The Australian and New Zealand Protestant Churches in the Early Ecumenical Movement's Campaign for Global Order

Abstract

This article records the involvement of a significant group of Australian and New Zealand leaders from the Protestant and Anglican churches in the development of a growing sense of Christian contribution to social order on an ecumenical basis in the decades spanning the Second World War. All had a background in the Student Christian Movement (SCM). The formation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1938 led to the formation of national Councils of Churches, a practical consequence of which were ecumenical Campaigns for Christian Order (CCO) in New South Wales and New Zealand. Attendance at international gatherings such as the Princeton Round Table in July 1943 gave impetus to a growing sense of independence from Britain and a confidence to strike out in new directions that paralleled similar tendencies on the wider national level. In particular, Bishop Ernest Burgmann's friendship with Labor Party statesman, H. V. Evatt was involved in the significant contribution made by Australia to the formation of the United Nations in the early post-war years and to its Declaration on Human Rights.