WCC News: World Conference on Faith and Order wrestles with issues of decolonization and mission

As the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order continues its meeting in Wadi El Natrun in Egypt, it has been wrestling with issues of the place of the church in the world and the question of decolonizing its theology and mission.  27 October 2025, Wadi El Natrun, Egypt: Rev. Dr Carlton Turner (Church in the Province of West Indies) delivers a keynote speech during a plenary entitled 'The Church in and for the World' at the World Council of Churches Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order taking place 24-28 October 2025 in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt, around the theme “Where now for visible unity?” Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 27 October 2025 “For us in the Caribbean, Egypt is also the site of another key biblical moment – it is the place of forced labour, exploitation, imperial domination, one in which we learn the name and the power of God to deliver,” Caribbean theologian Rev. Canon Dr Carlton Turner told a plenary on the fourth day of the 24–28 October conference. “It is where we hear the words, ‘Let my people go.’ It is the land of the Exodus, and we sing it, we hear it in the haunting words of Bob Marley,” said Turner, deputy director of research at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education in Birmingham, Britain. About 400 participants have gathered for the conference, organized by the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and taking place at the Logos Papal Center of the Coptic Orthodox Church at Wadi El Natrun, southwest of Alexandria, Egypt. The conference is the centrepiece of the WCC’s activities to mark the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, the first gathering of church leaders under the patronage of Emperor Constantine I.  The Council of Nicaea marked the transition from Christians being a persecuted minority to becoming a church recognized by the Roman State, but has also raised issues about the entanglement of church and empire.  The council was a highly politically motivated gathering, said the Very Rev. Dr Evangelos Thiani of the Nairobi archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa, in his presentation.  Very Rev. Dr Evangelos Thiani (Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria) delivers a keynote speech as part of a plenary entitled 'The Church in and for the World' at the World Council of Churches Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order taking place 24-28 October 2025 in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt, around the theme “Where now for visible unity?” Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC “Under Constantine, the relationship between church and state took a new direction,” he said. “The state’s influence of religious affairs and theology along with the churches use of the state in its missionary efforts and expansion began to evolve.” This fostered the form of political religiosity that still influences the political ecclesiology of Christians today, said Thiani. “While some churches have rejected the excessive closeness of the state and the church, others believe it is essential.” In what would become the Caribbean, the form of Christianity that arrived, “built upon the credal formulations of Nicaea, but one that was also deeply imperial, and as such, deeply violent to those deemed marginal to the European imagination,” said Turner. “Theology and theological stances must be continually interrogated for deeply embedded reliance on systems of power and violence originating from imperial, economic, nationalist, and political systems,” Turner warned.  Indonesian theologian Rev. Prof. Dr Septemmy E. Lakawa, giving her presentation by video, described Nicaea as a form of “paradoxical space.” “Churches were surviving persecution and perhaps being traumatized, yet gaining public and political status throughout the empire,” said Lakawa.  “Perhaps we are still in such a paradoxical space,” she continued. “After 1700 years, are we now embodying a different kind of ecumenical fellowship and ecumenical leadership?” The world after Nicaea is a world in which the masks of terror, ignorance, and violence must fall, she said Lakawa. “What if being church today also means being against the world, the world that is being taken over by contesting mega-powers in a new showcase of the violent hierarchy of global empires that signal the dawn of a cosmic catastrophe?”  The conference theme – “Where Now for Visible Unity?” - is being addressed from the interrelated perspectives of faith, mission, and unity, and on 27 October, the conference focused on the perspective of mission, planned with the WCC’s Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME). At the plenary, Faith and Order director Prof. Dr Andrej Jeftić remembered CWME director Rev. Dr Peter Cruchley, who played a major role in shaping the day’s programme, and who passed away on 15 August after being diagnosed with cancer, asking for him and his family to be remembered in prayer. Jeftić’s words were echoed by CWME moderator Rev. Dr Michael Blair at the panel that followed the plenary.  “Peter was a significant conversational partner with Faith and Order in seeking to fulfil the WCC assembly’s direction for CWME and Faith and Order to find ways of collaborating together,” said Blair. “Peter’s leadership of the CWME was an incredible gift. He is missed, and we will seek to honour his memory and legacy.” Livestream video of the plenary session Address of Very Rev. Dr Evangelos Thiani at the plenary session "The Church in and for the World" Address of Rev Canon Dr Carlton Turner at the plenary session "The Church in and for the World" Address of Rev. Prof. Dr. Septemmy Eucharistia Lakawa at the plenary session "The Church in and for the World" As World Conference on Faith and Order opens in Egypt, hearts and minds look to unity (WCC news release, 24 October 2025) Sixth World Conference explores the meaning of faith for church unity today (WCC news release, 25 October 2025) Conference livestreams and recordings Photogallery: Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order, 2025 Learn more about the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order Rev. Dr Septemmy Lakawa (Protestant Church in South-East Sulawesi) delivers a keynote speech via video during a plenary entitled 'The Church in and for the World' at the World Council of Churches Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order taking place 24-28 October 2025 in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt, around the theme “Where now for visible unity?” Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 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