| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
After the initial successes of the Ecumenical Movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, church leaders (in 1937) agreed to establish a World Council of Churches, based on a merger of earlier organizations. Its official organization was deferred by the outbreak of World War II until August 23, 1948, when representatives of 147 churches assembled in Amsterdam to merge the Faith and Order and Life and Work movements in the new WCC. In 1961, the International Missionary Council was merged with the WCC.
WCC member churches today include nearly all the world's Orthodox churches; numerous Protestant churches such as BaptistThe Baptist church is a movement within the Protestant branch of Christianity that emphasizes a believer's baptism by full immersion, which is performed after a profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. A congregational governance system giv, Lutheran, Methodist, and ReformedThe Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations historically related by a similar Zwinglian or Calvinist system of doctrine but organizationally independent. Each of the nations in which the Reformed movement was established had originally i; the Anglican CommunionThe Anglican Communion is a world-wide organisation of Anglican Churches. There is no single "Anglican Church"; it is better to speak of the Anglican Communion, which consists of national churches in communion with the Church of England. Most share the do; and a broad representation of united and independent churches. The largest Christian body, the Roman Catholic ChurchThe Roman Catholic Church (often called simply the Catholic Church, but see Catholicism for other meanings of the term "Catholic Church") is a worldwide body of Christians in full communion with the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, and subscribing to the beliefs, is not a member of the WCC, but has worked closely with the Council for more than three decades and sends observers to all major WCC conferences as well as to its Central Committee meetings and the Assemblies. The Vatican'sVatican may refer to: Holy See Roman Curia Vatican City Vatican Hill Vatican Palace Vatican Library. Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity also nominates 12 members to the WCC's Commission on Faith and Order as full members.
Representatives of the member churches meet every seven years in an Assembly, which elects a Central Committee that governs between Assemblies. A variety of other committees and commissions answer to the Central Committee and its staff.
The WCC acts both through its member churches and other religious and social organizations to coordinate ecumenical, evangelical, and social action. The WCC is particularly known for its Programme to Combat Racism that coordinated church response to apartheidApartheid ap-ar-taed is an Afrikaans word meaning "separation" or literally "aparthood" (or "apartness"). It was the name of the policy and the system of laws implemented and enforced by "White" minority governments in South Africa from 1948 till 1990. in South Africa. Current WCC programmes include a Decade to Overcome Violence and an international campaign to combat AIDS/HIV in Africa. In doctrinal matters, the WCC's Commission on Faith and Order has been successful in developing consensus agreements on Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, on the date of Easter, on the nature and purpose of the church, and on ecumenical hermeneutics.
The current General Secretary of the WCC is Samuel Kobia