In
The Ecumenical Centre, built in 1964, now provides office space for the WCC and several other Geneva-based international church organizations. A separate building for the WCC library houses a unique collection of books, periodicals and archives.
When the Central Committee met in 1966 for the first time in the new Ecumenical Centre, it passed a resolution of appreciation and gratitude for the new building. It underscored that the work carried out here is not an end in itself and that the World Council of Churches is not, in the deepest sense, to be identified with what goes on in this building:
the service
of the
churches
The original headquarters near the centre of the city was exchanged for a parcel of land in Grand-Saconnex, near the Geneva airport, in an area where a number of other international and United Nations agencies are located, including the International Labour Office, the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The building provides a worthy headquarters for the World Council of Churches, combining adequacy of accommodation with an unpretentious dignity of style. We pray for the blessing of God upon all who work at the Centre in the service of the churches, and that the Centre may be increasingly used by God as a means of service and inspiration to the churches in the fulfilment of their common ecumenical calling.
Moving clockwise from top, the images are 1 & 2: Geneva, Switzerland, 1964: New WCC headquarters under construction (François Martin/WCC); 3: Geneva, Switzerland: Ecumenical Centre library (WCC); 4: Geneva, Switzerland, 1995: The Ecumenical Centre (Peter Williams/WCC).