September 15, 2010

In August 1960 the World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee met in Scotland and during their visit unveiled an Oikoumene plaque to honour the opening of a local ecumenical centre, the Scottish Churches House, in Dunblane.

Fifty years later, 13 September 2010, members of the WCC Executive Committee once again visited this vital ecumenical conference centre located between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

This year the centre is also celebrating its 50th anniversary and continuing role as an ecumenical beacon in Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole.

Scottish Churches House is a space for mutual encounter where churches in Scotland and beyond can develop their ministry and mission together. Retreats, church and inter-church meetings, conferences, arts performances, international theological summer schools and work camps have become part of the programme of the House.

Today's WCC Executive Committee met with the centre staff as well as the leadership of Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS). They met in the centre's small chapel for a worship service inspired by the Celtic tradition of Christianity.

The chapel, with its stone vaulted ceiling, provides one of the unique characteristics of the centre and dates back to approximately the 14th-16th centuries. The chapel seats about 40 worshippers.

"Here in this historic setting, ACTS is pleased to share with the WCC our particular experience of developing the ‘Churches Together' model of working, fully contextualized to our Scottish situation," said Brother Stephen Smyth, ACTS general secretary. "ACTS and Scottish Churches House look forward to developing even closer relationships with the WCC as a result of this visit."

Website of the Scottish Churches House (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=c9020c2f8877ebe49c31)

World Council of Churches