A handbook of councils and churches profiles of ecumenical relationships
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| Part I
GLOBAL
World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement, a movement whose goal is to promote a united Christian voice and witness in the world. Purpose The WCC understands itself as a fellowship of churches, and from the outset the search for the visible unity of the churches has been at the heart of the WCC. The constitutional purpose of the fellowship of churches in WCC is “to call one another to the goal of visible unity in one faith and in one eucharistic fellowship expressed in worship and in common life in Christ, and to advance towards that unity in order that the world may believe.” At the founding assembly of the WCC in 1948 a brief Basis was accepted, stating the ground on which the churches were able to join and stay together in the WCC. The Basis was later extended to include references to the scriptures, the Trinity and the common calling of the churches. Since 1961 it reads: “The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour 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”. Member churches As a council of churches, the WCC is a body made up of autonomous member churches, most of them organized at the national level of their country, which have made a free choice to join the Council. The WCC has no authority over its member churches and can make no decision that is binding for them. In the words of Archbishop Temple, one of the ecumenical pioneers, “any authority that it may have will consist in the weight it carries with the churches by its wisdom”. In 2005, the WCC had a membership of 348 member churches which together claimed 592 million Christian members in more than 120 countries. WCC member churches include nearly all the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches; Anglicans; diverse Protestant churches, including Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist, and Baptist, and a broad representation of united and independent churches. While most of the WCC’s founding churches were European and North American, today the majority are in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific. The largest Christian church, the Catholic Church, is not a member of the WCC, but has worked closely with the Council for decades and sends observers to all major WCC meetings. A Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the WCC has been functioning since 1965. It celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2005. The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity nominates twelve members to the WCC’s Faith and Order Commission as full members. Catholic missionary organizations are represented on the WCC’s Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. A Catholic staff person is assigned to the WCC team on Mission and Ecumenical Formation, and a Catholic teacher is on the staff of the Ecumenical Institute Bossey; both are appointed by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. History and origins Historically, the origins of the modern ecumenical movement can be traced back to the world missionary conference in Edinburgh in 1910. Out of this event grew the “Faith and Order” and “Life and Work” movements which were inspired by individuals who had a vision of unity and cooperation. In 1920 the Patriarch of Constantinople issued an encyclical calling upon all the churches in the world to join in a League of Christian Churches. In the 1930s the leaders of Faith and Order and Life and Work together developed the plan to form a world body for Christian unity. The founding assembly of the WCC was initially planned for 1941 but had to be postponed because of the war. In 1948 the representatives of 147 churches came together in Amsterdam and founded the WCC. Other bodies subsequently merged with WCC: the International Missionary Council in 1961, and the World Council of Christian Education, with its roots in the 18th-century Sunday School movement, in 1971. Programmatic activity The WCC works with its member churches in a variety of programme initiatives, ranging from theological study to ecumenical education, from conflict resolution to inter-religious dialogue and communication. For its member churches, the WCC is a unique space: one in which they can reflect, speak, act, worship and work together, challenge and support each other, share and debate with each other. As members of this fellowship, WCC member churches:
Organization Delegates sent by the member churches meet every seven years in an assembly, which elects a presidium of eight presidents, and a 150-member central committee that governs between assemblies. A smaller executive committee, and a moderator and two vice-moderators are elected by the central committee. A variety of other advisory bodies and commissions report to the central committee. From its inception, the WCC has celebrated the following assemblies, each one under a specific theme reflecting the ecumenical thinking of the time: Amsterdam (Netherlands) 1948 Man’s Disorder and God’s Design Evanston (USA) 1954 Christ – the Hope of the World New Delhi (India) 1961 Jesus Christ – the Light of the World Uppsala (Sweden) 1968 Behold, I make all things new Nairobi (Kenya) 1975 Jesus Christ Frees and Unites Vancouver (Canada) 1983 Jesus Christ – the Life of the World Canberra (Australia) 1991 Come Holy Spirit – Renew the Whole Creation Both the Christian world and the WCC are changing. The majority of Christians are now located in the global South. New forms of ecumenical commitment and spirituality are emerging; young people are finding their own expressions of ecumenism and church; amidst the multiplicity of ecumenical bodies, the WCC is redirecting its energies to doing what it does best and is uniquely equipped to do. The WCC shares the legacy of the one ecumenical movement and the responsibility to keep it alive. The Council’s role is to address global ecumenical issues and act as a trustee for the inner coherence of the movement. The churches that make up the World Council live in remarkably different social conditions. Their members speak an array of languages. Their distinctive histories produce different styles of worship and forms of organization and governance. It is this diversity that makes the WCC an exciting and challenging forum. Historic tensions and differences sometimes persist – and new difficulties can come to the surface – yet the fundamental commitment remains to build unity and cooperation among the churches, “that the world may believe”. The WCC maintains its headquarters in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. It has an office in New York, and a few programmatic offices in other regions. Website: www.wcc-coe.org Member churches of the World Council of Churches Africa Africa Inland Church –Sudan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 African Christian Church and Schools, Kenya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 African Church of the Holy Spirit*, Kenya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Arican Israel Nineveh Church, Kenya. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 African Protestant Church*, Cameroon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Anglican Church of Kenya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Anglican Church of Tanzania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Association of Baptist Churches in Rwanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Association of Reformed Evangelical Churches of Burkina Faso* . . . . . . . 118 Church of Christ – Harrist Mission (Harrist Church), Côte d’Ivoire . . . . . . 153 Church of Christ –Light of the Holy Spirit, DRC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Church of Christ in Congo – Anglican Community of Congo, DRC . . . . . 128 Church of Christ in Congo – Baptist Community of Congo, DRC . . . . . . 129 Church of Christ in Congo – Community of Disciples of Christ, DRC . . . . 129 Church of Christ in Congo – Evangelical Community of Congo, DRC . . . . 130 Church of Christ in Congo – Mennonite Community in Congo, DRC . . . . 131 Church of Christ in Congo – Presbyterian Community of Congo, DRC . . . 131 Church of Christ in Congo – Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa, DRC . . 132 Church of Christ in Congo – Protestant Baptist Church in Africa / Episcopal Baptist Community in Africa, DRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Church of Jesus Christ on Earth by his Messenger Simon Kimbangu, DRC. . 