Bishop Jonas Jonson: The Stockholm Conference: context, outcome and relevance

1. On August 19, 1925, an impressive procession of Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox bishops, church presidents, priests and even a patriarch entered the medieval cathedral next door to the Royal Castle in the Old Town of Stockholm. More than six hundred delegates from thirty-seven countries filled the church. The most venerable among them was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Photios of Alexandria, the personification of continuity from the first ecumenical council in Nicaea in the year 325. The youngest delegate was Willem Visser’ t Hooft, later to become the first general secretary of the World Council of Churches. The royal family, ambassadors in diplomatic uniform, ministers of government, and ordinary parishioners found their seats while thousands of spectators crowded the streets to get a glimpse of the remarkable event. Never before had such a representative assembly of church leaders been seen in Europe. Some eighty accredited journalists and photographers covered every aspect of the meeting. Today we ask ourselves what made this particular conference important. What makes us still remember what happened in Stockholm one hundred years ago?

2. The first world war, which started in August 1914, had cost millions of lives and turned the social and moral fabric of Europe into shreds. Forty years of peace, expected to last for ever, and confidence that technology, communications, industrialism and Western superiority would lead to a more prosperous world, had come to an end. The hope for an earthly Kingdom of God had been shattered, except in America. Europe had seen empires tumble, revolutions tear social structures to pieces, and whole populations extinguished or expelled. A number of nations like Romania, Finland or Hungary had re-emerged. The First World War had been a primal catastrophe fundamentally changing the world geopolitically, socially, and spiritually. A ruthless war between Christian nations had forever changed human history.

3. The deliberations in Stockholm were determined by the war and the iniquitous peace treaty of Versailles. For centuries the churches of Europe had permeated society with Christian values and shaped public morality. They had been instrumental in the formation and maintenance of national identities. Christendom had been inseparable from the social order. Now, both faith and public theology were severely challenged. While American denominations continued their individualistic and aktivist social gospel approach to social development, leaders of traditional European churches – be they Orthodox, Anglican or Lutheran – were preoccupied by the obligation to ensure that through the Spirit of God, Christian values would once again penetrate politics, culture and even institutions like the League of Nations. Many delegates were nostalgic about times past and guided by pre-war visions. Their concern was the restoration of the spiritual and moral core of institutions, communities and nations rather than adapting to social change. 

4. Unlike participants at past Christian conferences, most participants at Stockholm were officially elected as delegates by their churches. They had a mandate to speak for their churches and thus make them involved in the ecumenical movement. The committed participation of Orthodox bishops was of particular significance. Without them, the conference would have been nothing but yet another sectarian Protestant event. The Orthodox presence made Stockholm into a truly ecumenical forum. For the first time Protestant and Orthodox churches met in council. Not surprisingly, there was talk of Stockholm as a Nicaean council on social ethics.

5. The Stockholm conference also differed from other international Christian gatherings in the fact that it mainly was the fruit of one man’s vision and perseverance. Without the vision and skillful diplomacy of the Archbishop of Uppsala Nathan Söderblom the conference would not have happened. He was the right man at the right time at the right place. There is a sense in which Söderblom was the Stockholm conference, and the conference an expression, almost an extension, of his personality. His Christian conscience, sense of duty and the needs of the world made him call on the churches to act together. His goal was not to bring about church unity. His focus was not doctrine or ecclesiology, but God’s calling to bring justice and peace to the world. Churches were all different, but this was no obstacle for practical cooperation. In his understanding, the churches were already one in the Spirit inasmuch as they were grounded in Jesus Christ. Unity did not need to be created so much as recognized. The urgency of healing the wounds caused by human sinfulness left no time to indulge in comparative theology. This must be left with the first conference on Faith and Order scheduled to meet at Lausanne in 1927.

6. Stockholm was, as we know, not the first attempt to mobilize Christians for common action. Waves of evangelical revivals transcending denominational and national borders had fostered an understanding of Christianity as a transnational community. Conferences were the means to foster coordination, exchange and networks.  Around 1900 the term ”ecumenical” started to be used when speaking of overlapping networks. Ecumenism was merged with internationalism, and Christians had to negotiate their pragmatic internationalism with the emerging political nationalism in Africa and Asia and also with the fervent ethnic nationalism in Europe.

