October 3

George Allen Kennedy Bell

(1883-1958)

pastor and ecumenical witness

On October 3, 1958 George Allen Kennedy Bell, bishop of Chichester and pioneer of the ecumenical movement, died peacefully at his home in Canterbury.
Born in Norwich in 1883, Bell studied at Oxford and was ordained a priest in 1907. From 1914 to 1929 he served as first chaplain to the English archbishop, after which he became Dean of Canterbury.
Overwhelmed by the suffering caused by the two world wars, Bell worked fervently to promote reconciliation among nations, tirelessly forming ties with Christians of all denominations.
A man of action, although he by no means lacked theological training, Bell led the Life and Action movement for a number of years. When the movement joined forces with the World Council of Churches, he was elected as first moderator of the newly formed worldwide ecumenical organization. His open scepticism regarding theological dialogues did not prevent him from becoming close friends with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nathan Söderblom and Wilhelm Visser't Hooft. These friendhips paved the way for the gradual drawing together of the churches after the Second World War.
The last sermon Bell preached before he died was on Luke 17.10: "So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless servants; we have done only what we ought to have done.'" Significantly, Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached his first sermon on this passage, and it is also the verse that was inscribed on Nathan Söderblom's tombstone in the cathedral of Uppsala.