135 Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Church of the Brethren in Nigeria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Church of the Lord (Aladura) Worldwide, Nigeria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Church of the Province of Central Africa, Malawi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Church of the Province of Southern Africa, South Africa . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean, Madagascar . . . . . . . . . . 167 Church of the Province of Uganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Church of the Province of West Africa, Ghana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Council of African Instituted Churches, South Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Episcopal Church of the Sudan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Evangelical Baptist Church in Angola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Evangelical Church of Cameroon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Evangelical Church of Gabon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Evangelical Church of the Congo, Republic of Congo . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Evangelical Lutheran Church in Congo, DRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa, South Africa . . . . . . . . 194 Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Evangelical Pentecostal Mission of Angola. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Evangelical Presbyterian Church in South Africa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Togo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Evangelical Reformed Church of Angola. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Lesotho Evangelical Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Lutheran Church in Liberia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Malagasy Lutheran Church, Madagascar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Methodist Church in Kenya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Methodist Church in Zimbabwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Methodist Church Nigeria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Methodist Church of Southern Africa, South Africa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Methodist Church of Togo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Methodist Church Sierra Leone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Methodist Church, Ghana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Moravian Church in South Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Moravian Church in Tanzania. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Native Baptist Church of Cameroon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Nigerian Baptist Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Presbyterian Church in Cameroon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Presbyterian Church in Rwanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Presbyterian Church of Africa, South Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Presbyterian Church of Cameroon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Kenya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Presbyterian Church of Ghana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Presbyterian Church of Liberia* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Presbyterian Church of Mozambique* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Presbyterian Church of Nigeria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Presbyterian Church of the Sudan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Protestant Church of Algeria* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Protestant Evangelical Church of Guinea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Protestant Methodist Church of Benin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Province of the Episcopal Church in Rwanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Reformed Church in Zambia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Reformed Church in Zimbabwe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Reformed Church of Christ in Nigeria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Reformed Presbyterian Church of Equatorial Guinea* . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 The African Church, Nigeria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Union of Baptist Churches of Cameroon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 United Church of Zambia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 United Congregational Church of Southern Africa, South Africa . . . . . . . 199 United Evangelical Church “Anglican Communion in Angola”, Angola 1. . . 115 United Methodist Church of Côte d’Ivoire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, South Africa . . . . . . . . 200 Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa, South Africa. . . . . . . . . . 200 This church has become the Angola Diocese of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa. Asia
Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia . . . . . . . . . . 229 Anglican Church in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Anglican Church of Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Anglican Church of Korea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 Associated Churches of Christ in New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 Bangladesh Baptist Church Sangha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Baptist Union of New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Batak Christian Community Church (GPKB)*, Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Bengal-Orissa-Bihar Baptist Convention*, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 China Christian Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 Christian Church of Central Sulawesi (GKST), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Christian Church of Sumba (GKS), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa (GMIM), Indonesia . . . . . . . . 261 Christian Evangelical Church in Sangihe Talaud (GMIST), Indonesia . . . . . 262 Christian Protestant Angkola Church (GKPA), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Christian Protestant Church in Indonesia (GKPI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 Church of Bangladesh*. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Church of Ceylon, Sri Lanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 Church of Christ in Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 Church of North India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 Church of Pakistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 Church of South India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Church of the Province of Myanmar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 Churches of Christ in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 East Java Christian Church (GKJW), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 Episcopal Church in the Philippines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 Evangelical Christian Church in Halmahera, Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Evangelical Christian Church in Tanah Papua, Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . 266 Evangelical Methodist Church in the Philippines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Indonesian Christian Church (HKI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Javanese Christian Churches (GKJ), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Kalimantan Evangelical Church (GKE), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Karo Batak Protestant Church (GBKP), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Korean Christian Church in Japan* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Korean Methodist Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Mara Evangelical Church*, Myanmar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 Methodist Church in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Methodist Church in Indonesia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 Methodist Church in Malaysia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Methodist Church in Singapore*. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Methodist Church of New Zealand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Methodist Church Sri Lanka. