A handbook of councils and churches profiles of ecumenical relationships

Quakers – also called Friends or the Religious Society of Friends – date their ori­gins back to 1652 in north-west England and deem George Fox, an itinerant preacher, their founder. Together with other “seekers”, George Fox brought into the tumultuous times in Britain the message of the direct personal experience of God, informed by the scriptures, within a distinctly Christian framework. His the­ology was related to that of Anabaptist groups of the time, although the Quakers kept themselves distinct. This direct personal experience of the Holy Spirit has been characterized as “the Inner Light” or “that of God in everyone”. Following on the teachings of Jesus, the sense of the kingdom in the present, and the aversion to killing “that of God” in anyone, Quakers refused military service and are generally pacifists. They are one of the historic “peace churches”, along with Mennonites and Brethren. On behalf of Quakers world-wide, two Quaker organizations were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947, in recognition of international Quaker relief work.

Buoyed by a strong evangelical fervour, Quaker ministers (all unpaid) spread the Quaker message throughout Great Britain and Ireland, northern Europe, the British colonies in the Americas, and the Caribbean. In 1682, William Penn received a royal grant of a colony now known as Pennsylvania, and founded its capital, Philadelphia, which remains a centre of American liberal Quakerism. As Quakers in the colonies grew in numbers and moved westwards with the expansion of the USA, different influences affected both their faith and practice. Today there are four strands of Quakerism, which are evangelical, pastored, conservative, and lib­eral unprogrammed who worship in silent waiting. Each strand traces its roots back to George Fox and the early Quakers.

In the early 1900s, Quakers from America and Europe sent out missionaries to Latin America, Africa and India. Today the largest block of Quakers can be found in East Africa; they are pastored Friends. Evangelical Friends can be found in Cen­tral Africa, India, Peru, Bolivia, Taiwan and Central America. Liberal unprogrammed Friends predominate in Europe, Central and South Africa, and the north-eastern USA. The organization within the Religious Society of Friends – the usual denom­inational designation – begins with the local monthly meeting or church, which belongs to a wider gathering called Yearly Meeting. There are umbrella organiza­tions known as Evangelical Friends International, Friends United Meeting (pastored tradition) and Friends General Conference (liberal unprogrammed tradition), which regroup several yearly meetings.

Founded in 1937 in response to a need for a place where Friends from the four traditions can relate to each other, the Friends World Committee for Consul­tation is composed of yearly meetings from around the world. Having no execu­tive authority over its constituent yearly meetings, the FWCC aims both to promote a deeper understanding among Friends of different nations and faith traditions, and to represent Friends at world bodies such as the World Council of Churches, the Catholic Church, and the United Nations, where it holds general consultative status recognized by the Economic and Social Council. The office of the FWCC is in London.

The FWCC has 103 member yearly meetings, representing 368,000 Christians. The Friends United Meeting (28 Yearly Meetings) and the Friends General Confer­ence (14 Yearly Meetings) in the USA, as well the Canadian Yearly Meeting are members of the WCC.

Periodical: Friends World News
Website: www.fwccworld.org
Member Yearly Meetings of the Friends World Committee for Consultation

Africa

Port Harcourt Worship Group (Nigeria) Tanzania – 2 Yearly Meetings

Asia

Caribbean

Europe

Middle East

Middle East Yearly Meeting (Palestine and Lebanon)

North America

Evangelical Friends Church-Mid-America

Intermountain Yearly Meeting (USA)

Evangelical Church Star of Bethlehem (Bolivia) Evangelical Church Bolivian Union of Friends Friends National Evangelical Church (Bolivia) Central Yearly Meeting of Friends (Bolivia) Friends Bolivian Holiness Mission Church of the Friends in El Salvador Friends National Evangelical Church of Guatemala Friends Holiness Yearly Meeting (Guatemala) Friends Yearly Meeting of Honduras Religious Society of the Friends Evangelical Churches (Mexico) General Meeting of the Friends in Mexico Friends National Evangelical Church of Peru