7. The backdrop of the Stockholm conference was neither foreign missions nor the world of students, but the growing concern for social justice and world peace among Western church leaders, theologians, parliamentarians and pacifists which had been growing since the 1890’s. The economic inequality, child labor, depravation and misery among the working class was alarming. Charity alone could not solve the problem, commonly shorthanded as ”the social question”. Many Christians studied the roots of injustice and poverty, expressed solidarity with workers, and supported labour movements and trade unions. Alternatives to atheistic Marxist socialism were organized, such as the Social Christian Union in England, the National-Sozialer Verein in Germany, and Le Christianisme Social in France. 

8. Another concern that eventually led to Stockholm was the deterioration of relations between the dominant powers in Europe, and the rapidly escalating arms race, particularly between Germany and Great Britain. As an act of peacekeeping, Christians of different nations organized programs for extensive mutual visits in order to build friendly relations between the peoples. These efforts involved hundreds of participants, including members of parliament, bishops and academics.

9. When Tsar Nicholas II of Russia proposed that all nations should agree on compulsory arbitration in case of conflict, and called the arms race to a halt, he received strong support among Christians both in America and Europe. At the Hague Conferences on arbitration in 1898 and 1907 they lobbied for a binding international legislation. The American steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who invested his time and fortune in promoting peace through arbitration, did not only build the Peace Palace in The Hague. He also instituted an endowment fund named ”Church Peace Union” for supporting Christian peace initatives. The administration of the fund was left with Frederick Lynch. He was heading the Commission on International Justice and Peace at the Federal Council of Churches in the US.

10. At Carnegie’s suggestion, in 1914 Lynch invited 150 Christian leaders who were actively involved in matters of internationalism, social justice and peace building to Konstanz in Germany, in order to coordinate their efforts. Their consultation happened to coincide with the sudden outbreak of the war. The 80 participants who had been able to come were forced to leave almost immediately on the last train out of Germany. In their anxiety and hurry, they prayed together shoulder to shoulder, while young soldiers outside marched to war. They pleaded telegraphically with political leaders around the world to prevent a full-scale war, and they resolved to form the World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship through the Churches. This provisional Alliance was to become the international base needed for the Stockholm conference. No other suitable ecumenical organization was yet to be found.

11.   Shortly after his consecration as archbishop of Uppsala in November 1914, Söderblom – who had not participated at Konstanz– sent a peace appeal to churches and leading politicians in Europe and the United States. A stone was set in motion. The appeal was followed by many other initiatives by Söderblom and other Nordic bishops, including attempts to gather a major conference of church leaders while the war was still raging. Söderblom became publicly known as a man of peace. He invested all his social, intellectual and diplomatic capital in gathereing the churches and laying the foundations for a permanent ecumenical council.

12. Fluent in four languages, strong-willed, and convinced that God had called him to serve the cause of peace, he was well suited for the task. Seven years in Paris had made him a true “European” with French as his favorite language. He had successfully led negotiations on communion between the Church of Sweden and the Church of England. At a conference in Constantinople in 1911, he met with priests close to the Ecumenical Patriarch and won their confidence. In Leipzig, where he lived and taught before the war, he got to know the German Lutheran churches from inside. He was also well acquainted with American church life. Sweden hade remained neutral throughout the war, and Uppsala was an old Archbishopric of high reputation, in his own opinion second only to Constantinople, Rome and Canterbury. All this made him exceptionally well  placed to organize an international church conference.

13. In the fall of 1919, Söderblom as the moderator of the Swedish branch of the World Alliance was invited to its first postwar conference. It was held at Oud Wassenaar in the vicinity of The Hague. Most of the participants had never before met with Söderblom. He presented his vision for an ecumenical conference on social ethics and his plan to establish an international council of churches to serve as the common voice of churches in the turbulent post-war world. His plans were affirmed by the World Alliance, but as the Alliance had no mandate, nor the resources needed to arrange a conference of this kind, Söderblom was asked to do it himself together with the general secretary of the Federal Council Charles Macfarland and the Swiss church president Otto Herold. The three immediately went to work. Within a month a small group met in Paris to set the route for what was called ”Life and Work”. Lynch was instructed to get the process started. With grants from the Church Peace Union, administrative support of the Federal Council, and the backing of the World Alliance, Söderblom’s plans were realized.

14.  As a first step Lynch invited eighty church representatives to Geneva in the summer of 1920 to establish the plans and start preparation. In order not to lose his leadership to the Americans, Söderblom decisively regained the initiative and led the participants through a week of heated debates on the purpose and content of the proposed conference, on whom to invite, and where and when it should take place. A fierce French-German dispute over war guilt threatened to disrupt the procedure, but plans for a Universal Conference on Life and Work to be held in Stockholm were confirmed and a preparatory committee elected. To the surprise of many, the Patriarchate of Constantinople joined in. It was decided also to invite the Roman Catholic Church in order to make the conference truly ecumenical. Regrettably this invitation was rejected by the Pope.

