Document
I. Introduction
1. Where now for Visible Unity? This question has shaped the deliberations of the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order. The Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order meets in Egypt, the land where the Holy Family took refuge, the land out of which God called his Son (Hos 11:1; Matt 2:15). We have been overwhelmed by the generous hospitality of the Coptic Orthodox Church and express our deep gratitude to His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, to his fellow bishops and to all his people for their warm welcome. We have been deeply impressed by the witness and successful mission of the Coptic Orthodox Church not only now but through the centuries. We acknowledge this ancient land where many generations have lived, breathed and had their being in God. We are conscious that here in Africa and the Middle East, as in other places across the world, many people, including Christians, are today facing persecution and suffering horrific violence, existential threat, dehumanization and utter disregard for human rights. In a world marked by division and polarization, by violence and war, and by apathy and complicity in the face of the resulting injustices, Christ’s call to unity (John 17:21) remains as urgent as ever. That call challenges us to seek out this unity in faith and in mission and to begin to live it out.
2. As Christians we are called to be one. In the Nicene Creed, we affirm one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. As we meet, 1700 years after the Council of Nicaea convened in 325, one hundred years after the World Conference on Life and Work gathered in Stockholm in 1925, and over thirty years since the last World Conference on Faith and Order met in Santiago de Compostela in 1993, we acknowledge and celebrate the progress made by the ecumenical movement, while recognizing the challenges that continue to confront us.
3. The first ecumenical council in the history of Christianity, Nicaea sought the unity of the Christian faith. Through the Sixth World Conference we call each other to Christian unity. Informed by our engagement with Nicaea, it builds on what has been achieved by the Faith and Order movement over the past century. In gathering together, we continue the living tradition of the ecumenical movement. We affirm that the visible unity of the Church is not only a theological aspiration but also a gospel imperative, for our own time, as for all times. As we look to the future, we commit to dignifying humanity in all its expressions, acknowledging that we are all God’s children, created in God's image and likeness. We commit to deeper engagement with one another and to travelling together on our pilgrimage of faith, however long or complicated that journey might be. We affirm a renewed ecumenical vision that is both courageous and compassionate in responding to the call of Christ and to the cries of the world. We affirm our mutual accountability in our search for common faith, shared mission and lived unity.
II. The World Conferences on Faith and Order
4. This is the sixth in a series of World Conferences on Faith and Order that reaches back nearly a century: Lausanne (1927), Edinburgh (1937), Lund (1952), Montreal (1963), and Santiago de Compostela (1993). Each has deepened our understanding of the theological, ecclesial, and ethical dimensions of unity, shaping the churches’ shared witness in a fragmented world. At Lausanne (1927), the Faith and Order movement embarked on a deep exploration of the doctrinal divisions that separate the churches, affirming the vital role of theology in the pursuit of visible unity. Edinburgh (1937) carried this exploration forward by focusing on ecclesiology and sacramental theology. Together with the Oxford Life and Work Conference (1937), and the International Missionary Council (founded in 1921), it laid the groundwork for the establishment of the World Council of Churches, emphasizing the importance of unity in both faith and mission. Lund (1952) called churches to act together wherever possible – the famous Lund Principle – and marked a significant turn towards common action and shared witness in a divided world.
5. Building on these foundations, Montreal (1963) sought to define the nature of the unity we seek, advocating for a communion rooted in apostolic faith and for the unity of all in each place. This impulse would later inform the Faith and Order convergence paper, Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM). Santiago de Compostela (1993) highlighted koinonia or communion as the heart of unity, calling churches to engage seriously with the fragmentation of the world and to work together to support justice, openness to dialogue, and contextual engagement. It reaffirmed that the theological concerns of Faith and Order cannot be separated from those of Life and Work, of mission and evangelism, and of justice and peace.