The Holiness movement originated in the first half of the 19th century in the United States as a renewal movement within American Methodism but soon became trans-denominational, and by the third quarter of the century was also international. It sought to recover the emphasis of John Wesley on the perfection of love in the lives of believers. This perfection was understood as the whole­hearted love of God and others, not to be confused with human flawlessness, and as God’s will for all believers, not just for a special class. Methodism had thrived on American soil since 1766, but by the early 19th century, some within its ranks were convinced that the original Wesleyan emphasis on the perfection of love had been muted. Setting out to retrieve it, they were influenced by the revival and camp meeting focus on instantaneous conversions. Consequently, as the Holiness lead­ers called believers to the perfection of love, they, too, stressed the importance of an instantaneous experience of perfect love. As they preached, wrote and taught they used not only the language of perfection (see 1 John 4:17-18) but also the language of entire sanctification (see 1 Thess. 5:23). They understood this experi­ence to occur subsequent to conversion, but not to be confused with the glorifi­cation that takes place at the time of the resurrection of the body. Furthermore, in line with the earlier Wesleyan movement, their call was for every believer to enter into a covenant of personal holiness for the glory of God. Instead of only some especially gifted persons in the church entering into a carefully disciplined life of holiness, all believers were to do this; they were to present themselves to God as living sacrifices in the midst of the regular routines of life.

The Holiness emphasis began taking on denominational expression with the founding of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection in 1843 and the Free Methodist Church in 1860, both of which grew out of a social witness to holiness – the abolition of slavery and the cessation of renting pews so as to remove economic barriers to participation in worship. In 1867 the movement became more organi­zationally cohesive with the convening of the first Holiness camp meeting, with some 10,000 in attendance. An outgrowth of this was the founding of the National Camp Meeting Association for the Promotion of Holiness, precursor to the present Christian Holiness Partnership (CHP). In the course of time, many other church bodies emerged including The Salvation Army in England in 1878, the Church of God (Anderson, IN) in 1880, and the Church of the Nazarene in 1908. By 1874-75 the international character of the movement is indicated by the large Holiness gatherings that convened especially in Germany, Switzerland and England.

The Holiness movement has spawned many denominations all around the world, many of which are small, due, in part, to its strong emphasis on the disci­plined life. According to the CHP, the movement is now spread in some 160 nations. Some four million adherents are in North America, three million in Africa, and four million in Asia. One of the largest Holiness churches in the world is the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church with a million members. The combined mem­bership of all Holiness denominations in Korea is three million. The Japanese Holi­ness Church founded in 1917 was a persecuted, confessing church during World War II. Some 130 believers were imprisoned for refusal to submit to the radical nationalism of the period.

Three organizations of great importance to the movement are the above-men-tioned Christian Holiness Partnership (CHP), the Wesleyan Theological Society (WTS), and Wesleyan/Holiness Clergy International (WHCI). The CHP facilitates cooperative efforts among denominations, camp meetings, institutions such as col­leges, seminaries, missionary agencies and publishing houses, and individuals. The WTS is a scholarly society, with over 600 members, that publishes the Wesleyan Theological Journal. Given the long history of Holiness women in ministry, the WHCI nurtures women clergy and students.

Scholarly works about the movement include Melvin E. Dieter’s The Holiness Revival of the Nineteenth Century, 2nd edition (Lanham, MD and London: Scare­crow, 1996), and Historical Dictionary of the Holiness Movement edited by William

C. Kostlevy, in the Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements series, No. 36 (Scarecrow, 2001).

The total number of adherents to the Holiness movement is about 12 million believers who, for the most part, are committed participants in church life. Twenty-one denominations cooperate in the Christian Holiness Partnership, and hundreds of independent congregations and local churches that belong to denominations which are not officially identified as members. There are no Holiness churches as such in membership with the WCC, but several member churches are traditionally close to the Holiness movement.

