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"Stating that in seeking Christ they found each other, the 147 churches that sixty years ago came together in Amsterdam, Netherlands committed themselves afresh to Christ and covenanted with one another in constituting the World Council of Churches (WCC)," said the Council's general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia as he prepared to leave for a commemorative event to be held at the location where the WCC was officially founded sixty years ago, 23 August 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
"It is significant that as we gather sixty years later at the same venue we note that the churches have been faithful to their commitment. Not only have they stayed together, but they have deepened and broadened the Fellowship," Kobia added.
Representatives of member churches around the world, such as Rev. Dr Michael Kinnamon of the National Council of Churches USA, see the date as an occasion for prayerful celebration of the ecumenical fellowship.
On Friday afternoon the creation of the WCC is to be commemorated by a select gathering at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, Netherlands. At the church where the opening service of the WCC's founding assembly took place exactly 60 years earlier, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will receive the first copy of the jubilee book "The Ecumenical Movement at a Crossroads".
Both the book, a collection of essays by personalities connected to the ecumenical movement, including Nelson Mandela, and the anniversary event focus on the role of the churches in today's world, particularly in the field of international relations.
With gratitude to the "Dutch churches and ecumenical friends" that have sponsored and planned the Amsterdam event, Kobia stated: "Today the challenges of seeking visible unity appear to be even stronger but we, nevertheless, look to the next sixty years with hope and confidence as we are inspired by the spirit of our ecumenical ancestors who made Amsterdam 1948 possible."
A documentary about the WCC to be aired by the Dutch national TV channel Nederland 2 on Sunday, 24 August, is one of the broadcasts in different countries covering the anniversary.
A radio service, led by the former director of the WCC's humanitarian and refugee services Rev. Myra Blyth, will be broadcast by the BBC's Radio 4, on 24 August. The programme, with contributions from the WCC president from Europe, Dame Mary Tanner as well as WCC staff and students of the Council's Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, will also be made available on the BBC website.
The central event of the 60th anniversary celebrations already took place in Geneva in February during a meeting of the WCC central committee. The central committee is the Council's chief governing body in the 7-year-period between WCC assemblies.
During the festive ecumenical celebration on Sunday, 17 February, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I reminded the near-capacity congregation at Geneva's St. Pierre Cathedral that the WCC has accomplished much in its six decades.
More information on WCC's 60th anniversary and background