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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 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member communions include mainline Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, African-American, evangelical, and historic peace churches. Together, they encompass more than 100,000 local congregations and 40 million adherents. It began as the Federal Council of Churches in 1908, and expanded through merger with several other ecumenical organizations to become the National Council of Churches in 1950. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the National Council of Churches was partially funded by the "Foundation for Youth and Student Affairs" which was a front funded by the CIA to oppose communism.
The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) is a federation of autonomous national Student Christian Movements (SCM) forming the youth and student arm of the global ecumenical movement. The Federation includes Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic, Pentecostal and Anglican students.
The International Council of Community Churches (ICCC) is a Christian religious association of ecumenically co-operating Protestants and Independent Catholics based in Frankfort, Illinois, in the United States. It is the main organization of the Community Church movement. The ICCC is a member of Churches Uniting in Christ, the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA and the World Council of Churches. In 2010, the ICCC had 148 congregations with 68,300 members. Membership is concentrated primarily in the Midwest. However, there are several congregations in California, New York, and Florida. According to the World Council of Churches, the council has 108,806 members worldwide.
The National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) is an ecumenical organisation bringing together a number of Australia's Christian churches in dialogue and practical cooperation.
The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) is one of the four "Instruments of Communion" of the Anglican Communion. It was created by a resolution of the 1968 Lambeth Conference. The council, which includes Anglican bishops, other clergy, and laity, meets every two or three years in different parts of the world.
The Australian Student Christian Movement (ASCM) is a Christian group with an ecumenical focus working with university students.
The Christian Conference of Asia is a regional ecumenical organisation representing 15 National Councils and over 100 denominations (churches) in New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand.
The Congregational Federation of Australia and New Zealand is a Congregational denomination originally comprising fourteen congregations in New South Wales and Queensland but now including congregations in New Zealand.
The Methodist Church of New Zealand is a Methodist denomination headquartered in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is a member of the World Methodist Council.
Conciliarity is the adherence of various Christian communities to the authority of ecumenical councils and to synodal church governance. It is not to be confused with conciliarism, which is a particular historical movement within the Catholic Church. Different churches interpret conciliarity different ways.
The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Reformed churches in the world. It has 233 member denominations in 110 countries, together claiming 100 million people, thus being the third largest Christian communion in the world after the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. This ecumenical Christian body was formed in June 2010 by the union of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC).
Alan Anderson Brash was a leading minister of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, and of the worldwide ecumenical movement. He was the son of notable Presbyterian lay leader Thomas Brash, and the father of National party opposition leader and Governor of the Reserve Bank, Don Brash.
All Africa Conference of Churches is an ecumenical fellowship that represents more than 120 million African Christians in 173 national churches and regional Christian councils. AACC's head office is in Nairobi, Kenya, and there is a regional office in Lomé, Togo. Its current General Secretary is the Rev. Dr. Fidon Mwombeki, Minister of the Lutheran Church in Tanzania. The Desmond Tutu Conference Centre in Nairobi is an affiliate of the AACC.
Larry Pickens is a graduate of North Park University and holds a master of theology degree and master of divinity degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, a doctorate in ministry from Chicago Theological Seminary, and a Juris Doctorate from DePaul University College of Law. Larry is the pastor of Southlawn United Methodist Church i Chicago. Larry is the former general secretary of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns of the United Methodist Church. During his tenure as the ecumenical staff officer these significant events took place. Pickens is currently the Ecumenical Director of The Lehigh Conference of Churches in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
The National Council of Churches in the Philippines is a fellowship of ten Protestant and non Roman Catholic Churches in the Philippines denominations, and ten service-oriented organizations in the Philippines. A member of the World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia, the NCCP represents close to twelve million Protestant adherents. Advocacy for environmental protection and against large-scale mining are part of its core mission. Christian organizations other than churches may be received as associate members.
The National Council of Churches in Korea is a Christian ecumenical organization founded in Korea in 1924 as the National Christian Council in Korea. It is a member of the World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia.
References
- ↑ "National Council of Churches". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.
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