World Council of Churches convention

The Event Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches

Date August 15-31, 1954

Place Evanston, Illinois

The first major ecumenical gathering in North America, the World Council of Churches convention stimulated initiatives in many local congregations to pursue interdenominational cooperation.

The Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches took place six years after the first assembly met in Amsterdam, a meeting that created the council. The theme for the second conference was “Christ—the Hope of the World.” Six subthemes were debated: faith and order, evangelism, social problems, international affairs, intergroup relations, and the laity.

There were 1,298 official participants from 197 Protestant and Orthodox churches representing 168 million Christians in fifty-four countries. Thousands of additional, unofficial participants attended the special addresses, exhibits, and pageants, including approximately 125,000 at the Sunday evening “Festival of Faith” held at Chicago’s Soldier Field. Highlights of the week included addresses by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the secretary-general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld . The assembly received greater American press coverage than any other convention ever held in the United States, with the exception of the Republican national convention of 1952.

Impact

For seventeen days, Evanston, Illinois, became a microcosm of the Christian world. Through extensive media coverage, North Americans had their first glimpse of an international, interracial community of believers, which also included participants from communist countries. Because of this event, the ecumenical movement took root in North America and the World Council of Churches remained in the spotlight of religious media coverage throughout the 1950’s.

Bibliography

Gaines, David P. The World Council of Churches: A Study of Its Background and History. Peterborough, N.H.: R. R. Smith, 1966. Gives historical background and official reports of the first three assemblies.

VanElderen, Marlin, and Martin Conway. Introducing the World Council of Churches. Geneva, Switzerland: WCC Publications, 2001. Provides an introduction to the World Council of Churches including its history.