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 Methodist Church, Upper Myanmar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Myanmar Baptist Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Nias Protestant Christian Church (BNKP), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Orthodox Church in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Pasundan Christian Church (GKP), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Philippine Independent Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 Presbyterian Church in Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Presbyterian Church of Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 Presbyterian Church of Pakistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 Protestant Christian Batak Church (HKBP), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Protestant Christian Church in Bali (GKPB)*, Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 Protestant Church in Indonesia (GPI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 Protestant Church in Sabah (PCS), Malaysia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 Protestant Church in South-East Sulawesi, Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Protestant Church in the Moluccas (GPM), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Protestant Church in Timor Lorosa’e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Protestant Church in Western Indonesia (GPIB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 Protestant Evangelical Church in Timor (GMIT), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . 277 Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches, India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Simalungun Protestant Christian Church (GKPS), Indonesia . . . . . . . . . 277 Toraja Church, Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 United Church of Christ in Japan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282 United Church of Christ in the Philippines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 UELCI – Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church UELCI – Arcot Lutheran Church UELCI – Evangelical Lutheran Church in Madhya Pradesh UELCI – Evangelical Lutheran Church in The Himalayan States UELCI – Good Samaritan Evangelical Lutheran Church UELCI – Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur UELCI – India Evangelical Lutheran Church UELCI – Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church UELCI – Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church UELCI – South Andhra Lutheran Church UELCI – Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church Uniting Church in Australia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Caribbean Baptist Convention of Haiti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Church in the Province of the West Indies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Jamaica Baptist Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329 Methodist Church in Cuba* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 Methodist Church of Porto Rico* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 Moravian Church in Jamaica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 Moravian Church in Suriname . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 Moravian Church, Eastern West Indies Province . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 Presbyterian Church in Trinidad and Tobago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 United Protestant Church*, Netherlands Antilles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 Europe Armenian Apostolic Church (Holy See of Etchmiadzin) . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 Baptist Union of Denmark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 Baptist Union of Great Britain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 Baptist Union of Hungary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 Catholic Diocese of the Old-Catholics in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 Church in Wales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475 Church of England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470 Church of Greece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 Church of Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 Church of Norway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427 Church of Scotland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478 Church of Sweden. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457 Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine , France . . . . 377 Czechoslovak Hussite Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 Ecumenical Patriarchate, Turkey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468 Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 Evangelical Baptist Union of Italy* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 Evangelical Church in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 EKD –Bremen Evangelical Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 EKD –Church of Lippe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 EKD –Evangelical Church in Baden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 EKD – Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Oberlausitz. 388 EKD – Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 EKD –Evangelical Church in Rhineland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 EKD –Evangelical Church of Anhalt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 EKD – Evangelical Church of Kurhessen Waldeck . . . . . . . . . . . 390 EKD –Evangelical Church of the Palatinate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 EKD – Evangelical Church of the Province of Saxony (see below) . . . . 397 EKD –Evangelical Church of Westphalia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 EKD – Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 EKD – Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick . . . . . . . . . . . 392 EKD – Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg . . . . . . . . . . . 393 EKD – Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia (see below) . . . . . . 397 EKD – Evangelical Lutheran Church in Württemberg . . . . . . . . . 393 EKD – Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 EKD – Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg. . . . . . . . . . 395 EKD – Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395 EKD – Evangelical Lutheran Church of Schaumburg-Lippe . . . . . . 396 EKD – Evangelical Reformed Church in Northwestern Germany . . . 396 EKD – North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church . . . . . . . . . . . 398 EKD –Pomeranian Evangelical Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 Evangelical Church of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions in Austria . . 357 Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland . . . . . . . . . . 430 Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania . . . . . . . . . 439 Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovakia . . . . . . . . . 449 These two churches form together the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Middle Germany Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Romania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438 Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 Evangelical Lutheran Church of France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 Evangelical Methodist Church of Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Portugal* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460 Greek Evangelical Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad, Germany. . . . . . . . . . . . Lusitanian Church of Portugal* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 Lutheran Church in Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 Mennonite Church in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 Mennonite Church in the Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 Methodist Church, UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472 Methodist Church in Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 Mission Covenant Church of Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 Moravian Church British Province and EFBU . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 and 469 Old-Catholic Church of Austria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 Old-Catholic Church of Switzerland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 Old-Catholic Church of the Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 Old-Catholic Mariavite Church in Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 Orthodox Church of Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450 Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 Polish Catholic Church in Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 Presbyterian Church of Wales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476 Protestant Church in the Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424 Reformed Christian Church in Serbia and Montenegro . . . . . . . . . . . . 