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“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

by Theodore Gill (*)

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I will open the meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order, which will take place in Kolympari, Crete, Greece, from 7 to 14 October 2009.

At the recent Central Committee meeting, three female presidents of the World Council of Churches expressed concern and disappointment over the lack of women in senior staff leadership. As of 1 October, all leadership positions at the WCC in programmes and at the senior level will be men. The WCC presidents Dr Mary Tanner , Rev. Dr Ofelia Ortega and Rev. Dr Bernice Powell Jackson  suggested the following recommendation to be added to the nominations committee report which was discussed and then approved by the Central Committee:Â

How does the church interact with a rapidly changing society? On 31 August, members of the World Council of Churches Central Committee spent much of the morning discussing this question in a pair of plenary sessions in Geneva.

“Brothers and sisters, what should we do?” (Acts 2:37b)

Can saints and martyrs - or for that matter, Christians who lived exemplary lives - help unite the churches into which they were born? An international group of experts will discuss this and other related questions at a symposium in an Italian monastery.

"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.

Dr Mary Tanner, WCC president from Europe, was late for these central committee meetings. She had a good reason, though: an audience with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. Tanner received the title of "Dame" from the queen this past Wednesday, 13 February, in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London. The queen shook her hand at the investiture and pinned a star and a medal on her. Tanner, a member of the Church of England, received the honour as a double citation for her work with the World Council of Churches and with the Anglican Communion. "It's not for me personally that it is such an important thing, but that the work for the WCC and the Anglican Communion is thought worth recognizing", Tanner said. "I'm aware that so many people taught me and worked with me around the ecumenical tables, from whom I've learned so much". It was Tanner's second major honour from the Crown. Ten years ago she received an Order of the British Empire, which was presented by Prince Charles. WCC moderator Rev. Dr Walter Altmann offered his congratulations for her latest honour during a plenary session, and Tanner was applauded by the central committee.

The World Council of Churches president from Europe, Dr Mary Tanner, was recently rewarded with the title of Dame in Queen Elizabeth II's New Year Honours list. As one of eight presidents of the WCC, she serves as an "ambassador" to the ecumenical movement in general and the WCC.Â

Issues facing the ecumenical movement today were described as examples of 'challenges posed by success' in a speech by the Rev. Dr Sarah Lancaster to the 19-23 July conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Faith and Order commission of the NCC USA. Lancaster is a member of the Standing Commission on Fath and Order of the World Council of Churches.