World Evangelical Congregational Fellowship

The World Evangelical Congregational Fellowship is a global association of evangelical Christian Congregational Churches, from various national associations around the world, including: Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, India, Macedonia, Micronesia, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, The Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, The United Kingdom and the United States of America. The Fellowship is united by a common belief the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and in the authority of the Bible, as well as by its common desire for evangelism. Its existence, too, is aided by the historical prevalence of Congregational missionaries who planted churches in places as varied as Ireland and Micronesia.

Origins and Purpose

In a formal sense, the idea for the WECF began at a series of annual meetings of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference in the early 1980s, when a number of international delegates at the American meetings expressed an interest in solidifying relationships with other evangelical congregationalists across the globe. A constitutional framework for the Fellowship was ultimately agreed upon, and the WECF held its inaugural assembly in October 1986, in Sussex, England.

The purpose of the organization was laid out in three points:

• 1. To promote fellowship and cooperative endeavour in the faith, polity and work of evangelical Congregational associations and churches throughout the world.
• 2. To preserve the historic Congregational commitment to the Lordship of Christ and the infallibility of His Word, and
• 3. To present to the world a witness to our oneness in Christ as evangelical Congregationalists.

Founding Members

Participants in the inaugural assembly were: the Fellowship of Congregational Churches, Australia; the Union of Evangelical Congregational Churches of Brazil; the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches, Great Britain; the Congregational Union of Ireland; the [Union of Congregational Churches of Portugal; and the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, USA. All of these had previously voted to become part of the WECF. Three other groups had also voted to join but were not initially represented in Sussex. They were the United Churches of Christ of Moen, Truk; the Congregational Union of New Zealand; and the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches of South Africa.

Members

• Fellowship of Congregational Churches in Australia
• Union of Evangelical Congregational Churches in Brazil
• Union of Evangelical Congregational Churches in Bulgaria
• Congregational Christian Churches in Canada
• Evangelical Churches Association (Congregational), Manipur, India
• Evangesco-Kongresanska Crkva Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
• Congregational Church in Chuuk in Micronesia
• Congregational Union of New Zealand
• Congregational Union of Ireland
• National Association of Congregational Churches in the Philippines
• Union of Congregational Churches in Portugal
• Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches in South Africa
• Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches in United Kingdom
• Conservative Congregational Christian Conference

Organization

The WECF is overseen by a number of executive officers from different nations: including a President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, and several members-at-large. It presently meets triennially, with a smaller-scale mid-term meeting, every year and a half. In September 2011, the WECF will meet for its mid-term meeting in Portugal, and in 2013 a major gathering is scheduled for Australia. The current President of the WECF is the Rev. Alan Best, from Padstow Chinese Congregational Church,^[1] Australia.

References

External links