Our Global Families

Our Global Families: Christians Embracing a Common Identity in a Changing World, by Todd M. Johnson and Cindy M. Wu (Baker Academic, 2015).

[Our Global Families @OurGlobalFam]

Todd attended a Bible study in Geneva led by a Papua New Guinean. In our little group were Christians from Ireland, Cameroon, India, Brazil, and other countries. The discussion was incredibly rich, not dominated by Western perspectives on the #Scriptures

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The #WCC has managed to pull together not only #Protestants but #Orthodox Churches as well. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland, just down the road from the #UnitedNations the World Health Organization #WHO and many other international organizations

[Our Global Families @OurGlobalFam]

In 1938, the first two streams determined that they belonged together, resulting in the formation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1948. The IMC joined the WCC in 1961. By the year 2000, the WCC had grown to over 350 member churches representing 500 million Christians

[Our Global Families @OurGlobalFam]

Edinburgh 1910 was a precursor to the formal #ecumenical movement, as three streams emerged from the meeting. (3) Missions, expressed in the formation of the International Missionary Council (IMC), promoting a more cooperative approach to #evangelism @CSGC

[Our Global Families @OurGlobalFam]

Edinburgh 1910 was a precursor to the formal #ecumenical movement, as three streams emerged from the meeting. (2) Faith and Order, addressing disagreement over doctrine, sacraments, and church authority

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Edinburgh 1910 was a precursor to the formal #ecumenical movement, as three streams emerged from the meeting. These were (1) Life and Work, concerned with fostering a common #Christian response to war #poverty and #oppression @CSGC

[Our Global Families @OurGlobalFam]

Edinburgh 1910 was intended to bring together Christians of as many traditions as possible in order to plan together for the evangelization of the world. While this did not include #Catholics or #Orthodox it did attract #Protestants from a number of denominations @CSGC

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The twentieth century witnessed a concerted effort to deal with the divisions among Christians. One important meeting, especially for #Protestants was the World Missionary Conference in #Edinburgh #Scotland, in 1910 @CSGC

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#Independent churches have over 400 million members today and represent the broadest range of churches, from #African Independent Churches to #Chinese house churches @CSGC

[Our Global Families @OurGlobalFam]

Today #Africa is home to twice as many #Anglicans as Europe. Anglican churches meet every ten years in the #Lambeth conferences, bringing together bishops and others from around the world @CSGC

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The #Anglican Communion represents some 94 million Christians around the world and is often included as a #Protestant body even though many Anglicans trace their beginnings to Glastonbury, England, in 67 CE @CSGC

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The #Protestant Churches are those who trace their denominational origins to the #Reformation and all together number about 450 million followers. These include #Lutherans #Presbyterians #Methodists #Baptists #Mennonites and many others @CSGC

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Some of the #Orthodox churches have been involved in the World Council of Churches #WCC and, as observers, in various Council meetings @CSGC

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The Eastern Orthodox churches comprise 14 #autocephalous (independent) Eastern Orthodox churches. This includes the #Greek Orthodox, the #Russian Orthodox and various Eastern European churches @CSGC

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#Orthodox Churches describes two distinct church families, the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox churches, which do not share communion with each other. They number approx 300 million adherents

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Since #VaticanII Roman #Catholics have been involved as observers in the World Council of Churches, World #Evangelical Alliance, and Lausanne networks

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But at the Second #Vatican Council (1962–1965) 2,500 #Catholic bishops issued a Decree on #Ecumenism, which spoke of all baptized #Christians as sisters and brothers @CSGC

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The largest Christian tradition is the Roman #Catholic Church, with over 1.2 billion followers. Throughout most of the twentieth century, Catholics considered non-Catholic Christians as members of #sects @CSGC

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We have estimated that in 1900 there were approximately 5,000 #Christian #denominations By 2015 this had risen to 45,000. Most of these are found in the #Protestant and #Independent traditions @CSGC

[Our Global Families @OurGlobalFam]

Thus, by early in the twentieth century, #Christianity included four major traditions: Roman #Catholic #Orthodox #Protestant and #Independent @CSGC