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The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Old Catholic Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, the Mennonite Churches, the Methodist Churches, the Moravian Church and the Reformed Churches, as well as the Baptist Churches and Pentecostal Churches. Notably, the Catholic Church is not a full member, although it sends delegates to meetings who have observer status. The WCC arose out of the ecumenical movement and has as its basis the following statement:
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior 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.
It is a community of churches on the way to visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ. It seeks to advance towards this unity, as Jesus prayed for his followers, "so that the world may believe".
A synod is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word synod comes from the Greek: σύνοδος [ˈsinoðos] meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word concilium meaning "council". Originally, synods were meetings of bishops, and the word is still used in that sense in Catholicism, Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not. It is also sometimes used to refer to a church that is governed by a synod.
Ecumenism, also spelled as oecumenism or œcumenism, is the concept and principle in which Christians belonging to different Christian denominations work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjective ecumenical is thus applied to any interdenominational initiative that encourages greater cooperation between Christians and their churches.
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 46,500 members in 1,383 congregations with 608 active ministers, including 13 church related community workers.
The Free Church of England (FCE) is an episcopal church based in England. The church was founded when a number of congregations separated from the established Church of England in the middle of the 19th century.
Religion in the United Kingdom, and in the countries that preceded it, has been dominated for over 1,000 years by various forms of Christianity. Religious affiliations of United Kingdom citizens are recorded by regular surveys, the four major ones being the national decennial census, the Labour Force Survey, the British Social Attitudes survey and the European Social Survey.
In England and Wales, a local ecumenical partnership is a partnership between churches of different denominations. First piloted in 1964, over 850 now exist to promote unity between different Christian denominations.
The Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh is a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), covering the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. Since 18 December 2018, the diocese is part of the Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe.
The right to freedom of religion in the United Kingdom is provided for in all three constituent legal systems, by devolved, national, European, and international law and treaty. Four constituent nations compose the United Kingdom, resulting in an inconsistent religious character, and there is no state church for the whole kingdom.
The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestant Christian denomination in Britain and the mother church to Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council, the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical associations.
Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) is a national ecumenical organisation of churches in Scotland, founded in 1990. It is the successor to the former Scottish Council of Churches. ACTS is one of the four national ecumenical bodies in the UK, with equivalent bodies being Churches Together in England, Cytûn in Wales and the Irish Council of Churches, plus Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. The ACTS office is located in Stirling.
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) is an ecumenical organisation. The members include most of the major churches in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. CTBI is registered at Companies House with number 05661787. Its office is in Central London; As of 2015 the General Secretary was Canon Bob Fyffe.
Cytûn: Churches Together in Wales is a national ecumenical organisation of churches in Wales, formed in 1990. It is the successor to the former Council of Churches for Wales. Cytûn's offices are located in Richmond Road, Cardiff.
Churches Together in England (CTE) is an ecumenical organisation and the national instrument for the Christian Churches in England. It helps its Member Churches work better together.
The Catholic Church has engaged in the modern ecumenical movement especially since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the issuing of the decree Unitatis redintegratio and the declaration Dignitatis humanae. It was at the Council that the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity was created. Before that time, those outside of the Catholic Church were categorised as heretics or schismatics.
The Church of England is the established state church in England, whose supreme governor is the monarch. Other Christian traditions in England include Roman Catholicism, Methodism and the Baptists. After Christianity, the religions with the most adherents are Hinduism, Sikhism, Neopaganism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and the Baháʼí Faith. There are also organisations promoting irreligion, including humanism and atheism.
This article describes the relations between the Seventh-day Adventist Church and other Christian denominations and movements, and other religions. Adventist resist the movement to full ecumenical integration with other churches, believing that such a transition would result in a renouncing of its foundational beliefs and endanger its distinctive message. According to one church document,
The National Council of Churches in India is an ecumenical forum for Protestant and Orthodox churches in India.
The Woolf Institute is an academic institute in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1998 by Dr Edward Kessler MBE and the Revd Professor Martin Forward in central Cambridge on the Westminster College, Cambridge Site, it is dedicated to the study of interfaith relations between Jews, Christians and Muslims. Using research and education to explore the relationship between religion and society, it aims to foster greater understanding and tolerance.
Paul David Loup Avis is an Anglican priest, theologian and ecumenist. He was General Secretary of the Church of England’s Council for Christian Unity from 1998 to 2011, Theological Consultant to the Anglican Communion Office, London, from 2011 to 2012, and Canon Theologian of Exeter Cathedral, 2008-2013. He is currently Honorary Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University, UK. At the University of Exeter he was Visiting Professor of Theology, 2009-17 and is currently Honorary Research Fellow. He is Director of the Centre for the Study of the Christian Church which organises occasional conferences and is linked to the journal Ecclesiology, published by Brill, of which he is Editor-in-Chief. He is the Editor of the series 'Anglican-Episcopal Theology and History', also published by Brill. Paul Avis was also a Chaplain to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2008-17.
References
- ↑ Churches designated pursuant to the Church of England (Ecumenical Relations) Measure 1988, reproduced at page 203 in Canons of the Church of England (complete text)
- ↑ "Member churches:". Churches Together in England. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
- ↑ "Entry Clearance Guidance - General Instructions: Chapter 18 Annex 6 - Religious organisations/groups". UK Border Agency. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
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