WCC: FUNCTIONS AND BRIEF HISTORY

The Basis of the World Council of Churches, with which member churches express agreement, describes it as a 'fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.'

Constitutionally, the 'primary purpose' of the World Council of Churches 'is to call one another to visible unity in one faith and in one eucharistic fellowship'.

The constitution also says the churches through the Council will

• promote the prayerful search for forgiveness and reconciliation in a spirit of mutual accountability
• facilitate common witness in their work for mission and evangelism
• express their commitment to Christian service and responsibility by serving human need, breaking down barriers between people, promoting one human family in justice and peace, and upholding the integrity of creation
• assist each other in their relationships to and with people of other faith communities
• foster renewal and growth in unity, worship, mission and service.

Located in over 100 countries, WCC member churches [now 342] come from nearly every Christian tradition. The WCC collaborates with national and regional Christian councils, international organizations of Christian World Communions (e.g., Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist) and many specialized international ecumenical bodies. Through its Commission of the Churches on International Affairs it is accredited as a nongovernmental organization with the United Nations.

Among traditions outside WCC membership are Roman Catholicism, Seventh-day Adventism and the Salvation Army. They belong, however, to some national and/or regional Christian councils. The Salvation Army has fraternal relations as a world confessional body. WCC and Vatican staff cooperate in various ways, a WCC-Roman Catholic Joint Working Group meets yearly and the Vatican names some members to the WCC Faith and Order Commission.

About 200 people work at the WCC headquarters in Geneva. WCC programme work is divided into a General Secretariat and four 'clusters': Communication; Finance, Service and Administration; Issues and Themes (Faith and Order, Mission and Evangelism, Justice, Peace and Creation, Education and Ecumenical Formation); Relations (Ecumenical Relations, Regional Relations and Ecumenical Sharing, Interreligious Relations and Dialogue, International Relations). A 100,000-volume library is located at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva; and an Ecumenical Institute is located in Bossey, near Geneva.

Since its first assembly in Amsterdam in 1948, WCC assemblies - the Council's chief legislative body –have met in Evanston (near Chicago, 1954), New Delhi (1961), Uppsala (1968), Nairobi (1975), Vancouver (1983), Canberra (1991) and Harare (1998).

The Harare assembly elected eight WCC presidents: Dr Agnes Abuom (Anglican, Kenya); Rev. Kathryn Bannister (Methodist, USA); Bishop Jabez Bryce (Anglican, Tonga); His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos (Eastern Orthodox, Turkey); His Holiness Ignatius Zakka Iwas (Oriental Orthodox, Syria); Mr Moon Kyu Kang (Presbyterian, Korea); Bishop Federico Pagura (Methodist, Argentina); Bishop Eberhardt Renz (Lutheran, Germany).

They are part of the 158-member WCC Central Committee, which meets every 12 to 18 months. Its officers are the moderator (His Holiness Aram I, Oriental Orthodox, Lebanon), two vice moderators [Ms Justice Sophia Adinyira (Anglican, Ghana); Dr Marion Best (United Church of Canada)] and the general secretary, who also heads the WCC staff. The officers and other Central Committee members make up the 25-member WCC Executive Committee, which meets twice a year. The present general secretary is Konrad Raiser (Evangelical Church in Germany).

February 2001

Source: http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/press_corner/history-e.html

P.S. BOLDS AND HIGHLIGHTS ADDED FOR EMPHASIS. Blogmaster