The whole inhabited earth
Africa
The constitutive assembly of the All Africa Conference of Churches was held in Kampala, Uganda, in 1963 (pictured). At the same time as colonies were becoming independent nations, the churches emancipated themselves from missionary structures. The phenomenal growth of the African Instituted (Independent) Churches has now rapidly outpaced the older mission churches with a non-denominationalism and cultural richness that is uniquely African. Along with Pentecostal churches originating elsewhere, the African Instituted Churches are the fastest growing expression of religion in Africa.
Europe
The traditional ecumenical symbol - a ship - has special meaning for the Conference of European Churches. Its inaugural assembly was held aboard the M.S. Bornholm, sailing in international waters between Denmark and Sweden, in October 1964. The unusual venue was chosen to cope with difficulties getting visas for delegates from the German Democratic Republic (DDR). The organizers decided to charter the Danish ship and take the East Germans on board while at sea. © WCC/John Taylor
Middle East
The Middle East Council of Churches, founded in 1974, has included from its founding both Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches - who account for the great majority of the Christians in the region - as well as Protestant bodies. In 1988, the region's Catholic churches, seven branches from different ethnic and cultural roots, joined the council. Two dynamics prepared the way: One was the rise of vigorous Orthodox youth movements who contacted Protestant youth in ecumenical work camps in the Middle East. The other arose from the crisis of displaced Palestinians and persistent Arab-Israeli tension. A community of service began to emerge as Orthodox, Protestants and Roman Catholics worked side by side to meet the needs of refugees (picture).
Caribbean
Although tentative steps towards ecumenism had already been taken in the 1950s, it was not until a 1973 conference in Kingston, Jamaica (pictured) that the Caribbean Conference of Churches was formed. Seventeen Roman Catholic dioceses are part of the CCC whose other traditions include Anglican, Lutheran, Moravian, Reformed and Salvation Army. The various churches display differences that grow out of the colonial past, also reflected in the CCC's four official languages: Dutch, English, French and Spanish. © WCC/John Taylor
Latin America
A 1916 congress on Christian work in Latin America led to the creation of several national councils of churches in this region. In the 1960s, concerns over social injustices (picture: street scene in Guatemala City, 1986) found their expression in vibrant regional movements for youth, students, church and society, and urban industrial mission, all of which drew inspiration from the global ecumenical movement. When the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) was finally founded in 1982, it brought together 85 member churches and six associated ecumenical bodies. © WCC/Peter Williams
Pacific
The Pacific, home to 7.5 million people who speak more than 1200 indigenous languages, may be the least known region of the oikoumene. Yet Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia probably have a higher percentage of people who profess Christianity than any other region (picture: children's choir of a Nuku 'Alofa Methodist church, Tonga). Only Fiji has sizeable communities of other - Hindu and Muslim - faiths. The Pacific Conference of Churches was founded in 1961, and in 1976 it was the first regional ecumenical organization to name a woman - Lorine Tevi of Fiji - as general secretary. © WCC/Peter Williams
North America
If North America today is the only part of the world without a regional ecumenical organization, it is partly because this geographically vast region is made up of only two countries, Canada and the United States, each of which has a strong national council of churches. North American churches have tended to take a pragmatic ecumenical approach of cooperation among denominations, in contrast to the theological concerns often at the centre of unity discussions in Europe. Picture: At a Bible study camp in Pennsylvania, 1997
Asia
"Believing that the purpose of God for the churches in East Asia is life together in a common obedience," the first regional ecumenical organization, the Christian Conference of Asia (then called East Asia Christian Conference) constituted itself in 1959. Since the world mission conference in Edinburgh in 1910, Asian church leaders had been eloquent in reminding Europeans and North Americans that "ecumenical" must mean "international" as well as "interconfessional". Picture: The Maramon Convention of 2007 near Kozhencherry, India. With an estimated 100,000-200,000 participants per day, this is the largest annual Christian gathering in Asia. © WCC/Peter Williams
