World Council of Churches

Overview

The World Council of Churches is the leading international body of the ecumenical movement (the church unity movement), through which denominationally divided churches seek unity by means of dialogue and cooperation. Its members include a range of Protestant denominations as well as Anglican, Orthodox, Old Catholic, and Pentecostal churches. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member, but it cooperates with the WCC by sending observers. The basis for membership is the confession that the WCC 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.

Founding and History

The Faith and Order movement, which addressed questions of doctrine, sacraments, and ministry, agreed to merge with the Life and Work movement, which sought a common response to social issues. In 1938 the two movements formed a provisional committee in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The founding assembly was postponed because of World War II and was finally held in Amsterdam in August 1948, with representatives of 147 churches in attendance. The International Missionary Council (IMC) joined at the New Delhi Assembly in 1961. From Korea, the Korean National Christian Council (today the National Council of Churches in Korea) sent representatives to the founding assembly. In 2013 the Tenth Assembly was held in Busan under the theme "God of life, lead us to justice and peace."

Major Activities

The Assembly, the council's highest decision-making body, meets every seven to eight years. Because it has no legislative authority, however, the implementation of its decisions is left to the individual member churches. The council's principal areas of work have included Faith and Order; mission and evangelism; justice, peace, and the integrity of creation; and ecumenical education. The Busan Assembly adopted a statement calling for peace and reunification on the Korean Peninsula.

Member Churches

The WCC describes itself as a fellowship of some 350 churches. The combined membership of its member churches is reported to exceed 500 million people. Korean member denominations are known to include the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, the Korean Methodist Church, and the Anglican Church of Korea.

Controversy and Assessment

Within the Korean church, the WCC is one of the most sharply contested issues (see WCC controversy for details). When the Presbyterian Church in Korea split into the Tonghap and Hapdong branches in the late 1950s, the question of WCC membership was a central point of contention (Schisms in Korean Presbyterianism).

Conservative denominations such as the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong), along with the Christian Council of Korea, have consistently criticized the WCC. They contend that the WCC tolerates religious pluralism, undermines the authority of Scripture, and, through its contacts with churches in the Communist bloc during the Cold War, displayed pro-communist sympathies. In May 2013, ahead of the Busan Assembly, the Christian Council of Korea held an opposition rally in the plaza of Busan Station, and most conservative denominations did not take part in the assembly.

The preparatory committee for the Busan Assembly, by contrast, responded that the WCC had never adopted any such positions by resolution. Supporters of the WCC point out that it is a body that confesses the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed and that it includes the theologically conservative Orthodox churches. The Pentecostal Korea Assemblies of God participated actively in the Busan Assembly.