The
World Council of Churches (
WCC) is a worldwide inter-church organization founded in 1948. Its members today include the
Anglican Communion, the
Assyrian Church of the East, almost all jurisdictions of the
Eastern Orthodox Church, the
Old Catholic Church, the
Oriental Orthodox Churches, most mainline
Protestant churches (such as the
Lutheran,
Mennonite,
Methodist,
Moravian and
Reformed) and some
evangelical Protestant churches (such as the
Baptist and
Pentecostal). Notably, the
Roman Catholic Church is not a member, although it sends accredited observers to meetings. The WCC arose out of the
ecumenical movement and has as its basis the following statement:
The WCC describes itself as "a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service." It is based at the
Ecumenical Centre in
Geneva,
Switzerland. The organization's members include
denominations which claim to collectively represent some 590 million people across the world in about 150 countries, including 520,000 local congregations served by 493,000 pastors and priests, in addition to elders, teachers, members of parish councils and others.