6. We rejoice over the ecumenical progress that has been made in the past century, especially the achievements of the many bilateral and multilateral dialogues that have borne real fruit. As we now ask, “Where now for visible unity?” we lament our continuing disunity, while recognizing that the processes of theological exploration in which we have engaged and our shared responses to the needs of the world in and of themselves bring churches closer to realizing such a unity. As churches engage in dialogue on faith and collaborate in mission together, the relationship between them is deepened and their unity begins to be made manifest. We live in world in which too many face hunger, war and displacement. Our lived unity implies that these cries and pains are shared. We can do nothing less than respond to each other, weep together, seek to heal those wounds, and look for and bring about a different world. The challenges that confront the world are faced by all Christians. Together, Christians and churches can offer an important witness that transcends their differences and separation.
7. Drawing on the tradition of the Early Church, past insights and new ecumenical experiences, while recognizing that the fullness of ecclesial unity is God’s gift and our calling, we commit ourselves and our churches to seeking fresh pathways of reconciliation, renewed theological engagement, and transformative practices, confident that these will also move us towards deeper communion. In articulating (1) our common faith, (2) our shared mission and (3) our vision of lived unity, the Wadi El Natrun World Conference (2025) hopes to revitalize the Church’s witness. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, we hope that we may embody Christ’s prayer: “that they may all be one” (John 17:21 [NRSV]).
III. Faith
8. Faith is not theory, but transforms our everyday life: we are called not just to learn the faith but to “walk by faith” (2 Cor 5:7). Faith requires us to define doctrine and what it means truly to believe, but also encompasses faithfulness, trust, loyalty, and allegiance. Christian life is faith lived with others; our faith is confessed and enacted together. Faith underlies our liturgical and prayer life: we believe what we pray, and we pray what we believe. Faith seeks to bring about transformation, not only of believers but also of the world.
9. The Trinitarian – Nicene – faith underlies the approach taken by Faith and Order from its beginnings and is affirmed by all member churches of the WCC. That is, whether or not they use the Nicene creed liturgically, the churches from which we come have shared roots in the apostolic faith; worshiping the Triune God, Father, Son, the Holy Spirit; and affirming faith in Jesus Christ, truly God and truly human, who came to save the world. As we commemorate the Council of Nicaea, we acknowledge with gratitude the theological and ecclesiological foundations laid by the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (hereafter referred to simply as the Nicene Creed), the canons of Nicaea, and the council’s advocacy for a shared date for the celebration of Easter.
10. Building on these foundations, the Church in every era is called both to declare and to display how to live faithfully in changing and varied contexts. At the time of Nicaea, the Church was in crisis and the Roman empire under pressure, both internally and externally. The idea of a Faith and Order Conference was first proposed at the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910, but planning was delayed by the First World War, and in 1927 the Lausanne Conference was shaped by political breakdown and economic instability in the aftermath of that conflict. The World Council of Churches, proposed in 1937, came into being 1948, in the wake of the Second World War. Today Christians and churches across the world experience similar challenges, specific to their contexts, as they seek to live out their faith in Christ through collaboration in mission and service. Convictions about the importance of such faithful collaboration in our own times are threatened by secularism, relativism, and religious fundamentalism. Churches are called to speak with a prophetic voice – which is also a moral and ethical voice – to their people, their governments and the whole world.
11. Some question the importance of faith. Insistent secularism dismisses faith itself as irrational or as irrelevant to the realities of contemporary life. However, we affirm that Christian faith is not blind belief, but a bold and active response to God's revelation and love. It engages with the realities of the world, empowering believers to stand and act together in hope. As each new generation seeks meaning and identity while grappling with peer pressure and doubt, we affirm the need for open hearts and whole-life discipleship. The Christian lifestyle is rooted in a loving relationship with God, ourselves, and one another, and promotes just relations that are contextually aware of God’s unfolding desire for the fullness of life among all people, especially in our daily lived experience. We confess with Augustine, “our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Confessions, 1.1.5). Faith is not impersonal, but a lived relationship: personal and communal.
12. Some question the importance of doctrine. Radical relativism argues that teaching about truth is irrelevant and divisive. We affirm that what we believe about God informs how we live and relate to others. Our shared belief in the Trinity as a communion of love enables and requires us to engage honestly with doctrinal and religious difference. Human beings, created in the image of God, are called to reflect that Trinitarian communion in how they love God, each other and God’s creation.