Website: www.faithandvalues.com/fg_profiles/christian_holiness.asp

Member churches of Christian Holiness Partnership

North America

Association of Evangelical Churches Association of Independent Methodists Bible Holiness Movement Brethren in Christ Church Churches of Christ in Christian Union Church of God (Anderson) Congregational Methodist Church Evangelical Christian Church Evangelical Church of North America Evangelical Friends Church-Eastern Region Evangelical Methodist Church Free Methodist Church of North America Missionary Church (North-Central District) Church of the Nazarene Primitive Methodist Church The Salvation Army (USA) The Salvation Army of Canada and Bermuda Wesleyan Church

Asia

Japan Emmanual General Mission

The Lutheran churches, most of which are members of the Lutheran World Fed­eration (LWF), emerged from one of the prominent strands of the Reformation movements within the (Western) Catholic Church in the 16th century. In the course of the doctrinal controversies of that time, the doctrine of justification by faith through grace alone became the decisive issue and the hallmark of Lutheran teach­ing. It emphasizes that God redeems human beings from the power of sin through the cross of Jesus Christ and confers God’s own righteousness upon them. The Lutheran tradition considers the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments, received and responded to in faith without any human merit, as central to the life of the church. The Lutheran confessional writings, e.g., the Augs­burg Confession and Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, interpret core convictions regarding the significance of the gospel for individual and common life in faith. The Bible is affirmed as the sole rule of faith, to which all the creeds and other tra­ditions and beliefs are subordinated.

Lutheran churches are partners in the majority of church communion agree­ments that have been established, e.g., the Leuenberg Concord (1973, now called Community of Protestant Churches in Europe), the Meissen Agreement (1991), the Porvoo Agreement (1992), and Full Communion agreements in the USA and Canada. Varying forms of worship have developed over the centuries, in interac­tion with local cultures. Lutheran worship tradition has sought to maintain liturgi­cal continuity with the ancient church, in the reading and proclamation of the word of God and in the celebration of the sacraments, baptism and holy communion. Lutheran churches strongly emphasize elementary and secondary religious educa­tion as well as theological study and research. The doctrine of the two rules of God has been a well-known part of Lutheran tradition. This teaching has at times been discredited through misinterpretation, e.g., in Nazi-Germany in the 1930s and ‘40s. In recent decades attempts have been made to reinterpret this teaching as a basis for critique of injustice, authoritarian regimes and destructive societal developments.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) was founded in 1947. Since 1990 it defines itself as a communion of churches, united in pulpit and altar fellowship. The LWF confesses the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, and is resolved to serve Christian unity throughout the world. LWF and its member churches have been, and remain, active partners in the ecumenical movement through dialogues, where they seek to make specific theological contributions. On behalf of its member churches, the LWF signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justifi­cation by Faith with the Catholic Church in 1999, in the city of Augsburg, one of the main historic sites of Lutheranism.

Until the first half of the 20th century, Lutheran churches were most heavily con­centrated in Germany, the Nordic and Baltic countries and the USA. Since the foun­dation of the LWF, the gravitation centre of worldwide Lutheranism has shifted to the global South, with sizeable churches in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The dia­conal agenda of the Lutheran churches has increasingly emphasized challenges related to justice and peace, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and dialogue with other faiths, including indigenous spiritualities. The LWF has also contributed by dialogue to improved understanding of the relations between the church and the Jewish people.

The LWF attaches great importance to the relationships between its member churches in the regions. In Africa a Lutheran Conference was formed in 1955, and three sub-regional groupings have been set up: the Lutheran Communion in Cen­tral and Eastern Africa (LUCCEA), the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA), and the Lutheran Communion in Western Africa (LUCWA). In 2005, a Lutheran Council in Africa was established. Asia is also divided into three sub­regions: the North East Asian Lutheran Communion (NEALUC), the West and South Asian Lutheran Communion (WeSALUC), and the South East Asian Lutheran Communion (SEALUC). In Europe a regional office for the expression of commu­nion in the Region of Central Eastern Europe (ROCEE) was opened in Bratislava (Slovakia) in 2003. The other regions in Europe are Central Western Europe, and the Nordic Region, where the Lutheran family meets regularly. The Latin American and Caribbean Region includes 13 LWF member churches in Latin America and two in the Caribbean. A regional office exists also for the North America Region.

