We are Churches Working Together in the USA

The United States Office of the World Council of Churches, located in the Interchurch Center, New York City, serves as a channel of communication between the WCC and its 34 member churches in the United States. It also functions as the office of the United States Conference for the World Council of Churches.

Throughout its history, the US Conference has sought to provide US member churches with a forum based in the international Christian community to address key issues of the day.  When Conference leaders met with President Kennedy on February 15, 1962, it was to encourage a more agressive pursuit of Civil Rights.  Four years later, a US Presbyterian leader -- Eugene Carson Blake -- hosted a Roman Catholic pontiff at World Council of Churches headquarters in Geneva to promote the visible unity of all Christian traditions.  As the latter half of the 20th century unfolded, US churches spoke through the WCC to seek the mind of God on nuclear disarmament, peace, racism, economic and social justice and a host of contemporary issues.

Today, as the 21st century begins in a context of terrorist attacks and social upheaval, the churches of the United States are seeking again to discern God's mind in an uncertain world. 

The Decade to Overcome Violence, conceived by the delegates to the WCC's 8th Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1998, was launched in Berlin, Germany, in January 2001.  The regional focus for the Decade (or DOV as it is commonly called) was Israel/Palestine in 2002, and the Sudan in 2003. At the September 2003 meeting of the WCC Central Committee, the United States was designated as the regional focus for the DOV in 2004, under the theme: "The Power and Promise of Peace".

The need for visible Christian unity has never been greater and the stakes have never been so high.  The US Conference of the World Council of Churches calls upon every Christian to be active supporters of their denomination and their local congregation as we work together to do God's will.