15. It took another five years of planning and consultation, fundraising, building mutual trust and persuading churches to attend before the conference could take place.

16. Six overall themes were listed for the conference:

• The general obligation of the Church in the light of God’s plan for the world;
• The Church and economic and industrial problems;
• The Church and social and moral problems;
• The Church and international relations;
• The Church and education;
• Ways and means for promoting co-operation between the churches, and for their closer association on federal lines.

17. The conference was the first ever to deal with Christian social ethics. Participating churches were invited to discuss the themes beforehand. Their reports were discussed in different commissions during the week preceding the conference. The report from the Conference on Christian Politics, Economics and Citizenship, called COPEC, held in Birmingham, England in 1924 under the leadership of the bishop of Manchester William Temple, was by far the most substantial input to the Stockholm conference. But it so happened that all the reports from the churches and the resolutions proposed by the planning committee were almost completely left out of the discussions in Stockholm. Probably to avoid possible conflicts and keep participants from spinning out of control, the conference agenda was packed with more than one hundred prepared speeches related to the six themes. Anyone wanting to participate in a discussion had to ask for the floor a day in advance. Thus there was no space left for spontaneous interventions. Theological questions were also to be avoided. Still, the topical Kingdom of God-question became a red thread through the conference.

18. When the bishop of Winchester Theodore Woods entered the pulpit in the cathedral at the opening service, he set the tone for the conference with Jesus’ words: “Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. He continued:

Change your mind! Adapt to a new outlook! Get a fresh point of view! We believe in the Kingdom of Heaven. We are conspirators for its establishment. That is why we are here. That is the meaning of this Conference. It will prepare for that great day when Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 

           He concluded his sermon with these words:

Establishing the kingdom of God in the complicated civilization of the twentieth century is a colossal task; a task that requires thought, skill, patience and wisdom. But, I repeat, in Christ we can do the impossible.

19. After the service, the delegates walked to the State Hall in the Royal Castle where King Gustav V formally opened the Conference. Inviting the king to do so, Archbishop Nathan Söderblom said:

When the Spirit of God visits humanity, it is the same flame that is kindled in human hearts, although land and water separate them…God grant that the flames kindled in our hearts may be purified and united here into a fire of love and justice that shall enlighten Christendom with a new clearness of the eternal and Divine truth and that shall warm the souls and the Church with the ardent compassion of Christ.

          The king, in his reply, pointed out that, though statesmen and rulers

may succeed in passing good laws and in effecting well-advised measures, that does not mean that the end in view is gained…It is in the hearts of men that we must lay the foundation for peace and for mutual trust within the community as well as between peoples.

20. The opening ceremonies were filled with symbolism: the use of vestments identifying church leaders of various traditions, the use of ancient church languages as a reference to tradition and catholicity, the presence of ambassadors indicating the political significance of the meeting, and the king as the head of state inaugurating the conference. This reminded the patriarch Photios of how the Emperor Constantine had opened the Ecumenical Council at Nicaea. The very presence in Stockholm of a patriarch serving in unbroken succession from Athanasius – the key person then – symbolized the belief and spiritual communion of Christians through the centuries and around the world.

21. Archbishop Söderblom had set the stage for the conference with the intention to make it a decisive moment in church history. Everything was designed to promote trust, communication, and friendship among the participants and in extension a fellowship of churches. Common prayer and worship, singing and music were indispensable elements in building communion. Söderblom spared no effort when planning worship and daily devotions in different languages. A memorial service was held for the late patriarch Tikhon of Moscow,  Orthodox vespers were arranged as well as outdoor preaching services. At a Swedish high mass everyone was invited for communion. Söderblom had realized that ritual and symbols, performance and space were effective means of communication, while the interpretation of speeches remained a great problem as there was no simultaneous translation available.

22. The days were filled with presentations on the social implications of economic and industrial structures, on Christian charity, property rights, work as a human vocation, housing, family problems, crime and a number of other subjects. Only two days were set aside for the most urgent theme of the conference, ”The Church and international relations”.

