1910–1937

The 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference and the birth of the ecumenical movement

The 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh was led by the Methodist John Mott. For the first time it gathered over 1,200 official delegates from Protestant missionary societies of different denominations. Questions of "faith and order" and mission among Catholics and Orthodox were deliberately excluded.

The conference is traditionally regarded as the birth of the ecumenical movement. It gave rise to the International Missionary Council (1921) and to two movements. "Faith and Order" dealt with doctrinal unity and held conferences at Lausanne (1927) and Edinburgh (1937). "Life and Work," led by Nathan Söderblom, dealt with social questions; it met in Stockholm (1925) and Oxford (1937).

In 1937 both movements resolved to create a single World Council of Churches.