Ecumenical

Ecumenical means concerning or promoting unity among the Christian churches. An ecumenical service includes participants from multiple Christian traditions and may be held on occasions of shared significance (a community Thanksgiving service, an interdenominational funeral, a national prayer service). The ecumenical councils of the early Church (Nicaea I in 325, Constantinople I in 381, and others) gathered bishops from across the Christian world to settle major doctrinal questions; the term traces back to the Greek oikoumene, the whole inhabited world. The modern ecumenical movement, dating from the early twentieth century, works toward closer unity among Christian denominations through formal dialogue and shared witness.