Stockholm World Conference of Churches

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The Stockholm World Conference of Churches , also known as the World Conference of Life and Work , took place in Stockholm from August 19 to August 30, 1925. The main initiator was the then Swedish Archbishop Nathan Söderblom . Around 600 delegates from around 37 countries took part.

history

History and preparation

Söderblom gave the first suggestion for an international church conference in 1919 in a memorandum that was adopted at the meeting of the World Association for Friendship Work of Churches in Oud Wassenaar . He formulated the goal of the conference, also looking back at the First World War :

“A) Common teaching and common endeavors for international Christian brotherhood and an organized unity of peoples; B) Christian principles and action for a social renewal of society; and C) A common voice of the Christian conscience. "

- Nathan Söderblom : Memorandum of the meeting of the World Alliance for Friendship Work of the Churches in Oud Wassenaar 1919
Medal with Hindenburg's message of August 18, 1925 at the beginning of the Stockholm Conference, obverse.
Medal with Hindenburg's message from the eve of the Stockholm Conference, reverse. Here Germania stands on a line that embodies the Versailles Treaty.

The concrete preparations began with a preparatory conference in Geneva in August 1920, at which it was decided to exclude questions of doctrine of the faith and the church order, since they were being processed by the movement for faith and order (Faith and Order) , which was being developed at the same time. Nevertheless, the Universal Conference of the Church of Christ on Life and Work , as the working title was, should also serve the unity of the Christian churches. The motto of the movement, formulated by Hermann Kapler , President of the German Evangelical Church Committee , and often quoted by Söderblom, was accordingly: "Teaching separates, service unites."

In further preliminary conferences, texts were drawn up which should be submitted to the conference for decision-making. A greater difficulty arose from the different attitudes of the churches to the question of guilt in the First World War. The German Evangelical Church Federation initially pushed for a protest against the unilateral assignment of guilt in the Treaty of Versailles , while the Protestant churches in France demanded recognition of the German war guilt. After all, this question had to be left out.

The message of the conference and its effects

Representatives of almost all denominations took part in the Stockholm Conference, with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church. In the end, the conference adopted a message that made it clear that regardless of doctrinal differences, it was important to give a testimony of common faith through a common practice in the spirit of Jesus:

“The closer we come to the crucified one, the closer we come to one another, however different the colors may be, in which the light of the world is reflected in our faith. We join hands under the cross of Jesus Christ . "

In addition, the message of the conference u. a. against excessive nationalism and called for international conflicts to be resolved without war. Cooperation was offered to the labor movement, which was mostly disregarded by the churches.

In order to realize these concerns, a “continuation committee” was elected to organize further work. This led to the International Social Science Institute in Geneva, established in 1928, and the establishment of an Ecumenical Council of Life and Work in 1930 . This Ecumenical Council for Practical Christianity developed a “program of social studies and actions, youth work, help for churches and refugees, theological cooperation as well as ecumenical information and education”.

In 1937 the World Council of Practical Christianity held the Second World Conference in Oxford, and in 1948 merged with the Faith and Order Movement to form the World Council of Churches (WCC) .

Known participants

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  • George Bell : The Official Report of the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work . London 1926.
  • Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze : The world conference in Stockholm. Overall report . Ev. Press Association for Germany, Berlin 1925.
  • Adolf Deißmann (Ed.): The Stockholm World Church Conference. Prehistory, ministry and work of the World Conference on Practical Christianity 19. – 30. August 1925. Official German report . Furche-Verlag, Berlin 1926.
  • Alphons Koechlin : The World Conference on Practical Christianity in Stockholm August 19-30, 1925 . F. Reinhardt, Basel 1926.
  • Adolf Deissmann: The Stockholm Movement. The World Church Conferences in Stockholm in 1925 and Bern in 1926 viewed from the inside . Berlin 1927.

literature

  • Nils Ehrenström: Article Practical Christianity, The Movement For . In: Stephen Neill, Niels-Peter Moritzen, Ernst Schrupp (Hrsg.): Lexikon zur Weltmission . Theological Verlag R. Brockhaus, Wuppertal / Verlag der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Mission, Erlangen 1975, ISBN 3-7974-0054-3 (Brockhaus) and ISBN 3-87214-052-3 (Evangelical Lutheran Mission), pp. 442–443 .
  • Wolfram Weisse: Practical Christianity and the Kingdom of God. The ecumenical movement Life and Work 1919–1937 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1991.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from Reinhard Frieling : The Path of the Ecumenical Thought (= Approaches to Church History, Volume 10). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1992, ISBN 3-525-33582-2 , p. 50.
  2. ↑ Reinhard Frieling: The way of the ecumenical thought (= approaches to church history, volume 10). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1992, ISBN 3-525-33582-2 , p. 57f.
  3. ↑ Nils Ehrenström: Article Practical Christianity, The Movement For . In: Lexikon zur Weltmission , pp. 442–443, here p. 442.
  4. ↑ a b Nils Ehrenström: Article Practical Christianity, The Movement for . In: Lexikon zur Weltmission , pp. 442–443, here p. 443.