OCR Text |
Show TOWARD CHRISTIAN UNITY . Dr. Henry Smith Leiper (right), associate general secretary of the World Council of Churches and secretary sec-retary of its American committee, pointing to a poster on the Amsterdam assembly. Looking on are Dr. Douglas Horton (center), chairman of the American committee, and Dr. Samuel McCrea Cavert, general secretary of the Federal Council of Churches. pvELEGATES from 148 church '-''.bodies In 42 countries are on their way to the first assembly of the World Council of Churches to be held in Amsterdam, Holland, from August 22 to September 4. Over 500 American churchmen will attend. Meanwhile, in the United States, five thousand Protestant and Orthodox Or-thodox churches are making preparations prep-arations to ring their bells hourly on Sunday, August 22, in observance observ-ance of the opening of the assembly. assem-bly. The ringing of the bells every hour from 9 a. m., to 6 p. m. are to "call Christians to a moment of silent prayer , that the Amsterdam assembly may mark a rebirth of Christian faith." The Amsterdam assembly will be devoted to future planning for the, World Council and to addresses, study and discussion on the assem bly theme, "Man's Disorder and God's Design." Of the assembly committees, one will deal with a proposed constitution constitu-tion for the council. Another will recommend future policy for the council, and a third will deal with its administration. The fourth committee com-mittee will study four "concerns" of the churches: the Christian attitude toward the Jews, place of women In the Church, lay training, and reconstruction and inter-church aid. Among the outstanding American figures who will participate in the assembly are John Poster Dulles, a foreign policy expert; Dr. Douglas Horton, general secretary of the Congregational Christian churches; Mildred MacAfee ITortor, president of Wellesley college; and Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam of the Methodist Church. Plans for the formation of a World Council of Churches have developed de-veloped through a long series of conferences, beginning with a World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh, Edin-burgh, Scotland, in 1910. The first assembly of the World Council of Churches was first scheduled to meet in 1941, but the war caused a postponement until this year. . According to Council officials, the new world organization will provide common ground for cooperation among Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Or-thodox churches. They expect some difference among United States' and European delegates on the Issue of state-planning in general and socialism so-cialism in particular. Whether the assembly will Include representatives representa-tives of the Russian Orthodox church, either as delegates or as observers, ob-servers, is not yet known. |