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World Council of Churches

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism.[1] Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Union of Utrecht, the Lutheran World Federation, the Anglican Communion, the Mennonite churches, the World Methodist Council, the Baptist World Alliance, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the Pentecostal churches, the Moravian Church and the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church.[1][2][3] Notably, the Catholic Church is not a full member, although it sends delegates to meetings who have observer status.[1][4]

World Council of Churches

WCC

International

1948 (1948)

350 (member churches)

The WCC describes itself as "a worldwide fellowship of 352 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service".[5] It has no head office as such, but its administrative centre is at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.[6] The organization's members include denominations which claim to collectively represent over 500 million people across the world in more than 110 countries.[7]


Many regional affiliates of the World Council of Churches, such as the Middle East Council of Churches and National Council of Churches in Australia, work for the cause of Christian unity at the domestic level, with member denominations including the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Lutheran churches, Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox churches, Methodist churches, Anglican Communion, Reformed churches, among others.[8][9]

Events and presidents[edit]

Assemblies[edit]

The World Council of Churches has held 11 Assemblies to date, starting with the founding assembly in 1948:[23]

Echos – Commission on Youth (ages 18–30)

Commission of the Churches on Diakonia and Development

Commission on Education and Ecumenical Formation

Commission of the Churches on International Affairs

Commission on Justice, Peace and Creation

Commission on World Mission and Evangelism

Faith and Order Plenary Commission and the Faith and Order Standing Commission

Joint Consultative Group with Pentecostals

Joint Working Group WCC – Catholic Church (Vatican)

Reference Group on the Decade to Overcome Violence

Reference Group on Inter-Religious Relations

Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC

Peace journalism[edit]

The WCC is also a prominent supporter and practitioning body for Peace journalism: journalism practice that aims to avoid a value bias in favor of violence that often characterizes coverage of conflict.[50]

Spin-offs and related organizations[edit]

The ACT Alliance, bringing together over 100 church-backed relief and development organizations worldwide, was born out of the merger of ACT International (Action by Churches Together International) and ACT Development (Action by Churches Together for Development) in March 2010. Both ACT International, established in 1995, and ACT Development (2007) were created through the leadership of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The two bodies coordinated the work of agencies related to the member churches of the WCC and the Lutheran World Federation in the areas of humanitarian emergencies and poverty reduction respectively.[51]


The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance was officially founded in December 2000 at a meeting convened by the WCC. There are currently 73 churches and Christian organizations that are members of the Alliance, from Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. These members, representing a combined constituency of tens of millions of people around the world, are committed to working together in public witness and action for justice on defined issues of common concern. Current campaigns are on Food and on HIV and AIDS.[52]


The Ecumenical Church Loan Fund (ECLOF) was founded in 1946 as one of the world's first international micro-credit institutions in the service of the poor. Willem Visser 't Hooft, then general secretary of the "WCC in process of formation" played an important role in founding ECLOF. It was he who sketched the prospects and challenges for the proposed institution and gave specific ideas on potential sources of funds. His inspiration and teamwork marked the beginning of a long and fruitful cooperation between ECLOF and the WCC.[53]


The Ecumenical Development Cooperative Society U.A (now known as Oikocredit) was developed from discussions at the 1968 Uppsala 4th Assembly, regarding church divestment from financial institutions supporting apartheid-era South Africa and the war in Vietnam. After several years of planning, the cooperative society was founded in 1975 in the Netherlands to provide an alternative ethical investment vehicle to church institutions, by providing credit to productive enterprises serving economically disadvantaged populations. Originally organized for large institutional members of the WCC, by 1976 local congregations developed Support Associations to enable congregations as well as individuals to participate. EDCS became independent from the WCC in 1977.[54]


Ecumenical News International (ENI) was launched in 1994 as a global news service reporting on ecumenical developments and other news of the Christian churches, and giving religious perspectives on news developments worldwide. The joint sponsors of ENI, which was based at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, were the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches, which also had their headquarters at the Ecumenical Centre.[55] A shortage of funds led to the suspension of the work of ENI in 2012.[56] As of 2024 ENI remains closed.

[57]

[59]

Caribbean –

Caribbean Conference of Churches

Latin America – [61]

Latin American Council of Churches

Middle East – [62]

Middle East Council of Churches

Canadian Council of Churches

Pacific – ,[63] Suva, Fiji

Pacific Conference of Churches

The WCC has not sought the organic union of different Christian denominations, but it has, however, facilitated dialogue and supported local, national, and regional dialogue and cooperation.


Membership in a regional or national council does not mean that the particular group is also a member of the WCC.

Lima Liturgy

John R. Mott

John Romanides

Joseph Oldham

Nathan Soderblom

Charles Henry Brent

Christian ecumenism

Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians

World Summit of Religious Leaders

Programme to Combat Racism

Authorship of the Bible

List of the largest Protestant bodies

Jennifer Marianne Hart

The Genesis of the World Council of Churches, in: A History of The Ecumenical Movement 1517–1948, R. Rose, S. Ch. Neill (ed.), London: SPCK 1967, second edition with revised bibliography, pp. 697–724.

W. A. Visser 't Hooft

Official website