In the early 1940s American Evangelicals created two organizations: The National Association of Evangelicals and the American Council of Christian Churches. Both were loyal to orthodox Christianity but differed in their structure and in their attitude toward conciliar ecumenism. The American Council was especially critical not only of the National Council and World Council of Churches but of all who were in any way associated with them.
[tags]American-Council-of-Christian-Churches, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, National-Association-of-Evangelicals, World-Council-of-Churches[/tags]
Dismayed at the hundreds of divisions within Protestantism, in 1960, as chief executive officer of the United Presbyterian Church in USA, and later General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, he proposed that the Protestant Episcopal Church and Northern Presbyterians jointly invite the Methodists and the United Church of Christ to form a new Christian Church. This would have created a denomination of about 19 million members.
[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Eugene-Carson-Blake, history, Presbyterians, Protestantism, World-Council-of-Churches[/tags]
Ecumenical means world-wide or universal. Applied to Christian churches, it implies the oneness of Christians in the faith, wherever they may be found. This unity can be either a spiritual reality apart from organizations of men or an effort to create some federations of churches or some merger of denominations. We call the spirit of unity "ecumenicity"; and the organizational effort the "ecumenical movement." The creation of national and world-wide councils of churches we label "counciliar ecumenism."
The first significant effort in modern times to encourage cooperation among Protestants was the Evangelical Alliance. Organized in London in 1846. Then in 1908 thirty-one American denominations joined in the Federal Council of Churches. In 1950 this Council was absorbed by a larger body, the National Council of Churches of Christ. Yet the most ambitious expression of ecclesiastical ecumenism is the World Council of Churches, formed in 1948 at Amsterdam.
The
(1865-1955)
A Methodist layman, he combined a deep religious faith; evangelistic zeal; power over public assemblies; and compelling, convincing speech. At twenty-three he became student secretary of the International Committee of the YMCA. Sensing the need for greater coordination of student work, he founded in Sweden the World's Student Christian Federation. After the epoch-making Edinburgh Conference Mott served as chairman of the Continuation Committee. When the International Missionary Council was created in 1921, he served for twenty years as its first chairman. No man led more to the spread of the Christian unity that led to the World Council of Churches.
[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, John-R.-Mott, Methodist, World-Council-of-Churches[/tags]
In the early 1940s American Evangelicals created two organizations: The National Association of Evangelicals and the American Council of Christian Churches. Both were loyal to orthodox Christianity but differed in their structure and in their attitude toward counciliar ecumenism. The American Council was especially critical not only of the National Council and the World Council of Churches but of all who were in any way associated with them.
[tags]American-Council-of-Christian-Churches, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, National-Association-of-Evangelicals, World-Council-of-Churches[/tags]
The first significant effort in modern times to encourage cooperation among Protestants was the Evangelical Alliance, organized in London in 1846. Then, in 1908, thirty-one American denominations joined in the Federal Council of Churches. In 1950 this Council was absorbed by a larger body, the National Council of Churches of Christ. Yet the most ambitious expression of ecclesiastical ecumenism is the World Council of Churches, formed in 1948 at Amsterdam.
[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Evangelical, Federal-Council-of-Churches, history, National-Council-of-Churches, World-Council-of-Churches[/tags]
During the significant early years of the World Council the General Secretary of the World Council was Visser't Hooft. Hooft had served as secretary of the World's Committee of the YMCA and then in the same office in the World's Student Christian federation. In 1938 he seemed the natural choice to lead the Provisional Committee that shaped the World Council at Amsterdam.
One of Visser't Hoofts's pet projects after World War II was the creation of an Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland for the training of leaders in the church unity movement. Thanks to Visser't Hooft's diplomacy an assembly of the World Council of Churches became a colorful mosaic of cultures, continents and concerns.
[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, Willem-Adolph-Visser't-Hooft, World-Council-of-Churches[/tags]
The most ambitious expression of ecclesiastical ecumenism is the World Council of Churches, formed in 1948 at Amsterdam. It is helpful to think of the World Council as a major river flowing from three tributaries. These three streams are The International Missionary Council, The Conference on Life and Work and the Conference on Faith and Order. All three trace their sources to that peak of modern ecumenical history The International Missionary Conference at Edinburgh in 1910.
[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, history, International-Missionary-Conference, World-Council-of-Churches[/tags]
