Busan in South Korea, Damascus in Syria and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia are all up for consideration as the potential venue for the 10th WCC Assembly when it meets in 2013. Around 7,000 Christians are expected to attend.

According to a report submitted to the Central Committee, the National Council of Churches in Korea is “extremely eager” to host the next assembly.

It regards hosting the Assembly as a way of “deepening the existing fellowship of the churches in Korea”.

If Damascus’ bid is accepted, it will be the first ever WCC Assembly to be held in the Middle East.

In a particularly impassioned plea, Samer Laham, ecumenical officer of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, said hosting the next Assembly in Syria would help to strengthen churches in the region and overcome misunderstandings between Christians and other faiths groups in the Middle East.

Dr Agedew Redie of the Addis Ababa search team, meanwhile, stressed the long history of the church in Ethiopia – which began around 34AD with the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch – and the strong support of the country’s president and ministry of foreign affairs, which has promised to support in facilitating visas.

Rev Rui Bernhard, the national coordinator of the 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre in Brazil in 2006 is acting as a special consultant in the venue selection process and has visited each of the prospective host sites.

He said each country had demonstrated a strong ecumenical commitment and desire to host the Assembly.

He admitted, however, that language barriers, distance and size constraints presented logistical challenges.

“There is the challenge to motivate local parishes to welcome the Assembly,” he added. “Cultivating the involvement of the local church is the essential ingredient to a successful Assembly.”