70 Years Ago — September 13, 1948
The World Council of Churches met for the first time in August 1948. “For ten years, during which the war intervened, the Provisional Committee has been working in preparation for this organizational meeting. It wrought wonders in service and the maintenance of inter-church relationships during the war and in concerting a prodigious amount of preparatory study by church leaders over the world. But at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, August 23, 1948, when 1,450 representatives of 151 churches from 42 nations voted with spontaneous unanimity and thunderous applause to constitute the World Council, the committee’s labors were crowned and the prayers of thousands answered.” They understood the difficulties “arising from differing points of view among the constituent churches and … that an ecumenical organization is only a means and not an end. Yet the atmosphere of hope and determination now prevailing in Amsterdam … bespeak a will to unity which can surmount all obstacles.”
From “The World Council is a fact” by John Newton Thomas
