For the past three weeks 3,000 Christians from every continent have been meeting in Vancouver as the Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches. Their debates and discussions under the theme Jesus Christ - the life of the world, have focused on two issues: the relation between faith and politics and the future of the movement for Christian unity.
The WCC has a turbulent political record on race, human rights and social justice and many Christians have asked whether the Council has got its theology right. At the same time, the drive for unity - despite the WCC's 300 member churches-has been judged by some to have run out of steam.
In this special report on the events and debates of Vancouver, John Whale of The Sunday Times and Rosemary Hartill , the BBC's Religious Affairs Correspondent, ask ' what does the Assembly mean for the churches? '
Producers STEPIIEN WHITTLE, JOHN WILCOX