Conference of European Churches

The Conference of European Churches (CEC) was founded in 1959 to promote reconciliation, dialogue and friendship between the churches of Europe at a time of growing Cold War political tensions and divisions. It is an ecumenical fellowship of Christian churches in Europe; its membership consists of most of Europe's mainstream Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and Old Catholic Churches. In 2005, CEC had 125 member churches. A major project, completed in 2001, was the production of the Charta Oecumenica of Europe's churches.

CEC assemblies take place once every six years. The 4th CEC assembly (1964) had to be held on a ship on the Baltic Sea owing to the difficulties of obtaining visas for delegates from eastern European countries.

Between assemblies, CEC was until 2013 governed by a Central Committee meeting annually. The 12th Assembly of the Conference of European Churches (Trondheim, 2003) elected the 40-member Committee. This Committee, according to the CEC Constitution, was "empowered to conduct the business of the Conference when the Assembly is not meeting". At the 14th CEC Assembly (Budapest 2013) the Central Committee was replaced by a 20-member Governing Board. The Governing Board meets twice annually to oversee the implementation of the decisions of the Assembly. (art. 6.1) Recent meetings of the Central Committee took place in Geneva (2003), Prague (2004), Crete (2005), Derry (2006) and Crete (2012).

The President of CEC (from 2009 to 2013) was H.E. Metropolitan Emmanuel of France. He was succeeded in 2013 by Christopher Hill, a retired Church of England bishop (formerly Bishop of Guildford.)

There are a number of organisations in partnership and national councils of churches in the CEC. It is affiliated with the World Council of Churches (WCC).

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