This Week in Christian History: Pascal Dies, WCC Founded, St. Bartholomew's Massacre
World Council of Churches Founded - August 23, 1948
This week marks the anniversary of when the World Council of Churches, a major global ecumenical movement, was founded at an assembly held in Amsterdam.
The inaugural gathering was comprised of 147 different churches, representing various denominations and nations, with a theme centered on "Man's Disorder and God's Design."
Since then, the WCC has grown to include approximately 350 member churches, representing an estimated 500 million Christians from over 100 different nations.
"While the bulk of the WCC's founding churches were European and North American, today most member churches are in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific," explained the WCC's website.
"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."