13. Some question the importance of mutual acceptance. Racism, gender injustice, ableism, xenophobia, and violations of Indigenous peoples, water, and earth are interconnected expressions of sin. Religious fundamentalism denies respect to the faith of others, cultivating exclusivity and fanaticism, often in the name of truth or of faith. It is a threat, not only to unity and peace, but also to life itself: millions of people globally – Christians and non-Christians – experience fundamentalist persecution. The Christian response should be fearless faith and witness, speaking truth to power, clear-sighted discernment of sin that lovingly challenges those who oppress, even when confronted by persecution and death. We reject violence, especially that targeting minority and vulnerable groups. Faith informs how Christians live and how they love: faith is not theoretical and incidental, but practical and life-transforming.
14. In a world asking what it means to be human in the light of contemporary technological and social developments, through faith we affirm that our faith in God, who created each person in God’s own image, implies a holistic theological view of being human, that includes the inalienable dignity of each and every person. In a world marked by discrimination, we affirm with the Faith and Order text, Racism in Theology and Theology Against Racism (1975), that the creation of all people in God’s image gives each of them a dignity which should be respected. In a world fractured by fragmentation and division, riven by wars, injustice and uncertainties, our faith informs and undergirds our journey not only towards a common vision of the Church but towards shared action. It is often in sharing together in God’s mission that common ground is revealed between apparently incompatible church structures and identities. As Christians and churches, we engage with these challenges together, listening, talking, and working with one another, and holding the vision of a future in which a united Church articulates and lives out its faith convincingly.
15. We recognize that faith can be shaken by these glaring inequalities, by the accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of a few, by failures to attend to the common good, by the use of violence and the resulting loss of human dignity, by the exploitation of vulnerable people and by the ravaging of creation and by the associated climate crisis. In some contexts, Christians and churches have been shaped by – and also complicit in – the destructive forces that threaten the world. They are called to speak against these forces together, proclaiming and living out Christ’s message of hope. Local churches play an important part in sharing this hope through their faith, work and witness, sometimes in very difficult circumstances. Christians remain people of hope, proclaiming that Jesus Christ has overcome the power of death through his resurrection. “Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer,” Paul exhorts the congregation in Rome (Rom 12.12). Faith encourages all Christians and churches to face these challenges not with despair, but with hope.
IV. Mission
16. Christ said: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20). The Church, through the witness of the disciples and apostles sent by Christ, inspired, and empowered by the power of the Holy Spirit, has expanded to encompass all nations. As churches and as individual Christians, we too bear witness to the Triune God in, to and for the world, participating in the mission of God, the missio Dei. The dual mandate of proclaiming the gospel and engaging in service is foundational to the mission of the Church and to transforming discipleship. The Nicene creed affirms that this calling is made manifest in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Christian faith asserts that the incarnation of the Word of God is “for us and for our salvation”. The missional task of the Church includes the sharing of that faith, witnessing to the way in which salvation transforms both individual lives and the world.
17. As The Church: Towards a Common Vision affirms, the Church is called to be a sign and servant of God’s design for the world. The Church is a foretaste, and an instrument of God’s purpose “to sum up all things with Christ as head” (Eph 1:10).. Sharing the good news and articulating the ways in which God’s reign breaks through in this world are integral to Christian identity. To make Christ known, to testify to the world, requires word and deed, proclamation and acts of love. This witness unfolds through proclamation, through prophetic witness, and through service to humanity and to creation. Jesus declares, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Love, which is embodied and enacted and which has the wisdom to distinguish a person from their mistakes, is the primary outward sign of authentic Christian faith.
