INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN

"UMBRELLA" ORGANIZATIONS

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Christianity remains seriously fragmented throughout the world. In North America alone, there are over 1,000 Christian organizations of significant size. 

These divisions are reflected in the multiplicity of Christian associations at the international level. The main ones are listed below:

Baptist World Alliance (BWA):

The Baptist World Alliance's motto is "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. They unite 196 Baptists conventions and unions worldwide, in over 200 countries. They indirectly represent approximately 43 million Baptist members. ₈ They were founded in London, UK, in 1905 at the first Baptist World Congress. "For more than a hundred years, Baptist leaders had written of the need of an organization to bring Baptists, a highly autonomous people, together. Ninety five years later, the BWA still exists to provide fellowship, meet human need, lead in evangelism and work for justice." 

They moved their headquarters to the U.S. in 1940 because of World War II. Their largest member denomination is the Southern Baptist Convention -- a Fundamentalist denomination, with more than 16 million members. The more liberal American Baptist Convention is also a member of the BWA. 

About 75% of the BWA members live in North America. Their areas of fastest growth are in Africa, Latin America and Asia. They have established six regional fellowships: the North American Baptist Fellowship, Asian Baptist Federation, All Africa Baptist Fellowship, Caribbean Baptist Fellowship, Union of Baptists in Latin America, and European Baptist Federation. Each region is served by an Executive Secretary who is also the BWA Regional Secretary.

One of the major concerns of the BWA has been to guarantee human rights for all people, and in particular, the fundamental human right of religious freedom. Baptists have had a long history of promoting human rights. Notable leaders include John Bunyan, John Milton, Roger Williams, Isaac Beckus, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jimmy Carter. 

The membership of the BWA is divided over whether to allow women to be ordained as pastors. The SBC recently decided that women were not longer eligible for ordination because of their gender. It is unlikely that the BWA will be promoting full and equal rights for homosexuals, including the right to marry, in the foreseeable future. Both the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and American Baptist Convention have expelled member churches because they had welcomed gays and lesbians as members. 

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF):

This is "a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition." ₇ It was founded in 1947 and currently has as members 131 churches and 12 recognized congregations in 72 countries. Together, they represent about 95% of the 64 million Lutherans in the world. Their membership grew by 1.3% during the year 2000. This is only slightly less than the 1.4% growth rate of the world's population. Membership increased in Africa, Asia, and South America, but fell in Europe and North America. 

The LWF act "on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work." They have co-sponsored ecumenical discussions with the Anglican Communion,  Baptist World Alliance, Orthodox Churches, Roman Catholic Church, Seventh Day Adventist Church, World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the World Methodist Council. Their Department for World Service (DWS) operates international relief, rehabilitation and development programs in 21 countries. Their Department for Mission and Development operate about 500 mission, communication and development programs. Lutheran World Information, provides a news and information service, in English and German. The LWF holds an Assembly every six or seven years. Representatives from each of their member churches attend. 

Some of the concerns of the LWF in recent years are:

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC):

"The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) links more than 75 million Christians in over 100 countries around the world. It is a fellowship of more than 200 Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed and United churches with roots in the 16th-century Reformation led by John Calvin, John Knox and others. Most of these churches live and witness in the southern hemisphere; many are religious minorities in their countries." ₉ "The aims of the Alliance are to strengthen the unity and witness of Reformed churches, to interpret and reinterpret the Reformed tradition, to work for peace, economic and social justice, human rights, and the integrity of the environment, to promote fully inclusive community, and to further dialogue with other Christian communions and other religions."

In 1970, "The Alliance of the Reformed Churches throughout the World holding the Presbyterian System" (founded 1875) and the International Congregational Council (founded 1891) merged to form the WARC with 114 member churches in 70 countries. 

WARC has six regional councils: the Caribbean and North American area council (Canaac), the European area and the Southern Africa Alliance of Reformed Churches (Saarc), the Association of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in Latin America (Aipral) and the Northeast Asia area council.

In 1982, their general council declared that apartheid in South Africa was a sin and that the theological underpinnings of apartheid were a Christian heresy. They suspended the WARC membership of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. 

In 1989, the general council committed the WARC "to the inclusive community of women and men in church and society." In 1997, they expressed concern over economic injustice and ecological destruction. During 2000-JUL, the WARC executive committee debated a statement on human rights and sexual orientation prepared by one of its task forces. The report recommended that member churches "...work with civil authorities" to ensure that people of homosexual orientation received "full and just protection under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the UN". 

The World Council of Churches (WCC):

The WCC was founded in 1948 as a fellowship of 147 Christian faith groups. It has since grown to include 342 denominations and churches. They represent 120 countries and about individual 400 million Christians. "The WCC was formed to serve and advance the ecumenical movement - the quest for restoring the unity of the church - by encouraging in its members a common commitment to follow the gospel. The prayer of the churches which belong to the WCC is for the renewal and faithful response of the people of God in witness and service to the world." ₅

The modern ecumenical movement has roots in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. At the 1937 Oxford Life and Work Conference, called "Church, Community and State," religious leaders agreed to found a World Council of Churches. Organizational work was delayed by World War II. At their first assembly in Amsterdam, Holland on 1948-AUG-23, two ecumenical groups merged to form the WCC: Life and Work (L&W) and Faith and Order (F&O). The International Missionary Council (IMC) joined the WCC in 1961. The World Council of Christian Education joined in 1971.

