1950's Religion | National Council of Churches

The Ecumenical Movement.

The ecumenical movement gained strength during the 1950s as Christian churches joined together to attempt the formation of a single voice in support of peace and civil rights.

Founding of the NCC.

On 1 January 1951 the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America (NCC) came into being. This organization brought the old Federal Council of Churches and eleven other interdenominational bodies into a coopera- tive body that included twenty-five Protestant denominations and four Eastern Orthodox churches. It was, as the Christian Century commented, "potentially one of the most influential bodies in American Protestantism." The following year the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America affiliated with the National Council. The largest bodies remaining outside the council included the Roman Catholic church and the Southern Baptist Convention.

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