The LWF has 140 member churches in 78 countries, representing nearly 66 mil­lion Christians in the world; 73 of its member churches are also members of the WCC (directly or indirectly). The office of the LWF is located in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

Periodical: Lutheran World Information

Website: www.lutheranworld.org

Besides the Lutheran World Federation, another global body bringing Lutheran churches together is the International Lutheran Council. The ILC came officially into existence in 1993, as the result of a process of formation that began in 1952. The ILC defines itself as “a worldwide association of established confessional Lutheran church bodies which proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the basis of an unconditional commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and infallible word of God and to the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord as the true and faithful exposition of the word of God”. The International Lutheran Council has 30 member churches representing 3.3 million Christians in the world. The office of the ILC is located in St. Louis, Missouri (USA).

Member churches of the Lutheran World Federation Africa

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Angola Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon Church of the Lutheran Brethren of Cameroon Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic

Evangelical Church of Eritrea

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mozambique

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (DELK) Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria Lutheran Church of Nigeria Lutheran Church of Rwanda Lutheran Church of Senegal Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (Cape Church) Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (N-T)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia

Asia

Christian Communion of Indonesia Church in Nias

Indonesian Christian Lutheran Church Patpak Dairi Christian Protestant Church (Indonesia)

Protestant Christian Church in Mentawai (Indonesia)

United Protestant Church (Indonesia) Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church Japan Lutheran Church Kinki Evangelical Lutheran Church (Japan) Kazakhstan: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States Lutheran Church in Korea Kyrgyzstan: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States Basel Christian Church of Malaysia Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Myanmar Lutheran Church in the Philippines Lutheran Church in Singapore Lanka Lutheran Church (Sri Lanka) Taiwan Lutheran Church Lutheran Church of Taiwan (Rep. of China) Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thailand Uzbekistan: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States

Caribbean

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana Evangelical Lutheran Church in Suriname

Europe

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Austria

Belarus: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States Lutheran Church of Belgium: Arlon and Christian Mission Evangelical Church in the Republic of Croatia

Malagasy Protestant Church in France

Lutheran Church in Ireland Evangelical Lutheran Church in Italy

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania

Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway

Russia: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia

Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Switzerland

and the Kingdom of Liechtenstein Ukraine: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States Lutheran Church in Great Britain Lutheran Council of Great Britain

Latin America

German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bolivia

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia German-speaking Evangelical Church in Bogotá St Martin’s Congregation (Colombia) Evangelical Lutheran Church of Costa Rica Lutheran Costarican Church Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ecuador

Evangelical Lutheran Congregation La Epifanía (Guatemala) Christian Lutheran Church of Honduras Mexican Lutheran Church German-speaking Evangelical Church in Mexico Nicaraguan Lutheran Church of Faith and Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church in Peru Peruvian Lutheran Evangelical Church Evangelical Lutheran Church in Venezuela

Middle East

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and Holy Land

North America

Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad (Canada)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (USA)

Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Diaspora

Pacific

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Papua New Guinea

Member churches of the International Lutheran Council

Africa

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana

Lutheran Church of Nigeria Free Evangelical Lutheran Synod in South Africa Lutheran Church in Southern Africa

Asia

Lutheran Church of Australia China Evangelical Lutheran Church Lutheran Church – Hong Kong Synod

Japan Lutheran Church Lutheran Church in Korea Lutheran Church in the Philippines Lanka Lutheran Church (Sri Lanka)

Caribbean

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti

Europe

Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Denmark Evangelical Lutheran Church of England Evangelical Lutheran Church – Synod of France and Belgium Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (Germany) Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bolivia Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Republic of Chile Lutheran Church of Guatemala Lutheran Synod of Mexico Evangelical Lutheran Church of Paraguay Lutheran Church of Venezuela

North America

Lutheran Church – Canada Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (USA)

Pacific

Gutnius Lutheran Church (Papua New Guinea)