“Oh, you’re a delegate?” My presence at the World Council of Churches Sixth Faith and Order Conference in Wadi El Natrun caused confusion, concern, and, for some, celebration. It was outstandingly rare for a younger person, let alone a young, lay, woman to be nominated by their church for this conference. Although everyone noted that representation in 2025 was considerably better than at the previous Faith and Order conference.
Why does it matter? It matters because visible unity, at least for me, does not look like titles, labels or any need to justify one’s participation. Reverence and respect, of course, have their place in these conversations, but I fear that if we limit encounter when thinking about the unity that Jesus prayed for, we will not be able to grasp Jesus’ vision. Jesus after all prophesied about unity in worship to a Samaritan woman (John 4: 21-23).
There were times where speakers valiantly declared that “this is visible unity” to the conference. I really wrestled with this. It did not feel like visible unity when we celebrated Sunday morning worship separately, or when we could not even call daily worship “worship” but instead name it “prayers”. It did not feel like visible unity when partaking in polite, reserved conversation—knowing that some topics, or even parts of your own life were off of the table. It did not feel like visible unity when the conference message was only available in English, despite some delegates not speaking English. It did not feel like visible unity when section subgroups organised by theme were strikingly similar in denomination.
Encountering the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox tradition in their colourful, beautiful and sacred buildings was a privilege. However, my biggest take-away from the Faith and Order conference was how the desire for real encounter and deep listening from so many of the delegates was not fulfilled. I learnt so much about faith and resilience from my broken Spanish-English conversations with a pastor from Brazil, a lunch-time hour debate with a Roman Catholic professor of bio-ethics from Australia, and an impromptu coffee-break conversation with some indigenous women and a woman from Jamaica.
The Faith and Order Commission did platform a much better diversity of voices at this conference, but my hunch is still that for visible unity we need to keep reaching beyond the traditional parameters of selection and looking towards the margins for answers. I hope that in the future these conferences might let go of some of the ‘order’ to allow the surprise of ‘faith’ to lead the way towards unity.
Main photo: Dr Victoria with Rev Dr Susan Durber WCC President for Europe, who is also a URC minister. Credit. V Turner
Read the final communiques from the Sixth WCC Sixth Faith and Order Conference.
Read a perspective on the conference from Baptist minister Rev Dr Gale Richards.