World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches does not make binding decisions on its members but attempts to provide consensus among member groups on issues ranging from racism and poverty to worker’s rights and social justice.
The World Council of Churches does not make binding decisions on its members but attempts to provide consensus among member groups on issues ranging from racism and poverty to worker’s rights and social justice.
The early church leader Tertullian wrote during the Roman persecutions that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” What was true then is true today as the worldly sacrifice of brave Christians serves to inspire others to take their place and continue preaching the Gospel message.
After the war, with churches lying in ruin and many Christian leaders killed, Germany became very secular. In fact, Europe, the cradle of the Reformation, is today the least religious continent in the world.
For nearly 60 years, between the mid-1920s and the 1980s, Fundamentalism was a separatist movement that had little public influence. This changed when preachers like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell took up the mantle of past leaders and began stressing the need for national repentance and a return to conservative values.
Today Wycliffe has nearly 6,500 workers in over 50 countries. Their efforts have produced Scripture portions in hundreds of languages.
Neo-orthodox theology was, in many ways, universalist but was much more Christ-centered than the liberalism that reigned among scholars during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
From these humble beginnings, religious broadcasting became a multi-billion dollar industry by the end of the century.
Within a few years Communist leaders had executed over 1,000 bishops and priests, had razed hundreds of ancient monasteries, and seized the church’s treasuries and property. Yet totalitarianism could not ultimately extinguish the spirit of the people. After the fall of the Iron Curtain the Orthodox church thrived again.
The Azusa Street revival led to one of the most powerful Christian movements in the twentieth century.
Because of their pioneering peace efforts, Christian pacifists gained great influence in the 1960s and 1970s during the Vietnam War.