On January 20, 2017, the Ecumenical Prayer service for Christian unity was held in Tbilisi.

The contemporary ecumenical movement is often said to have started with the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference. Conference attendees came to an agreement that the Christian unity would strengthen the apostolic activity and the Churches itself. The Evangelical Baptist Church was one of the initiators of Ecumenical Prayer services in Georgia.

For many years the faithful of four Christian denominations have prayed for unity in Georgia. Among them are the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Holy Church in Georgia, the Roman Catholic Church in Georgia, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia and the Evangelical Baptist Church in Georgia. Every year the Ecumenical Prayer service is conducted under the chairmanship of one of four Churches.

This year the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia was granted the honor of offering a prayer for unity.

The Prayer Service was attended by Archbishop Giuseppe Pasotto, the leader of Apostolic Department of Caucasian Latin Catholics; Bishop Hans-Joachim Kiderlen, the leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia; the leader of the Evangelical Baptist Church in Georgia, His Grace Bishop Merab Gaprindashvili; His Grace Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan, the Primate of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia; the Head of the State Agency for Religious Issues, Zaza Vashakmadze; clergy from different Churches and many faithful.

The clergy and the faithful of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, the Makar Yekmalyan Choir of the Cathedral of Saint George participated in the service together with the other Churches.

Bishop Hans-Joachim Kiderlen, the leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia welcomed the people present.

The spiritual leader highlighted the prayer meeting of Christians and a plea to God for mercy; he stressed the ethnic and religious diversity and the value of similar meetings.

The prayer service was offered under the motto: “God's love moves us toward reconciliation”. The Ecumenical Prayer participants built a separating brick wall (where every brick was symbolizing human vices), which is being erected because of a lack of love, hatred and envy, false accusations, discrimination, persecution, staying away from receiving Holy Communion, intolerance, the religious wars, schism, abuse of authority, estrangement and pride. Passages from the Holy Bible were read and hymns were performed, while the representatives of different nationalities and religions prayed for forgiveness of sins, repentance and the destruction of the wall separating us from God and from one another.

It was the warm feeling of spiritual unity and support to each other that prevailed during the Ecumenical Prayer service. Through Christian love and faith turning the wall of evil into the powerful cross, the attendees raised prayers of hearing the Word of God, unity and world peace.

The Bishops lit the candles of peace and love for the faithful. The Ecumenical Prayer service ended with the prayers and blessings of four bishops in their own language.