September 17, 2014

From Vancouver to Busan: Promises and Challenges in Ecumenical Worship since 1983

by Dr. Andrew Donaldson (Consultant in Worship and Spirituality, WCC, Geneva)



The worship that took place in the tent at the 6th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Vancouver in 1983 opened up fresh possibilities in ecumenical liturgy and global song. This presentation will sketch some key turning points in the use of global song in North America since 1983. We will also consider some of the changes – the new possibilities and the fresh challenges –  that global song has brought to ecumenical liturgies.

Dr. Andrew Donaldson, Worship Consultant to the World Council of Churches
Co-editor of The Book of Praise for the Presbyterian
 Church in Canada and a past-president of the Hymn Society in the U.S. and Canada, Andrew received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree
 from Knox College in 2007 for his work in congregational song.

 Andrew works with the World Council of Churches in the area of worship and spirituality. Last year, along with Dr. Lim Swee Hong, he helped create and facilitate daily worship at the world-wide gathering of the WCC in Busan, Republic of Korea.