18. To participate in God’s mission and to walk together, accompanying one another, Christians and churches must be grounded in a fundamental conviction of their shared identity. The Council of Nicaea sought unity, and as a result many Christians were united in faith, witness and service. The confessional and doxological nature of the Nicene Creed for this reason gives a foundation for the Church’s mission, calling those who confess the faith to share their faith. The pursuit of unity in faith is for that reason also an expression of a common mission. This shared faith in the Trinity, and in Christ, truly God and truly human, is the faith that the Church is sent to share with the world. It is the faith that Christians and churches are called to believe, profess, and live together.
19. The apostle Paul asks whether Christ has been divided (1 Cor 1:13). As the WCC’s 1st Assembly (1948) said: “Christ made us His own, and He is not divided. In seeking Him, we find one another.” We commit to put Christ first and overcome our divisions. The scandal” of Christian division, whether between or within confessions, impairs the churches’ witness to the reign of God. We are called to proclaim the good news of the gospel working together with each other, not in competition. The goal of our unity is not to benefit the churches, but to fulfil the prayer of Jesus, “that the world may believe” (John 17:21). Although we should not overlook the way in which diversity and even disagreement might contribute positively to truth-seeking, theological integrity, or contextual mission, all Christians and all churches are called to confess and repent of the sin of disunity, and to reorient their mission and evangelism as an affirmation of the richness of unity.
20. Although the Council of Nicaea was intertwined with the political life of the Roman Empire, the Nicene fathers were able to confess the fundamental tenets of the Christian faith in those historical and political circumstances. Contrary to that spirit, some Christian churches and organizations have spread – and sometimes imposed – the gospel in ways that have been influenced by and complicit with colonial and other oppressive systems, interests and powers. Historically, Christians not only experienced oppression and persecution but in some cases have also themselves oppressed and persecuted. We acknowledge the suffering of many Indigenous peoples in the name of mission. Some churches, recognizing their own complicity in injustice and dehumanization, have begun to ask for forgiveness of God and of their siblings in Christ. We commit to taking a clear-eyed view of our own history as churches.
21. All Christians and all churches are called to reflection and discernment regarding the relationship between their mission to proclaim the faith and their need to struggle against the evil and destructive forces at work in the world, always remembering that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38) .
22. Acknowledging that we are in the world but not of the world (John 17:16), we affirm that our witness is directed to the world because “God so loved the world” (John 3:16), because in Christ, God reconciled the world to himself (2 Cor 5:19), and because we “abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13). The WCC document, Together Towards Life (2013), affirms that mission is for Christians “an urgent inner compulsion (1 Cor 9:16) and even a test and criterion for authentic life in Christ.” It calls for reflection on the Church’s relationship to the unity of humanity, and also to the unity of the cosmos as the whole of God’s creation. Unity is rooted in God’s love for all of creation as well as arising from our understanding of salvation and the Church.
23. As the ecumenical celebration of the Season of Creation reminds us every year, we are part of God’s creation, we recognize that the churches must consider the implications of koinonia for responsible care of God’s world, a just sharing of its resources, concern for the poor and countering the forces of marginalization. As churches we are called to mutually respectful mission and evangelism that listen to the voices of all people and attend to the groaning of creation (Rom 8:22), seeking to bring the whole of creation, sanctified and healed by the Word of God, into communion with God in Christ. Christians cannot remain silent when human dignity and the integrity of creation are violated; nor can they ignore the tensions and power struggles between Church and state that sometimes compromise the Church’s prophetic voice. We are called to offer a faithful contextualization of the gospel, engaging in inter--confessional and inter-cultural dialogue, rooted in honest self-assessment and mutual critique that leads also to mutual enrichment.
24. We witness in confidence to the undaunted love of God, revealed in Christ and kindled by the Holy Spirit, through which all things will be reconciled. This is, as the WCC’s 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe (2022) put it, “an ecumenism of the heart”, rooted in the love of the triune God, which offers this divine love to the world. As churches and as individual Christians, we are the signs and servants of the breaking of God’s future into the present. “Love never fails” (1 Cor 13:8). We testify to the conviction that a different world is possible, and that our quest for unity is an essential aspect of that testimony.
