Secretaries of the Christian World Communions meet in Switzerland

From 6-8 November 2018, the annual Conference of Secretaries of  Christian World Communions (CS/CWC) took place in Chambésy, Switzerland. The meeting was hosted by the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, represented by Archbishop Job of Telmessos who also led the opening and closing prayer services according to the Orthodox  tradition. The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity was represented by Bishop Brian Farrell, Secretary, and by Revd Andrzej Choromanski of the Western section.

Meeting without interruption since its establishment in 1957, the Conference brings together general secretaries from diverse Christian communions as well as representatives of some global ecumenical organisations. The Conference does not   pass resolutions or issue communiqués. It is an informal  meeting of leaders of Christian World Communions, a fraternal forum which offers an occasion for them to inform each other about events in their particular Communions  and  give an update on the bilateral and multilateral dialogues in which their Communions are involved. At this year’s Conference, the reports were given by the following: the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Union of Utrecht (Old Catholics), the Baptist World Alliance, Pentecostals, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council, the Mennonite World Conference, the Moravian Church Worldwide Unity Board, the Organisation of African Instituted Churches, the World Convention of Churches of Christ, the World Evangelical Alliance, the World Methodist Council, the Lutheran World Federation, the Friends World Committee for Consultation, the Anglican Communion, the General Conference of Seventh Day Adventists, the Armenian Apostolic Church (on behalf of the Oriental Orthodox Churches), and two ecumenical bodies: the World Council of Churches, and the Global Christian Forum.

For over sixty years, the Conference has fostered the coherence of the ecumenical movement and continues to build trust and partnership among the leaders and between their respective traditions. Currently, the Conference is chaired by Reverend Dr Martin Junge, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, who is seconded by the secretary, Dr Ganoune Diop, Director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church.