or Christians there is hardly a more significant word than "grace," God's grace. Whatever we are as individuals or as a world community of believers is the outwork of God's mysterious and wonderful grace. This glorious grace, located in the depth of God's love, reached out to undeserving sinners like you and me, offering us the richness of heaven through the gracious work of Christ.

The church should make this topic a constant object of reflection and meditation, because its very existence is a manifestation of that grace. Reflecting on the wonder of God's grace is, in fact, an exploration into the ministry, death, resurrection, and mediatorial work of Christ on our behalf.

But grace is more than a topic for reflection; it is a way of life. It is power that transforms us and makes us gracious persons who constantly manifest in our lives the wonder of God's grace toward others. Indeed, grace unites us in our sense and need of forgiveness, in the realization that salvation is exclusively through Christ, and in our mission to a world that desperately needs to hear the good news of God's forgiving and sanctifying grace.

The readings for this Week of Prayer come to you, as always, through the pages of the Adventist Review (which every Adventist believer should have in their home) and provide an opportunity for our church members around the world to meditate on and recommit themselves to the wonder of God's grace. It is that grace, embodied in Christ, that keeps us united in the proclamation of our message and the fulfillment of our mission. We have asked church members from different parts of the world to write the devotional materials to be used during the week in order to stress the international flavor of our church. Study these messages, go beyond their content, and praise God for the wonder of His grace.

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Cor. 13:14, NIV).

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Jan Paulsen is president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists