WCC news: Exploring the affirmation and call of the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order

Rev. Prof. Dr Stephanie Dietrich, moderator of the World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order; and Dr Andrej Jeftić, director of the commission, reflect on the Ecumenical Affirmation, entitled “Deepening Unity, Journeying in Love, Restoring Hope,” and the “Call to All Christians: Message of the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order.” Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 22 December 2025 They reflect on the ways in which the affirmation and the call address today’s global challenges.   “As the Faith and Order Commission, our focus has always been to search for visible unity—and to search for visible unity through theological conversation,” says Dietrich. “What has become clear in our work is that visible unity today encompasses not only matters of doctrine, but visible unity encompasses the whole life, and encompasses faith and doctrine, but also witness and service to the world.” This broadened understanding of visible unity also guided the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order in Egypt, notes Dietrich.  “Historically, we also know that the ecumenical movement, and also the work of Faith and Order, really was developing very quickly, for instance, after World War II, when the churches realised that the world is divided, the churches are divided, humanity is divided—and in such a historic situation, the ecumenical movement was established and was developing a lot,” she says. “Faith and Order emphasises that it’s also very important to talk about what we believe in, and this has been our heritage.” Jeftić addresses the multiple crises that cause people to lose hope.   “In simplistic terms, we could say that a response to all of that would be to have more unity,” he says. “I think what is kind of a thread across all of these different challenges is increased polarization and fragmentation.” He notes that the ecumenical affirmation tries to address these challenges.  “There are a lot of things that we have to do something about,” Jeftić says. “And in that regard, coming back together—or focusing again and again on how it is that we can be better with one another—is probably the only way to overcome this.” He adds that, through shared prayer, we also come to reaching a common mind. “Shared practice and life in Christ, and all of the marks of it—engaging in social justice and serving this world—is also one way that we can not only do the work together, but also come closer to one another, and thereby understand each other better, and thereby also come to some sort of theological agreement as well,” he says. “All of those build up and create different aspects or dimensions of what unity is and is about.” Watch the video interview Learn more about the work of the Commission on Faith and Order See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland