A Season of Peace: September 7 – October 5, 2025

A Season of Peace” is the name for a period of focused activity by the PC(U.S.A.) that begins on the first Sunday in September and concludes with World Communion Sunday on the first Sunday of October with the Peace & Global Witness Offering. 

Every fall, the PCUSA extends an invitation to join with people of faith from around the country and the world for A Season of Peace, a month-long pilgrimage designed to deepen the pursuit of peace for congregations, small groups, families and individuals. This season is a time of growth, encouragement, challenge, inspiration and education that invites you to consider your own relationship to peacemaking and justice. Our connectional church is rooted in none other than Christ’s clear call to harmonious living. The apostle Paul tells the Romans that we are to pursue what makes for peace, to build each other up, and to not cast judgment on those who are different from us or have different customs or needs than our own.

Paul is inviting the Romans — and us — to break down the neat and orderly worlds we create for ourselves and experience the fullness of our diversity. This means leaving our comfort zones and seeing our neighbors, both around the corner and around the world, not as “them” but as “us,” friends and siblings in Christ. Whenever we welcome and embrace one another in this way, we respond to Paul’s invitation to pursue what makes for peace.

Click here for a link to a Season of Peace Resources

World Communion Sunday and The Peace & Global Witness Offering

World Communion Sunday (WCS) is a tradition that promotes Christian unity by bringing together believers from diverse cultures and denominations for Holy Communion. Initiated by Shadyside Presbyterian Church pastor Hugh Thomson Kerr in 1933, the celebration was adopted by the PC(USA) in 1936 and promoted worldwide by the Federal Council of Churches in 1940. The celebration encourages sharing cultural elements like food, clothing, and music, connecting believers in Christ across the globe.

The Peace & Global Witness Offering is collected on WCS and helps to pursue peace in a variety of ways. Gifts to the Offering are combined with others to support Presbyterian mission and ministry around the world. Our congregation and presbytery keep a portion to help us be peacemakers in our own communities by meeting needs and ensuring every person can flourish. Our participation in supporting this Offering helps us see the face of God in all people. May the offerings of our time, talent, and self be used by God and by our congregation to pursue what makes for peace today and in the future.

This year’s Path of Peace takes up this call in a distinct way. Each day, we offer a vignette of a Presbyterian who contributed to the civic and spiritual well-being of our church and world and made a significant impact on the common good here or abroad. Some battled injustice; others broke down barriers and dividing walls. Many advocated for marginalized communities and made room for them within the church. Each offers us an example of how peace can be pursued in tangible ways.