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The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide inter-church organization founded in 1948. Its members today include the Anglican Communion, the Assyrian Church of the East, almost all jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Old Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most mainline Protestant churches (such as the Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Moravian and Reformed) and some evangelical Protestant churches (such as the Baptist and Pentecostal). Notably, the Roman Catholic Church is not a member, although it sends accredited observers to meetings.〔Cross & Livingstone ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' OUP(1974) art.〕 The WCC arose out of the ecumenical movement and has as its basis the following statement: The WCC describes itself as "a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service."〔(single ). Publications.oikoumene.org. Retrieved on 2013-08-09.〕 It is based at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.〔(World Council of Churches — World Council of Churches ). Oikoumene.org (2013-08-04). Retrieved on 2013-08-09.〕 The organization's members include denominations which claim to collectively represent some 590 million people across the world in about 150 countries, including 520,000 local congregations served by 493,000 pastors and priests, in addition to elders, teachers, members of parish councils and others. ==History== The Ecumenical Movement met with initial successes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910 (chaired by future WCC Honorary President John R. Mott). In 1920, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Germanus V of Constantinople, wrote a letter "addressed 'To all the Churches of Christ, wherever they may be', urging closer co-operation among separated Christians, and suggesting a 'League of Churches', parallel to the newly founded League of Nations". Church leaders agreed in 1937 to establish a World Council of Churches, based on a merger of the ''Faith and Order Movement'' (under Charles Brent of the Episcopal Church of the United States) and ''Life and Work Movement'' (under Nathan Söderblom of the Lutheran Church of Sweden) organisations. Its official establishment was deferred with the outbreak of World War II until August 23, 1948. Delegates of 147 churches assembled in Amsterdam to merge the ''Faith and Order Movement'' and ''Life and Work Movement''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=WCC Assemblies 1948 - today )〕 This was consolidated by a second meeting at Lund in 1950, for which the British Methodist Robert Newton Flew edited an influential volume of studies, ''The Nature of the Church''.〔Flew's ODNB entry: (Retrieved 18 September 2011. Subscription required. )〕 Subsequent mergers were with 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. WCC member churches include most of the Orthodox Churches; numerous Protestant churches, including the Anglican Communion, some Baptists, many Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian and other Reformed, a sampling of united and independent churches, and some Pentecostal churches; and some Old Catholic churches. Many churches who refused to join the WCC joined together to form the World Evangelical Alliance.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=WEA - World Evangelical Alliance Est 1846 )〕 Delegates sent from the member churches meet every seven or eight years in an Assembly, which elects a Central Committee that governs between Assemblies. A variety of other committees and commissions answer to the Central Committee and its staff. Assemblies have been held since 1948. The "human rights abuses in communist countries evoked grave concern among the leaders of the World Council of Churches." However, historian Christopher Andrew claims that, during the Cold War, a number of important WCC representatives of the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe had been working for the KGB, and that they influenced the policy of the WCC.〔Christopher Andrew, "KGB Foreign Intelligence from Brezhnev to the Coup"', in: Wesley K. Wark (ed), ''Espionage: past, present, future?'', Routledge, 1994, (p. 52 ): "One recently declassified document of 1969 describes the work of five KGB agents on the WCC Central Committee and the appointment of another to a 'high WCC post'. A similar report from 1989 claims that, as a result of agent operations to implement 'a plan approved by the KGB leadership', the WCC Executive and Central Committee adopted public statements (eight) and messages (three) which corresponded to the political course of Socialist () countries'. While it would be naive to take such boasting entirely a face value, there can be little doubt about the reality of Soviet penetration of the WCC."〕 From 1955-1958, Robert S. Bilheimer co-chaired a WCC international commission to prepare a document addressing the threat of nuclear warfare during the Cold War. At the 1961 conference, a 32-year-old Russian Orthodox Bishop named Aleksey Ridiger was sent as delegate to the assembly, and then appointed to the WCC's central committee. He was later elected as Russian patriarch in 1990 as Alexei II.〔John Gordon Garrard et al., ''Russian Orthodoxy Resurgent: Faith and Power in the New Russia.'', p. 37 f. Google books preview here ().〕 The ninth assembly took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil in February 2006, under the theme "God, in your grace, transform the world".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Official Report of the Ninth Assemblyof the World Council of Churches )〕 During the first Assemblies, theologians Vasileios Ioannidis and Amilkas Alivizatos contributed significantly to the debates that led to the drafting of the "Toronto Statement", a foundational document which facilitated Eastern Orthodox participation in the organization and today it constitutes its ecclesiological charter.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=WCC General Secretary Welcome Speech of the Official Visit of His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and of All Greece to the World Council of Churches, 29 May 2006 )〕 The 10th Assembly was held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 30 October to 8 November 2013.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches )〕 In 2013 Dr. Agnes Abuom of Nairobi, from the Anglican Church of Kenya, was elected as moderator of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches; she is the first woman and the first African to hold this position.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=allAfrica.com: Kenya: First Woman and African Moderator Elected to the WCC Central Committee )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「World Council of Churches」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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