V. Unity
25. The Council of Nicaea aspired to be a council of unity: unity in faith in the triune God, unity in church structures, and unity in celebrating Easter together. We affirm the Nicene faith of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, and we ask particularly what it means to be one. The anniversary of the Council of Nicaea calls us to remember that Christian unity is rooted in the apostolic faith of the early Church as revealed in the Scriptures and confessed in the Nicene Creed. We acknowledge that subsequent developments, brought about new challenges in ecclesial relationships. Yet, the Nicene faith continues to stand as a shared doctrinal foundation and a unifying witness to the truth of the Gospel. We recognise that the differences that emerged in the subsequent history of the Church have led not only to division but, with the help of God’s providence, to a rich diversity. However, despite the enrichment of theological reflection produced by these divisions, they also undermined the unity demonstrated in Nicaea. We affirm that the unity of the Church is rooted in the unity of the three persons of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the relationship between them which expresses full and perfect communion (koinonia). This Trinitarian unity is reflected not only in common faith, but also in the mutual acceptance – in accordance with the canons of Nicaea – of Trinitarian baptism by most of our churches. Although we exist as individuals, through baptism we affirm that we exist in our relationship with God and become one body with and in Christ. We look forward to the time when our unity can be fully expressed also in our sharing of the Eucharist and the recognition of each other’s ministries. We continue to seek the fulfilment of Christ’s prayer to the Father: “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21).
26. Visible unity has been the goal of the ecumenical movement since its inception. We affirm, however, that this unity is not the ultimate aim in and of itself, but it is an essential aspect of – and establishes a credible foundation for – our common witness in and to the world. We recognise that Christian unity cannot and should not be identified exclusively with institutional unity: our lived experience of Christian unity in an important way arises from and is affirmed by our common commitment to God’s mission. Nonetheless, there are and remain important ecclesial aspects of our journey towards unity, some of which continue to offer considerable challenges. Preaching together the divinity of Christ does not solve dogmatic, ecclesial and liturgical differences. Ecclesially, our unity becomes visible in the common confession of apostolic faith; through the mutual recognition and celebration of Baptism and the Eucharist; in the ministers of the church recognising their shared responsibility for preaching the Gospel, administering the sacraments, and maintaining unity among the faithful; and in moves towards shared structures of oversight. These aspects have been explored in the WCC’s Faith and Order convergence documents Baptism, Eucharist, Ministry (1982) and The Church: Towards a Common Vision (2013). We celebrate the many ways in which churches have moved to work more closely together since the beginning of the ecumenical movement a century ago.
27. We reaffirm our commitment to this quest for Christian unity. At the same time, we recognise that Christian unity cannot be (re-)established solely by agreed texts. Rather, it also needs to be lived out in daily Christian life: in shared prayer and study of the Bible, in the constant reception of the heritage and tradition of the Early Church, in personal encounters and meetings between the faithful, theologians and church leaders from different confessional backgrounds, and in common service to and in the world. Christian unity is achieved and manifested by the churches serving humankind together in integrated support to wounded humanity, at all levels: socioeconomic, moral-ethical and emotional. Unity is a call to a way of life that reflects and participates in the life of the Trinity. In that sense, unity is not something we can achieve only by our own efforts, but is rather God’s gift to be revealed in the way Christians love, serve and pray together, even while we continue to work to overcome our differences. The goal should be to maintain unity where it already exists, reveal unity where it has been obscured, and recover unity where it has been lost. This needs to happen both on an institutional and on a personal level. Personal experience deepens the awareness that individual Christians and churches are already connected in their faith in Christ as God and Saviour. These personal relationships in turn shape and form the relationships between our churches. At the same time, we recognise that the institutional life of our churches also requires transformation if that revelation of unity is to be realised. The quest for unity thus calls for the whole people of God to be engaged in a movement towards Christian unity, locally, regionally, and globally, always in the service of God’s mission.
