A chronological account of the key dates in the history of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
| Date | Event |
| c. 1740 | In Scotland a Pentecostal movement arose, with North American links, whose revivalist message included prayers for and with all churches. |
| 1820 | The Rev. James Haldane Stewart publishes “Hints for the General Union of Christians for the Outpouring of the Spirit”. |
| 1840 | The Rev. Ignatius Spencer, a convert to Roman Catholicism, suggests a “Union of Prayer for Unity”. |
| 1867 | The First Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops emphasizes prayer for unity in the Preamble to its Resolutions. |
| 1894 | Pope Leo XIII encourages the practice of a Prayer Octave for Unity in the context of Pentecost. |
| 1908 | First observance of the “Church Unity Octave” initiated by the Rev. Paul Wattson. |
| 1926 | The Faith and Order movement begins publishing “Suggestions for an Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity”. |
| 1935 | Abbé Paul Couturier of France advocates the “Universal Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” on the inclusive basis of prayer for “the unity Christ wills by the means he wills”. |
| 1958 | Unité Chrétienne (Lyon, France) and the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches begin co-operative preparation of materials for the Week of Prayer. |
| 1964 | In Jerusalem, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I prayed together Jesus’ prayer “that they all may be one” (John 17). |
| 1964 | The Decree on Ecumenism of Vatican II emphasizes that prayer is the soul of the ecumenical movement and encourages observance of the Week of Prayer. |
| 1966 | The Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity [now known as the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity] begin official joint preparation of the Week of Prayer material. |
| 1968 | First official use of Week of Prayer material prepared jointly by Faith and Order and the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. |
| 1975 | First use of Week of Prayer material based on a draft text prepared by a local ecumenical group. An Australian group was the first to take up this plan in preparing the 1975 initial draft. |
| 1988 | Week of Prayer materials were used in the inaugural worship for The Christian Federation of Malaysia, which links the major Christian groupings in that country. |
| 1994 | International group preparing text for 1996 included representatives from YMCA and YWCA. |
| 2004 | Agreement reached that resources for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity be jointly published and produced in the same format by Faith and Order (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (now Dicastery) (Catholic Church). |
| 2008 | Commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. (Its predecessor, the Church Unity Octave, was first observed in 1908). |
| 2017 | Marking the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the materials for the Week of Prayer in 2017 were prepared by Christians in Germany. |
Prayer and reflection for the eight days of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Scripture text for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Resources for the 2024 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity were prepared by a team from Burkina Faso.