Their goal is to seek fellowship in the midst of diversity. They do not intend to found a global super-church. They do not seek to standardize worship styles, beliefs, policies or practices among the various faith traditions. Their aim is to "deepen the fellowship of Christian churches and communities so they may see in one another authentic expressions of the 'one holy, catholic and apostolic church.' This becomes the basis for joining in a common confession of the apostolic faith, cooperating in mission and human service endeavours and, where possible, sharing in the sacraments."

Initially, membership in the WCC was open to "churches which accept our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour". In 1961, they changed the definition to include: "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."

Membership has grown to include almost all of the Eastern Orthodox churches, the churches of the Anglican Communion, and many Protestant denominations, including: Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Reform, independent and united faith groups. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member of the WCC. However, the Vatican sends observers to all major WCC meetings. Their Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity cooperates with the WCC in preparing resource materials for the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

A special commission was established in 1999 to study continued participation in the WCC by Eastern Orthodox churches. The latter are vastly outvoted by Protestant church members, and have suggested that some of the WCC decisions be made on the basis of a consensus rather than a majority vote. Some have perceived a split in the WCC between the Protestant member churches, which tend to be liberal in theology and practice, and the Orthodox church minority which tend to be quite conservative. At a meeting in early 2001, Georges Tsetsis, an Orthodox priest and representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, addressed the WCC central committee. He rejected the validity of a Protestant/Orthodox divide, stressing that internal differences were more between liberal and conservative faith groups. 

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) -- formerly "WEF":

The WEA was founded in as the World Evangelical Fellowship 1951 as an international umbrella group for Evangelical Christians. ₁₀ Its roots go back to 1846. Current members include the Assemblies of God, Baptist General Conference, Campus Crusade for Christ Int., Christian and Missionary Alliance, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Full Gospel Assemblies, Jews for Jesus, Lutheran, Methodist, Navigators, Presbyterian Church in America, Salvation Army, and the Youth for Christ International, along with many Bible seminaries and conservative para-church organizations. During their 2001-MAY General Assembly, they changed their name to "World Evangelical Alliance." As of 2001-MAY, their network included 120 national or regional church alliances, 104 organizational ministries and six specialized ministries. Their offices are in Chicago IL and Singapore. They have observer status at the United Nations.

They hold meetings every four years. Almost 600 delegates from 81 countries attended their 11th General Assembly in 2001-MAY in Kuala Lumpur.  Major concerns at that meeting were third world debt, spousal abuse, and religious liberty.

They sponsor the annual International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. 

The Worldwide Anglican Communion:

The Anglican Communion split away from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s, over a matter of divorce. King Henry VIII of England wanted to terminate his marriage to Queen Catherine of Aragon because she was viewed as being incapable of producing a male heir. [Medical science was quite primitive in those days; physicians did not realize the male determines the gender of his children; lack of a male heir was the King's "fault"]. The Pope refused to grant the divorce. Eventually, King Henry VIII declared that he was Supreme Head of the Church of England. 

The Church subsequently expanded worldwide with the British Empire. Over time, the Anglican Communion has deviated from the beliefs, policies and practices of the Roman Catholic church in many areas: simplification of the liturgy; tolerance of diverse views among the clergy and laity; a democratic internal organization; and over matters of human sexuality such as birth control, abortion, marriage within the priesthood, female ordination and homosexuality. Unity talks continue with the Roman Catholic Church; little progress is being made.

The world-wide fellowship of Anglican churches ₁ now  includes the Episcopal Church of the USA (ECUSA), ₂ the Anglican Church of Canada, ₃ the Church of England in Britain, ₄ and 35 other national churches elsewhere in the world. They have an active presence in over 160 countries. Total membership is approximately 76 million. Each national church, or province, has wide powers of self-government. Bishops meet every ten years in England at the Lambeth Conference to reach general agreement on basic matters of faith and social policy. 

References:

1. The Anglican Communion has an official web site at: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/site.html
2. The Episcopal Church of the USA has a web site at: http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ 
3. the Anglican Church of Canada's web site is at: http://www.anglican.ca/
4. The Church of England's web site is at: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/
5. The World Council of Churches' web site is at: http://www.wcc-coe.org/ They can be contacted at: PO Box 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland. Telephone: (41 22) 791 6111. Fax: (41 22) 791 0361. E-mail: info@wcc-coe.org.
6. E. Doogue & S. Brown, "Orthodox official vows strong commitment to World Council of Churches," PCUSA News note #6373, 2001-FEB-6.
7. The Lutheran World Federation has a web site at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/ They can be contacted at: 150, route de Ferney, Case postale 2100, CH-1211 Genève 2, Switzerland. Telephone: (41 22) 791 61 11. Fax: (41 22) 791 66 30. Email: info@lutheranworld.org
8. The official web site of the Baptist World Alliance is at: http://www.bwanet.org/ They can be contacted at: Baptist World Alliance, 6733 Curran St. McLean, VA 22101 USA. Telephone: 1 703 790-8980. Fax: +1 703 893-5160
9. The official web site of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches is at: http://www.warc.ch/ They can be contacted at: World Alliance of Reformed Churches PO Box 2100 150 route de Ferney 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland. Telephone: +41 22 791 6240. Fax: +41 22 791 6505
10. "World Evangelical Fellowship reflects new face of Christianity," Religion Today, 2001-MAY-7, at: http://news.crosswalk.com/religion/item/0,1875,343007,00.htm 
11. The official web site of the World Evangelical Fellowship is at http://www.worldevangelical.org/ 

Copyright © 2000 & 2001 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-FEB-7
Latest update: 2001-MAY-17
Author: B.A. Robinson