Litany for worship in Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)

ONE: We come before you this day, O God, mindful of our ancestors in the faith sought to respond to your invitation to take your healing love and Christ’s ministry of reconciliation to persons far away.

PEOPLE: We thank you for the privilege of serving you today and for the responsibility to seek to discern your will for our work in your name in this world, in church and society.

ONE: You have given us so much and yet we dare to ask for more: we ask for your healing presence with those who suffer this day, physically and emotionally, and for your comfort with those who grieve the loss of loved ones who are now part of your eternal love.

PEOPLE: Even as we ask for your presence we remember that you have promised your presence, and we thank you!

ONE: Within bonds with other partner churches and ecumenical bodies throughout the world, we recommit ourselves in Christ to share life, resources, and needs.

PEOPLE: We acknowledge the changing shape of mission in these past 200 years and how God has blessed the church universal with different voices and cultural gifts.

ONE: As part of the ecumenical church, and requests of partners, we affirm our commitment to share persons in mission, sending and receiving.

PEOPLE: We confess our human arrogance in too often wanting to impose our values, our solutions on others; keep us humble, God, and remind us how much we have to learn from others.

ONE: We commit ourselves to discovering and sharing exciting new ways to sing the song of faith . . . hearing, telling and participating in the story of God’s love in Jesus Christ.

PEOPLE: We rededicate ourselves this day to the spirit of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. We trust God to give us the ears to hear and eyes to see how Christ is both shared and received by our mission efforts.

ONE: Relying upon God’s grace, we commit ourselves to share in God’s healing of God’s continuing creation.

PEOPLE: We celebrate our partnership in the stewardship of God’s creation with sisters and brothers around the world.

ONE: Recognizing the freedom of God’s Spirit to act in diverse ways, we commit ourselves to engage in dialogue, witness, and common cause with people of other faiths and movements with whom we share a vision of peace, justice, and integrity of creation.

PEOPLE: We rededicate ourselves to listening for God in all places. May we be faithful to the One who has promised to be with us always when we venture forth in Christ’s name, even to the end of the age. Amen.

*originally created for the 2006 Haystack 200th anniversary; revisions by Cally Rogers Witte and Jan Aerie