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Tveit: “Faith is what God has given to us”

In a sermon in Bridgetown, Barbados, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit reflected on faith and what it has meant to the ecumenical movement.

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit preached at the Cathedral Church of Saint Michael and All Angels, in Barbados. Photo: Marcelo Schneider/WCC

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit preached at the Cathedral Church of Saint Michael and All Angels, in Barbados. Photo: Marcelo Schneider/WCC

11 October 2018
Regions
Caribbean

In a sermon in Bridgetown, Barbados, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit reflected on faith and what it has meant to the ecumenical movement.

He spoke during a thanksgiving service celebrating 70 years of the WCC. “Together, all of you who are members of these churches, we are called to unity, we are called to be the witnesses of God’s justice and peace, in this kingdom of God who lived, in this kingdom of God who is coming,” he said. “Faith is something that is given to us. Faith is what God has given to us.”

Unity of faith is necessary for the sake of the faith, he added. “And I think we see this as one of the gifts of the ecumenical movement. We have been able to strengthen one another.”

People in the Caribbean region have contributed a tremendous faithfulness to the ecumenical movement, he concluded. “I see and I feel it, and I’m inspired, and I will bring this inspiration with me,”he said. “You should be proud and you should believe in your own contribution, in your own witness. We need you. We need your unity. We need your faith.”

Read the full text of the sermon

WCC member churches in the Caribbean

"WCC general secretary to visit the Caribbean" - WCC news release 28 September 2018

"Jamaica vantage point for Caribbean ecumenism" - WCC news release 5 October 2018