What is the World Council of Churches (WCC)?

Answer  
  

The World Council of Churches is an international, interdenominational fellowship of Christian churches. Denominations within the WCC include mainline Protestant, [Anglican](Anglicans.html), and [Eastern Orthodox](Eastern-Orthodox-church.html) churches. The WCC is intentionally [ecumenical](ecumenism-ecumenical.html) and inclusive.  
  

The World Council of Churches was founded in Amsterdam in 1948; its current headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. The World Council of Churches has member churches in more than 110 countries and territories throughout the world, representing over 560 million individuals.  
  

The stated aim of the World Council of Churches is “to pursue the goal of the visible unity of the Church. This involves a process of renewal and change in which member churches pray, worship, discuss and work together” (from the official WCC website). There is, in fact, much written about unity in Christ and the Holy Spirit in the council’s publications. However, it is a unity maintained at the expense of the absolute truth of the Word of God.  
  

For example, the World Council of Churches accepts the ordination of women, approves the ordination of practicing [homosexuals](homosexuality-Bible.html), and tolerates an amazing variety of heretical beliefs. At a “Re\-Imagining” Conference in Minneapolis in 1993, the deputy general secretary of the WCC, Mercy Oduyoye, taught that we all have “spirit mothers” who avenge us and that the spirits of the dead surround us “in the rustling of trees, in the groaning woods, in the crying grass, in the moaning rocks.” The same conference also featured Kwok Pui\-Lan, a WCC member who defined salvation as “bringing out what is within you” and quoted the Gnostic gospels. Pui\-Lan justified her use of Gnostic texts by stating that, since it was *men* who decided the [canon of the Bible](canon-Bible.html), she was not obliged to accept it.  
  

Historically, the World Council of Churches has been led by those who hold to [liberal theology](liberal-Christian-theology.html) and who promote “progressive” social policies (such as abortion) and leftist political agendas.  
  

Of course, not every member church of the WCC approves of the council’s stance on every issue. And no doubt there are many genuine believers within the WCC. However, the WCC’s willingness to tolerate departures from foundational doctrine is troubling. Yes, the Lord wants His church to be unified (John 17:22\), but not at the expense of foundational doctrine. Truth wields the sword of division (Matthew 10:34\).  
  

Revelation 17 symbolically describes an end\-times apostate religious system. The apostate members of the World Council of Churches will have no problem joining the [false church of the end times](one-world-religion.html), in the spirit of ecumenicalism and inclusion.  
  

