Philip Potter (church leader)

Last updated May 02, 2019

Philip Alford Potter (19 August 1921 – 31 March 2015) was a leader in the Methodist Church and the third General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (1972–1984).

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948. Its members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, the Old Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, most mainline Protestant churches and some evangelical Protestant churches. Notably, the Catholic Church is not a member, although it sends accredited observers to meetings. 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."

Early life and work

Potter was born at Roseau, Dominica, West Indies into a Christian family with a Protestant mother and a Catholic father.

The West Indies is a region of the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean that includes the island countries and surrounding waters of three major archipelagos: the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago.

Christians are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words Christ and Christian derive from the Koine Greek title Christós (Χριστός), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ).

He was active in church matters from an early age, and then became a lay pastor and ordained minister. He worked on the island of Nevis and with Creole-speaking people of rural Haiti, then on the staff of the Methodist Missionary Society in London. He represented the Jamaica Student Christian Movement at the 1947 world conference on Christian youth in Oslo, Norway, then was a spokesperson for youth at the first two assemblies of the World Council of Churches (WCC), at Amsterdam (1948) and Evanston (1954). In 1984 Potter received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Theology at Uppsala University, Sweden. ^[1]

Pastor ordained leader of a Christian congregation

A pastor is an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. A pastor also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation.

Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Nevis is located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, about 350 km east-southeast of Puerto Rico and 80 km west of Antigua. Its area is 93 square kilometres (36 sq mi) and the capital is Charlestown.

Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti and formerly called Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola, east of Cuba in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres (10,714 sq mi) in size and has an estimated 10.8 million people, making it the most populous country in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the second-most populous country in the Caribbean as a whole.

World Council of Churches

Potter moved to Geneva in 1954 to work in the WCC’s youth department, and remained with the WCC until his retirement. He was the chairperson of the World Student Christian Federation from 1960 to 1968. From 1972 to 1984, he served as the WCC’s General Secretary. He was the first president of WSCF's Centennial Fund. He is considered a leader in world ecumenism.

Geneva is the second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva.

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, and Anglican students.

The term "ecumenism" refers to efforts by Christians of different Church traditions to develop closer relationships and better understandings. The term is also often used to refer to efforts towards the visible and organic unity of different Christian denominations in some form.

In a speech on the occasion of his 85th birthday, at the WCC's 9th Assembly at Porto Alegre, Brazil in February 2006, Samuel Kobia (then General Secretary of the WCC) remarked, "Great strides were taken by the World Council of Churches under Philip Potter’s leadership; among the most memorable were the development of the theological consensus document Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, the continuation of a courageous campaign against apartheid in southern Africa and other forms of racism throughout the world, a vigorous debate on the nature of post-colonial Christian mission, a co-ordinated witness for peace amid East-West tensions and the threat of nuclear annihilation, as well as an exploration of new forms of spirituality, worship and music drawing on the diverse traditions of the churches."

Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, is a Methodist clergyman and the first African to be elected General Secretary (2004–2009) of the World Council of Churches (WCC), a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and local churches representing a Christian population of over 590 million people. In 2010, Rev. Kobia was appointed Ecumenical Special Envoy to Sudan by the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC). Kobia is married to Ruth, and they have two daughters, Kaburo and Nkatha, and two sons, Mwenda and Mutua.

Apartheid system of racial segregation enforced through legislation in South Africa

Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap, which encouraged state repression of Black African, Coloured, and Asian South Africans for the benefit of the nation's minority white population. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day.

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini (Swaziland); and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho. South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and, with over 57 million people, is the world's 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages, nine of which have official status. The remaining population consists of Africa's largest communities of European (White), Asian (Indian), and multiracial (Coloured) ancestry.

In November 2009 the WSCF launched the Philip Potter Fund. This Fund is to support Ecumenical Leadership Formation of young people through the WSCF. In conjunction with the WSCF event in November the WCC renamed its library The Philip Potter Library.

