A candidate for the World Council of Churches’ top post acknowledged recently the many obstacles keeping churches from joining the ecumenical body, but spoke optimistically about the potential to overcome the differences.
During an interview with a German newspaper, the Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit of the Church of Norway (Lutheran) noted how Catholics and Protestants have grown closer than ever before, and said he believes a shared communion will one day be possible.
He said he hopes Protestants and Catholics, Pentecostal and mainline churches, and Lutherans and Baptists can all work out their differences and worship together.
Tveit said he recognizes that Pentecostals and evangelicals commonly believe that the ecumenical movement emphasizes too much on political involvement.
Describing itself as the “broadest and most inclusive” organization of the modern ecumenical movement, the WCC is an ecumenical fellowship of 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries.
