Ecumenical Social Activism and Transnational Connections Between Brazil and Britain: Theoretical and Practical Understandings of Ecumenism

This article, as the first of a two-part series, focuses on how activist practitioners in Christian faith-related non-governmental organisations relate to and develop ecumenical relationships/networks within their work on issues that cross international borders between Brazil and Britain. We draw on literature and interviews with practitioners within related Christian organisations giving their accounts of links amongst organisations in the two countries which they understand as being ecumenical. Attention is drawn to the complexities of understanding theoretical meanings of ‘ecumenism’ within historical developments, different contemporary contexts, and networks that connect these together. We highlight the significance of ecumenism to what Christian social activists do and how ecumenism has informed both the rationale for their engagement and the institutional framework for their initiatives. The article explores the diverse, sometimes quite intricate, connections amongst such organisations, following a double pattern: a growing visibility of faith-based social activism and a strategic recourse to network-based forms of institutional and collective action, as both operational and political resources. A new integrated analysis is offered on how the interviewed practitioners in Christian organisations described the development of these network relationships across borders and differences, with a particular innovative focus on Brazil and the UK. The article draws on thematic analysis of 42 semi-structured interviews with practitioners (conducted 2015–2018), with supporting online research (2015–2022).