Personal life

Potter's first wife, Doreen, the daughter of a Jamaican Methodist minister, died of cancer in 1980. In 1985, Potter married Bärbel Wartenberg, later Bishop of Lübeck, Germany 2001-2008. He died on 31 March 2015 in Lübeck, Germany.^[2]

Bärbel Wartenberg-Potter is a German theologian. After serving as director over programs for women and children with the World Council of Churches, teaching theology in Jamaica, and serving a pastorate in Stuttgart, Wartenberg-Potter became the president of the Council of Christian Churches in Germany. In 2001 she began a seven-year term as the third woman serving as a Bishop of a Lutheran Church in Germany.

Lübeck is a city in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. On the river Trave, it was the leading city of the Hanseatic League, and because of its extensive Brick Gothic architecture, it is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. In 2015, it had a population of 218,523.

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

Related Research Articles

John Raleigh Mott was an evangelist and long-serving leader of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF). He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 for his work in establishing and strengthening international Protestant Christian student organizations that worked to promote peace. He shared the prize with Emily Balch. From 1895 until 1920 Mott was the General Secretary of the WSCF. Intimately involved in the formation of the World Council of Churches in 1948, that body elected him as a lifelong honorary President. His best-known book, The Evangelization of the World in this Generation, became a missionary slogan in the early 20th century.

Student Christian Movement of Canada organization

The Student Christian Movement of Canada is a youth-led ecumenical network of student collectives based in spirituality, issues of social, economic justice, environmental justice, and building autonomous local communities on campuses across the country. It is part of the World Student Christian Federation. The SCM Canada works with other Christian groups, for example, in 2017 supporting the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Konrad Raiser is a former General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

The World Methodist Council (WMC), founded in 1881, is a consultative body and association of churches in the Methodist tradition. It comprises 80 member denominations in 138 countries which together represent about 80 million people.

Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania is the Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania and as such the primate and Head of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania. He was elected on June 1992. Professor Emeritus of the National University of Athens. Honorary Member of the Academy of Athens. Archbishop Anastasios is one of the presidents of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. Honorary President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace.

Geoffrey Wainwright is a British theologian. He has spent much of his career in the United States and currently teaches at Duke Divinity School. Wainwright has made major contributions to modern Methodist theology and Christian liturgy, and has played an significant role on producing the text Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, as a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Willem Adolph Visser 't Hooft was a Dutch theologian who became the first secretary general of the World Council of Churches in 1948 and held this position until his retirement in 1966.

Lukas Vischer was a Swiss Reformed theologian, author, and advocate of ecumenical dialogue among the world's Christian churches.

Dr. M. M. Thomas was an Indian Christian theologian, social thinker, activist and former Governor of the Indian State, Nagaland. He also served as the Chairperson of the Central Committee of World Council of Churches (1968–1975). He was conferred with the honorary doctorate degree by the University of Uppsala in 1978.

The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) is a pontifical council whose origins are associated with the Second Vatican Council which met intermittently from 1962 to 1965.

Olav Fykse Tveit is a Norwegian Lutheran theologian. He was elected to the post of general secretary of the World Council of Churches on 27 August 2009. He entered office on 1 January 2010, for a proposed term of five years, and was re-elected to a second term in July 2014.

Masao Takenaka was a Japanese theologian who taught for over 40 years at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan, where he was a Professor of Christian Ethics and Sociology of Religion.

Seevaratham Wesley Ariarajah is a theologian, professor, and former director of inter-religions relations at the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Robert Scheuermeier was the first Principal of the Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore, a Seminary affiliated to the country's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University), Serampore.

José Míguez Bonino was an Argentine theologian.

References

↑ "Honorary doctorates - Uppsala University, Sweden". Uu.se. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
↑ "World Council of Churches lauds Philip Potter, one of its most famed leaders". Ecumenical News. Retrieved 1 April 2015.

Kobia, Samuel (18 August 2006). "A tribute to Philip Potter on his 85th birthday". World Council of Churches. Archived from the original on 2006-12-12. Retrieved 2006-12-20.

External links

Media related to Philip Potter (church leader) at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Honorary doctorates - Uppsala University, Sweden". Uu.se. Retrieved 16 October 2017.

[2] "World Council of Churches lauds Philip Potter, one of its most famed leaders". Ecumenical News. Retrieved 1 April 2015.