another aspect of our ecumenical life is how we can bring together and express some of the best gifts of our various traditions: Bible study, charismatic worship, silent prayer, liturgy, and much more. It is as if many streams can feed into one lake. I am so grateful the Lord has brought me to being part of this movement.”

Cal and Mary Ritchie are now members of Ballylesson Church of Ireland, part of the Anglican tradition. They live in South Belfast and are members of the Charis Community. Cal works for University Christian Outreach and is about to complete a master’s degree from Union Theological College. Mary is a physician. They have been married for just over two years.

Focusing on what unites us and what we can learn from one another

by María Castillo Migueis

I have been part of the community with my family since I was born and, over the years, I have been able to experience how good it is to belong to an international ecumenical community.

Despite always knowing what ecumenism was, I grew up in a completely Catholic environment (my school and all the members of my community are Catholic). For a long time, I had not been able to experience the grace of sharing with brothers and sisters from other churches, or how this could help me grow in my spiritual journey.

I remember perfectly the first time I was able to experience the blessing of living in an ecumenical community. It was at a community gathering prior to World Youth Day in Poland, where young people from communities around the world came together. It was easy to see what made us different: different nationalities, languages, customs, etc. But despite all the differences, we were all in the same place and shared the same truth, which was greater than all our differences. We all believed in the same God, and that united us and made us brothers and sisters.

Since then, I have been able to participate in many more gatherings where I have shared with brothers and sisters from different traditions. Each of these moments has been a true gift.

In a world full of division, where differences are always in the spotlight, we cannot be promoters of this separation ourselves. Our prayer for the unity of God’s children must be constant, always focusing on what unites us and what we can learn from one another. In my experience, this is how we can deepen our personal relationships with the Lord.

María Castillo Migueis is part of El Señorío de Jesús community in Vitoria, Spain.

The beauty of ecumenism through community

by Sofia Maroto

I was born into a culture where being Christian was practically the same as being Catholic, and it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I started meeting people from other churches. Later, during my college years, I met the community in Vitoria, where they began to talk to me about the importance of Christians being united as followers of Christ.

Later, I was able to do a GAP year in Costa Rica (a year of volunteer missionary work), where I experienced ecumenism in community in a practical way through several Evangelical families. That experience was new, because in my community all the members are Catholic, although we work to open the community to brothers and sisters from other churches. From this stage of ecumenical formation, the phrase that has stayed with me is, “Everything that can be done together, do together, and only what has to be done separately, do separately.”

At the end of my GAP year, at an international retreat, I met brothers and sisters from the Orthodox Church. I was able to understand better how, even in our differences in worship, the essence of prayer is the same, and it is a true gift to live in a large family where diversity only enriches us and makes us grow spiritually.

Thus, from my ignorance, the Lord was preparing me, showing me the beauty of ecumenism through community. Now, thanks to the Lord, my sister, who had been away from the Lord for a long time, has been able to experience a profound conversion through the Baptist Church. And I, with the grace of the Lord, have been able to be with her on this journey from the very beginning of her conversion, showing her the beauty of living in communion, the differences, and the essentials of Christianity. Now I thank the Lord because I can also live ecumenism in my family.

Sofía Maroto is part of the El Señorío de Jesús community in Vitoria, Spain. She serves the Lord and her brothers and sisters as the head of the children’s ministry.

See links to the week of daily prayers, reflections, and personal witnesses:

The Sword of the Spirit

The Sword of the Spirit is a network of charismatic and ecumenical covenant communities and movements around the World.

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