The WCC Central Committee at its biennial meeting in June. Copyright Albin Hillert/WCC

70 Years of Walking Together

Tuesday August 28 2018

Thomas Baldwin reports on the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches – and the work still to be done.

On August 22 1948, representatives of 147 churches from across the world met in the Nieuwe Kirk, Amsterdam. In a city and world still heavily scarred by war, they gathered for the first assembly of the new World Council of Churches (WCC) – a visible expression of Christian unity.

The Message of the Assembly, conveyed in the opening passage of the official report, states: “We are divided from one another not only in matters of faith, order and tradition, but also by pride of nation, class and race. But Christ has made us his own, and He is not divided. In seeking Him we find one another.”

It goes on: “When we look to Christ, we see the world as it is – His world, to which He came and for which He died. It is filled both with great hopes and also with disillusionment and despair… There are millions who are hungry, millions who have no home, no country and no hope. Over all mankind hangs the peril of total war.”

And it admits that the churches, separated from each other had often spoken ‘not the Word of God but the words of men’.

70 years on, the world is different but arguably no less dangerous, with ‘total war’ still a threat, and millions of people still lacking adequate food or shelter. The need for the churches to speak with one voice is no less urgent.

Against this backdrop, the WCC marks its anniversary this month with much to celebrate, but acknowledging that the work is very far from finished.

On the positive side the organisation has grown – those 147 member churches have more than doubled to around 350, representing over 550 million people (around a quarter of all the Christians in the world) in around 150 countries.

The Roman Catholic Church is still not a member, but that denomination’s engagement in ecumenism from the Second Vatican Council onwards has led to increasingly warm relationships and co-operation in some areas.

Pope Francis, visiting the WCC’s Ecumenical Centre in June as part of the anniversary celebrations, reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s commitment to ecumenism.

However, as the message from the WCC’s central committee marking the anniversary admitted, “Our churches still cannot all share around the Lord’s table”. There is still a long way to go before the ‘full, visible unity’ to which the Council aspires becomes a reality.

Away from church politics, the WCC can point to significant successes in its campaigning work over 70 years, including a leading role in the anti-apartheid campaign and wider anti-racism work, and in pioneering Christian care for creation and climate justice work. Between 1976 and 1992, its Human Rights Resources Office for Latin America supported churches in standing by the victims of 18 military dictatorships. More recently, its Thursdays in Black campaign helped highlight the issue of gender-based violence long before the Harvey Weinstein allegations and the #metoo movement

The latest initiative is the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, which calls on churches everywhere ‘to join with others in celebrating life and in concrete steps toward transforming injustices and violence’.

Miriam Weibye is an elder in the Church of Scotland and its representative on the WCC Central Committee, as well as Church Relations Officer of the Scottish Episcopal Church. She says: “The long trajectory of the ecumenical movement over the last 100 years, and of the WCC in the last 70 years, is not just about bringing the churches together so we feel good, about ourselves or each other. It’s about bringing together all humanity in harmony. The unity of the churches foreshadows the unity of all humanity.

“Since its last assembly, in 2013 in Korea, the WCC and its 350 member churches see themselves united in a quest for social justice and healing the world’s hurts. That is a different way to pursue the historic ecumenical quest for unity, because there’s less emphasis on doctrinal differences and more emphasis on making a difference! Unity doesn’t mean uniformity, but it does mean accountability: we should always call each other to renewal and to more adequately reflect the values of the gospel. That’s what the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace is all about.”

Giving his report to the Central Committee before the anniversary celebrations, the WCC general secretary, the Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, described the organisation as a ‘successful if imperfect fellowship’. He said: “We have seen more clearly what unites us. We have costly experiences of truth and reconciliation processes to share. We have gradually become able to understand one another better and respectfully deal with our differences. Even deep divisions based on theological convictions and historical developments can be bridged. We have learned a lot about living together with our diversity…

“There are strong powers undermining the need to see one another as participants in the one humanity, seeking our common good and our common interests. There needs to be somebody and something that represents a counter-power of unity, justice and peace and that expresses nonpartisan, universal love.”