445 Reformed Christian Church in Slovakia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 Reformed Church in Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 Reformed Church in Romania. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine, France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 Reformed Church of France. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 Remonstrant Brotherhood, Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 Romanian Orthodox Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441 Russian Orthodox Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 Scottish Episcopal Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479 Serbian Orthodox Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446 Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 Slovak Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Serbia & Montenegro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 Spanish Evangelical Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454 Union of Welsh Independents, UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477 United Free Church of Scotland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480 United Protestant Church of Belgium. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 United Reformed Church, UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 Waldensian Church, Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 Latin America Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492 Association The Church of God*, Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492 Baptist Association of El Salvador* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512 Baptist Convention of Nicaragua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515 Bolivian Evangelical Lutheran Church*. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 Christian Biblical Church*, Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493 Christian Reformed Church of Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502 Evangelical Church of the Disciples of Christ in Argentina*. . . . . . . . . . 494 Evangelical Church of the River Plate, Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494 Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 Evangelical Methodist Church in Bolivia* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499 Evangelical Methodist Church of Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 Free Pentecostal Missions Church of Chile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 Methodist Church in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503 Methodist Church in Uruguay* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521 Methodist Church of Chile* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 Methodist Church of Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514 Methodist Church of Peru*. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519 Moravian Church in Nicaragua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 Pentecostal Church of Chile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508 Pentecostal Mission Church, Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509 Presbyterian Church of Colombia*. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511 Salvadorean Lutheran Synod* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513 United Evangelical Lutheran Church*, Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496 United Presbyterian Church of Brazil* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504 Middle East Armenian Apostolic Church (Holy See of Cilicia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538 Church of Cyprus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529 Coptic Orthodox Church, Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536 Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Iran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534 Evangelican Presbyterian Church of Egypt Synod of the Nile . . . . . . . . . 532 Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa . . . . . . . . . . 533 Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East . . . . . . . . . . . 541 Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535 National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East . . . . . . . . . . . 542 Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East . . . . . . . . 540 North America African Methodist Episcopal Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555 African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556 American Baptist Churches in the USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557 Anglican Church of Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548 Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends . . . . . . . . . 549 Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 Church of the Brethren, USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560 Episcopal Church in the USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad, Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . 550 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562 Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 Hungarian Reformed Church in America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 International Council of Community Churches, USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 International Evangelical Church, USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 Moravian Church in America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567 National Baptist Convention of America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567 National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569 Orthodox Church in America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570 Polish National Catholic Church, USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571 Presbyterian Church (USA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572 Presbyterian Church in Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573 Reformed Church in America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575 Religious Society of Friends – Friends General Conference, USA . . . . . . . 576 Religious Society of Friends – Friends United Meeting, USA . . . . . . . . . 576 United Church of Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552 United Church of Christ, USA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577 United Methodist Church, USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 Pacific Church of Melanesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603 Congregational Christian Church in American Samoa . . . . . . . . . . . . 586 Congregational Christian Church in Samoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 Congregational Christian Church of Niue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596 Congregational Christian Church of Tuvalu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 Cook Islands Christian Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587 Evangelical Church in New Caledonia and the Loyalty Isles . . . . . . . . . . 594 Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga (Methodist Church in Tonga) . . . . . . . . 606 Kiribati Protestant Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592 Maohi Protestant Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591 Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589 Methodist Church of Samoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602 Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 United Church in Papua New Guinea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599 United Church in Solomon Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604 United Church of Christ – Congregational in the Marshall Islands . . . . . . 593 WCC member churches by church family* *Based on the statistics provided by the member churches for the purpose of this book. Note: the statistics per region include the international membership of churches which have their head office (Patriarchate for the Orthodox churches) in another region inasmuch as such data have been made available by the churches (e.g. the statistics for Latin America include the diaspora of five Orthodox churches, and dioceses of the Episcopal Church USA).
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