The World Council of Churches (WCC) released a statement this week stating that it would soon undertake a "major shift" in its "culture and ethos". The statement comes as the WCC begins its preparations for their annual Central Committee gathering, which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Central Committee meeting will open on Tuesday 15th February and is planned to last for a week. It is thought that a great amount of the time of this gathering will be used to determine the exact nature and direction of this shift in culture.

The committee consists of 150 members from the WCC, and acts as the highest governing body over the assemblies of the WCC. In has also been reported that the committee may even change a number of points held in the current WCC Constitution.

A potential constitutional change that may occur could be in relation to the governance structure of the WCC. After preliminary decisions were made last year, the WCC will now attempt to implement a new governance structure that would enable a more efficient and fresh decision-making process to be adopted.

In addition, the gathering will also be a time to discuss the preparations for WCC’s 9th Assembly, which will take place in a year’s time – February 2006 – in Porto Alegre.

The Ecumenical viewpoints on homosexuality will also be a discussion point, and the members will review in detail the current problems and issues that this issue has brought up in the church and more specifically, within the ecumenical movement.