Young Episcopalians revive ecumenical movement with interfaith urgency

Young adult Christians are bringing fresh energy to the ecumenical movement, which seeks Christian unity across denominational lines and interfaith solidarity. In June, over 60 young adults from around the world, including Hank Jeannel of The Episcopal Church's ecumenical and interreligious relations office, participated in the second E-cumenical Youth Gathering convened by the World Council of Churches. Jeannel reported that participants shared concerns ranging from climate change to personal struggles and expressed hope for a united Christian witness. The Rev. Kirsten Guidero, ecumenical officer for The Episcopal Church, traced the movement's origins to the World Missionary Conference in 1910 and Bishop Charles Brent's 1927 First World Conference on Faith and Order in Switzerland, which led to the World Council of Churches' formation in 1948. Today's context differs markedly from the early twentieth-century Western European setting that birthed ecumenism. Christianity is declining in the United States as religious unaffiliation rises. The Rev. Joseph Woyniak, program director of the Lilly Endowment-funded ecumenical initiative The Narthex, acknowledged that midcentury institutional foundations are cracking under stress. Young Christians increasingly live interreligious lives by default, necessitating urgent ministry adaptation. Michael Wheeler will become the first Episcopal seminarian to attend the Bossey Ecumenical Institute in Geneva this fall.

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Source: Episcopal News Service — https://episcopalnewsservice.org/2026/08/17/young-adults-enter-the-ecumenical-interreligious-movement-with-hope-urgency/