A new brochure published by the World Council of Churches (WCC) describes momentous commemorations occurring in 2025 that will draw people across the world together in unity during a time when divisions threaten the world.
The booklet, entitled “An Ecumenical Year on the Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity,” shows how, in 2025, the WCC will seek to renew the quest for unity of the churches and of all humanity by finding inspiration in two significant anniversaries: the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325, and the 100th anniversary of the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work in Stockholm in 1925.
Inspired by Nicaea and Stockholm, in 2025 the WCC will explore what it means to be “Living the Apostolic Faith Together Today.”
During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2025, the WCC will recall with the wider Christian fellowship the common faith of the church in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.
In August 2025, the WCC will gather with partners in Sweden and representatives of churches worldwide to commemorate the Stockholm conference of 1925 as a “Time for God’s Peace” in a world disfigured by war and injustice.
The Stockholm conference of 1925 offered a decisive impetus for the churches of the world to witness in society and work together for a more just and peaceful world.
In Berlin in May 2025, the WCC and partners in Germany will mark the 140th anniversary of the Berlin Conference of 1884–85, where European imperial powers, often supported by missionary endeavour, partitioned the continent of Africa.
The centrepiece of the 2025 commemorations will be the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order, to be held near Alexandria in Egypt in October 2025.
World Conferences on Faith and Order have been held at key moments in the history of the ecumenical movement, and this will be the first such conference to meet in the 21st century.
Drawing inspiration from the Council of Nicaea, which gathered the whole of Christendom, the conference will bring together the ecumenical fellowship around the theme “Where Now for Visible Unity?”
During the year, other national and local commemorations will also occur, reflecting a sense of unity and of sense of solidarity with others around the world.
Post expires on July 7th, 2024
