The head of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has urged members of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) to co-work for the "urgent" cause of Christian unity.

"The call for Christian unity and common witness is as urgent today as it was two thousand years ago; and as it was one-hundred years ago," said the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit. "The divine invitation to be united in Christ for the sake of God's mission in the world is a prayer we are called to answer."

Noting the BWA as playing a "key role in global Christianity, being both ecumenical and evangelical in spirit and witness," Tveit said the WCC will look to the group for "guidance and wisdom, prayer and leadership" as they continue to pursue unity in the body of Christ.

Tveit's remarks were delivered by WCC President the Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson during the BWA's 20th Congress, which met in Honolulu, Hawaii from July 28 to Aug. 1. Some 4,000 Baptists gathered for the assembly, which dates back to 1905 and is held every five years.

The congress' final declaration affirmed the BWA's commitment to "communicate…the truth of God in Jesus Christ" and to support the values reflected in the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals.

The BWA is a fellowship of 216 conventions representing some 37 million baptized believers.