Frontiers abroad … and at home
Insights Magazine
Wed, 24th Apr 2024
Christian unity is intrinsic to God’s grace
“Christian unity is an intrinsic dimension of God’s grace to us. It belongs to our faith, as we also confess it together in the creeds of the early church. To belong to Christ means to belong to the body of Christ, the church,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
He was referring to the covenanting process of five church denominations in Wales.
Tveit was reflecting on Christian unity in his keynote address at a conference called “The Gathering” on October 13 at Aberystwyth University in Wales, United Kingdom.
Tveit went on to say the “WCC needs new initiatives like the ones you are undertaking.”
“We are called to be what we are in the mysterious fellowship in Christ, members of the same body, branches on the same tree, living stones in the same building.”
“Unity is something that we have received and yet something always to be fulfilled, as grace, as the other values of the kingdom of God, like justice, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit, as life itself,” he added.
At the conference Tveit introduced the theme of the WCC’s upcoming assembly “God of life, lead us to justice and peace”. The assembly will take place next year in Busan, Republic of Korea.
The conference was attended by representatives from the Covenanted Churches in Wales – the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, the Presbyterian Church of Wales, the Church in Wales and some Covenanted Baptist congregations.
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