Philip Potter and the Momentum of the Ecumenical Movement

Abstract

AbstractGeneral secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 1972 to 1984, a time of global religious and socio‐political change, Philip Potter (1921–2015) was a pivotal figure in the ecumenical movement, a prophetic voice urging the churches to see themselves as part of God’s oikoumene. Born in Dominica and rooted in the Caribbean, he was spokesperson for youth at the first two WCC assemblies, in Amsterdam (1948) and Evanston (1954); a staff member for the WCC youth department from 1954 to 1960; and director of the WCC’s Commission on World Mission and Evangelism from 1967 to 1972. This article is an edited translation of the keynote address given at a symposium in Hamburg, Germany, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Philip Potter’s birth on 19 August 1921.