28. The ecumenical movement aspires to visible Christian unity in a reconciled Church, an answer to Christ’s own prayer, which is able to give a trustworthy testimony to the Christian belief that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became human in order to redeem the whole of creation. Christian unity is a gift from the Holy Spirit that challenges us as individual Christians and as churches to work towards the unity of the entire human family. Christian witness calls us to overcome boundaries: between nations and generations, between different peoples and different cultures. We strive for a unity rooted in justice, which involves and is attentive to the voices of all, including the children, women and men, those experiencing forces of marginalization and forced to the periphery of our societies, and the whole of creation. Christians and churches should always remember that they will be asked and have to answer for what they have done for their neighbour (compare Matt 25:31-46). In these anxious times, we affirm our Christian hope as the discipline of finding grace: nurturing justice and flourishing, and moving forward together.
29. This call to a just and hope-filled unity is a reminder that the unity of Christians is a foretaste of the unity of all under God’s reign. This is not only a hope for the future, but a breaking through of God’s reign into this world, which has already begun now, as Jesus proclaimed: “The kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matt 10:7). We are called to live out our hope for this unity now, making it tangible and visible in one faith, witness and service, arising from our shared faith in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!
Call to all Christians: Message of the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order
Beloved in Christ, marking the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order meets in Egypt, the land where the Holy Family took refuge, the land out of which God called his Son (Hos 11:1; Matt 2:15). We have been overwhelmed by the generous hospitality of the Coptic Orthodox Church and express our deep gratitude to His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, to his fellow bishops and to all his people for their warm welcome. We have been deeply impressed by the witness and mission of the Coptic Orthodox Church not only now but through the centuries. We acknowledge this ancient land where many generations have lived, breathed and had their being in God. We are conscious that here in Africa and the Middle East, as in other places across the world, many people, including Christians, are today facing persecution and suffering horrific violence, existential threat, dehumanization and utter disregard for human rights. In a world marked by division and polarization, by violence and war, and by apathy and complicity in the face of the resulting injustices, Christ’s call to unity (John 17:21) remains as urgent as ever.
We rejoice that the past century of Faith and Order work has revealed that on many questions we agree more than we disagree. In the face of continuing disunity, the Sixth World Conference continues the ecumenical journey towards visible unity. Building on the legacy of previous Faith and Order conferences – from Lausanne (1927) to Santiago de Compostela (1993) – this gathering reflects on progress made and the persistent call to embody Christ’s prayer: “that they may all be one” (John 17:21).
- We share faith in God – Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit – which brings us together across time and traditions. Trinitarian faith is not merely a heritage to be preserved, but living water to be offered through both word and deed. We are called not only to believe, but to walk by faith (2 Cor 5:7): to live lives of hope, love, and transformation for the healing and reconciliation of the nations and of God’s good creation.
- Mission is rooted in the very identity of the Church, whose task is to proclaim the gospel. The faith of the Nicene Creed is not focused on itself, but reminds us that the Church exists to be sent into the world. For the churches in some contexts, mission has been entangled with histories of enslavement, colonialism, and power. Therefore, in our time, mission must be marked by repentance and a reorientation toward decolonisation and justice, reconciliation and unity.
- Unity is more than agreement: it is communion. Rooted in baptism, expressed in shared prayer, unity begins to be visible when we live together, moving towards mutual sharing of the Eucharist and recognition of each other’s ministries. Unity also begins to be visible when we live together in ways that embody faith, hope, and love: not in isolation, but in solidarity with those who are marginalized by gender, race, poverty, disability, or ecological devastation. The Nicene Creed, ancient yet ever new, reminds us that we share a gift and call to full, visible unity: a unity that Faith and Order works to make visible in the life of the Church through seeking deeper understanding and agreed doctrine.
Where now for Visible Unity? In this on-going journey, this is our call: to renew our commitment to faith, mission, and unity in Christ Jesus; to listen together to the Holy Spirit; to walk together as pilgrims: as children of the Father learning together to live out our faith, hope, and love, and in the practice of justice, reconciliation, and unity. Let us aspire to live the unity for which Christ prayed, that the world may believe and experience God’s gifts of healing, justice and abundant life.
