The Global Church Era · 1921-present · Geneva; global

The Ecumenical Movement & the World Council of Churches

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Era

The Global Church Era

Time Period

1921-present

Region

Geneva; global

Status

Not yet available

About This Movement

The World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh in 1910 left three currents running, which came together over the following decades. The International Missionary Council was founded in October 1921; Life and Work, concerned with the churches' common action in society, took shape in 1925; Faith and Order, concerned with the doctrinal questions that divided them, in 1927. The last two merged into the World Council of Churches, constituted at Amsterdam on 22 August 1948 with 147 member churches, and the International Missionary Council joined them at New Delhi in 1961. It is a council of churches, not a church: it has no authority over its members and no confession of its own, and each member body keeps its own. Orthodox churches are members. The Roman Catholic Church is not, and works with it in other ways.

In Its Own Record

Sources

The founding record of the International Missionary Council (October 1921) (primary) — The council picked up directly from where the Edinburgh 1910 conference left off.
The Amsterdam assembly acta (22 August 1948, 147 churches) and the New Delhi assembly record (1961, the International Missionary Council merger) (primary) — These record the council's founding and its later completion with the missionary council's merger.
Faith and Order (1927) and Life and Work (1925) records (primary) — The two movements whose merger the council was; dates from standard reference.
The World Council of Churches archives in Geneva: assembly reports, Faith and Order studies, and the member-church records (primary) — The institution's own continuing record.