23.  Long after the war had ended, still relations remained tense, particularly between France and Germany. The war had made friends into enemies and pulpits into platforms for chauvinist propaganda. Guilt weighed heavily on the hearts of many delegates. A public confession of shared and collective guilt at the opening service, had, however, prepared for a decent and disciplined discussion. It centered on The League of Nations as a potential instrument for international justice. The German delegation objected strongly to the conference supporting the League. The most dramatic moment of the week was when the French Methodist Élie Gounelle in a sharp and emotional exchange pleaded with the Germans to change their minds. ”We await you, we stretch out our hands to you!” he shouted. It is possible that the dispute between him and the superintendent Karl Klingemann cleared the way for reconciliation among the churches and contributed to the German decision in 1926 to join the League of Nations.

24. The only official statement of the meeting was a Message to the churches and the world summing up the discussions, stating principles, and asserting ideals, while ”leaving to the individual and communities the duty of applying them with charity, wisdom and courage.” Given the high expectations that Life and Work would speak clearly on issues of war and peace, the only passage in the Message touching the matter was seen as far too polished: 

We summon the Churches to share with us our sense of the horror of war and of its futility as a means of settling international disputes, and to pray and work for the fulfillment of the promise that under the sceptre of the Prince of Peace…righteousness and peace shall kiss each other.

No wonder that some pacifists registered objections to the Message as a whole because     of this passage.

25. The proposal to organize an international ecumenical council was left with the Continuation Committee to consider. In 1930 it changed its name to The Universal Council for Life and Work. This was a decisive step towards the formation of the World Council of Churches.

26. The Universal Conference on Life and Work held its final service in the Cathedral of Uppsala. A congregation of some four thousand worshippers had made it into the magnificent Gothic cathedral. At this occasion the Patriarch of Alexandria recited the Nicene Creed in its original language. This was for many the most memorable moment of the conference. It confirmed the continuity with the early church and bridged the gap between Life and Work, and Faith and Order.  The patriarch afterwards acknowledged that he had been doubtful about reaching real unity among the churches, but after having said the Nicene Creed in original Greek in a Lutheran Cathedral, his doubts were all gone. ”I am convinced that our work is blessed and will bear fruit”, he said. These words were his last public statement. On his way home, he died in Zürich.

27.   The Stockholm conference produced few joint decisions and guiding resolutions. Yet it was highly successful in creating conditions for a reconstruction of the ecumenical movement as a church-based and therefore lasting organization. The participants remembered the friendly, creative and deeply spiritual atmosphere at Stockholm, and the Christian fellowship prevailing all through the conference, transcending bitter denominational and national antagonisms. According to Söderblom ”all wise people thought it impossible” that the conference would succeed. The very fact that it did was, according to most participants, its most important achievement.

28.  The conference had a distinctly Western character. Six delegates were of Indian, Japanese and Chinese origin; all the others were westerners. The were few women, no manual labourers, hardly any young people, and no presence of other world religions. Only matters of immediate concern in the West were on the agenda.

29.  The conference reshaped the self-consciousness of European Christianity by breaking down barriers of nationality, ethnicity, confessions and power blocks. The Orthodox, who had been confined within Eastern Europe and the Middle East, for the first time collaborated with Protestant Christians.

30. By its rapid survey of needs in contemporary society, the conference affirmed in unmistakable terms the responsibility of the churches for the whole life of people and society. Life and Work moved Christian ethics from a matter of individual concern to that of communal responsibility. In doing so, it challenged both unrestrained capitalism and socialist disdain for individual rights. The Lord’s prayer, ”Your Kingdom come” served as the mantra of the conference.

31. Looking at the Stockholm conference and its context today, similarities with our own time are evident. The increasing social injustice, climate change, migratory flows, competition for food, rare minerals and arable land, wars, genocide an increasing polarization, news manipulation, populist nationalism, and attacks on multilateral institutions and disregard for international law, all of this is back. The ecumenical movement is prsently challenged on every front.

32. The delegates to Stockholm faced the realities of their time and responded, some of them in a truly prophetic manner.  Without illusions, they sought to protect a fragile peace by supporting still immature institutions like the Court of Justice and the League of Nations. Twenty-three years later, in 1948,  the World Council of Churches merging Faith and Order and Life and Work was constituted at its first assmebly in Amsterdam. Within the present structures of the World Council, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs remains an essential heritage of Stockholm 1925. Strong and binding multilateral structures are indispensable in the world of today. For the CCIA the obligation remains to strengthen such structures and to promote international law. The time for God’s peace is now.

Bishop Jonas Jonson, Church of Sweden