World Council History
Diocesan Press Service. January 8, 1968 [61-8]
Rt. Rev. John Sadiq, Bishop of Nagpur
(Editor's Note - This is the second of two articles written by Bishop Sadiq in the Nagpur Diocesan News Letter. Again, we hope it will aid you in interpreting the WCC General Assembly to be held this summer.)
The Fourth Assembly to be held in Uppsala, Sweden, July 4 - 20 cannot be isolated from its predecessors. Each of those earlier stages on the road had its own characteristics, each reflected the Ecumenical situation of that time and expectation for the immediate years ahead. If we are to understand Uppsala 1968, we must first take a backward glance to the pioneers and to the meetings which remain milestones of ecumenical history.
THE PIONEERS
W. A. Visser't Hooft, General Secretary of the WCC from 1938-66, came to that position from leadership in the World Student Christian Federation, which - like the YMCA and YWCA - produced so many of the ecumenical leaders of the future. An earlier generation included John R. Mott and J H. Oldham, the Chairman and Secretary respectively of Edinburgh 1910; Nathan Soderblom, who organized the 1925 Stockholm Conference and became Archbishop of Uppsala, the city of this Fourth Assembly; William Paton, Ruth Rouse, George Bell, William Temple - the roll is long; and even so must omit many names. It is hard to assess how much the student Christian Movement contributed to the ecumenical cause. We can well be grateful for its imaginative inspiration of young Christians who learned early to seek how they could obey their Lord's will "that they may all be one".
Not all the pioneers were from the Western world. The ecumenical movement has never forgotten a call from what was then a quite unexpected source - the 1920 Encyclical of the Ecumenical Patriarch, summoning all Christians to the serious quest of unity. Archbishop Germanos of Thyatira carried this torch for the Orthodox Churches until his death. In later years Asia and Africa have developed their own ecumenical bodies under inspiring leadership: the East Asia Christian Conference, and the All Africa Conference of Churches, and - most recently - the Pacific Conference of Churches. Rajah Manikam, D. T. Niles, S. H. Amissah, and Vavae Toma must also be mentioned as those who began new chapters in regional ecumenical cooperation. Emilo Castro is now similarly pioneering in Latin America.
EDINBURGH 1910: THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD
"Edinburgh 1910" is the first great milestone in the history of the modern Ecumenical Movement. The abbreviation denotes the World Missionary Conference held that year in the Scottish capital. This event, superbly prepared for, carried through, and followed up under Dr. Mott's leadership, was the birth-place of a new mentality that, one way or another, was to leave no Church unaffected. Roman Catholic theologians, for example, have stated that the recent renewal in their church would not have been possible but for the influence of what started in Edinburgh and found later expression through the World Council of Churches.
It is important to remember that the main impulse for the Ecumenical Movement was thus a missionary one. The nineteenth century had seen a remarkable concern for Christian witness and service throughout the whole inhabited world (the oikoumene, in Greek). It had also realised that Christian witness was inadmissibly weakened by the division of the Church.
Three movements sprang out of the Edinburgh Conference. The first came to a focus in the International Missionary Council, organized in 1921 to co-ordinate and assist missionary work throughout the world. The First World War had meanwhile made it clearer than ever before that Christians have a responsibility for social and political justice. This insight led to the movement for Life and Work. In 1925 this brought Christian leaders from all over the world together in Stockholm in order to stimulate Christian action in society. The third movement, for Faith and Order, had its first world Conference in 1927. This was to study matters that had been expressly excluded from the Edinburgh Conference, namely, the things which keep Christian communions apart and those which'unite them in Christian fellowship.
In 1938 these last two movements associated to form a provisional committee of the World Council of Churches "in process of formation".
AMSTERDAM 1948: MAN'S DISORDER AND GOD'S DESIGN
It was appropriate that the WCC should eventually be founded in a world just recovering from the sufferings and ravages of war. Although it had originally been intended that the Council should be established in 1941, this was clearly impossible in war-time. It was thus a full decade after the provisional Committee had been established that the Constituting Assembly.took place in Amsterdam in Europe, where the bonds which unite Christians across the barriers of national hatred had been most severely strained, yet had held fast. And at Amsterdam 351 delegates, representing 147 churches, declared to all the world their intention to "stay together". As someone remarked, in the Ecumenical movement anything may be possible until it is done.
EVANSTON 1954: REJOICING IN HOPE
Six years later, the Second Assembly was held in Evanston, Illinois (USA). The number of delegates was 502, from 160 member churches. The theme of this gathering was "Christ, the Hope of the World". The destiny of the individual and the human race, the character of man and the effectiveness of his efforts to control his destiny, were brought into sharp focus, at a time when these matters were, because of world conditions, of immediate and personal concern to all.
The delegates renewed the pledge they had made at the Constituting Assembly, and went on to declare: "We dedicate ourselves to God anew, that He may enable us to grow together".
Definite steps forward had been made since the First Assembly.
NEW DELHI 1961: UNITY, GOD'S WILL AND GIFT FOR HIS CHURCH
The Third Assembly met in India's capital, New Delhi. Here 181 churches were represented by 577 delegates. The theme was "Jesus Christ, the Light of the World". At this meeting the first of the three movements which stemmed from Edinburgh 1910 joined the other two, when the International Missionary Council and the World Council of Churches were integrated. All along close contact had been maintained between the two bodies, and missionary leaders had taken a large part in the preparation and strengthening of the World Council. Now the missionary concern was brought right into the heart of the Ecumenical Movement. - where it naturally belongs. The concerns of the IMC were now to be taken up by the WCC's new Commission on World Mission and Evangelism.
One of the exciting things about New Delhi was that it saw an increase in the range and size of World Council membership. Four large Orthodox Churches were admitted to membership, and this great influx from the ancient tradition of Eastern Christianity promised new contributions in every aspect of the life and thought of the WCC. At the same Assembly there was a much larger number than ever before from the newly independent countries of Africa and Asia. And from South America came the first two member churches sprung out of the Pentecostal movement, anxious likewise to manifest more clearly their solidarity with other members in the Body of Christ.
Some sentences from the New Delhi Message testify to the delegates' sense of the progress that had been made: "In some things our convictions do not yet permit us to act together, but we have made progress in giving content to the unity we seek. Let us therefore find out the things that in each place we can do together now; and faithfully do them, praying and working together always for that fuller unity which Christ wills for his Church".
AND SO TO UPPSALA 1968 ALL THINGS NEW
With this history behind it, can the Fourth Assembly be expected to show any new features? Or will it be just another large but routine ecclesiastical occasion? We must pray about that! But we live in a greatly changed world as compared with that of 1910 or even of 1954, and the Assembly will meet in the midst of that world. Here are some of the new factors:
-the polarizing of rich and poor nations in the modern world is creating urgent political and economic problems, which are also spiritual problems; -new horizons in biblical study and in theological thinking excite and perplex all churches alike;
-the Second Vatican Council has changed ecumenical possibilities beyond all that could have been expected as late as 1960;
-the full effect of the integration of the International Missionary Council and the World Council of Churches, formally decided at New Delhi, should now become manifest;
-many more Orthodox Churches, and newly independent churches from Africa will, for the first time, be able to play an effective part in a WCC Assembly. One could prolong this list considerably. God does not stand still, even though we are tempted to do so. We are convinced that the Holy Spirit has guided this movement to wards unity. Now we must pray, with all our hearts, that He will use this Assembly to make clear His call to the next stage of our journey towards the goal He has set before us.
(Reproduced and slightly adapted from the booklet "ALL THINGS NEW")