The World Council of Churches and the demise of evangelism

Plot

“It was the concern for evangelism that gave birth to the modern ecumenical movement. Yet in 1976 Bishop Arias confessed: “We must admit with shame that evangelism has become the Cinderella of the World Council of Churches... it figures by nothing more than one office with a single occupant, in a sub-structure which is itself merely part of a unit....”Harvey Hoekstra, formerly a Third World missionary, belongs to a denomination which has from the outset been a member of the World Council of Churches. In 1975 he participated in the Nairobi assembly of the WCC.In this book he shows how, as assembly has succeeded assembly and structures within the WCC have been modified, so evangelism has become largely eclipsed by the quest for social and political liberation.Having traced the new concept of mission that has emerged since 1910 within the WCC and was challenged at Nairobi in 1976, the author calls attention to classical-biblical mission and suggests positive, practical steps to be taken by the WCC and its member churches.” – Publisher