Unity of Worlds Churches Will Face Test at SessionsEVANSTON, 111. (AP) Most of the worlds churches are moving toward a fateful crossroad.Which way they turn can mean either closer ties or sharper gaps in the centuries old divisions of Christianity.The answer hinges on the assembly of the World Council of Churches opening here next Saturday.It will be a critical test, said Dr. W. A. Visserts Hooft, the councils general secretary. We shall see which is stronger the force of unity or the force of division.The meeting will be the most widely representative Christian gathering ever held on the American continent. Most ComprehensiveIn range of subjects, purposes and participation, it may well be the most comprehensive Christian assembly ever called.All things considered, said Dr. Franklin Clark Fry, head of the United Lutheran Church and vice chairman of the councils general committee, It is the most crucial interchurch meeting in Christian history.Fundamental theological questions, buried through the years in the ashes of denominational cleavages and regional aloofness, will be raised in the first such broad attempt to cement Christianitys scattered forces.The assembly will deal with subjects that go to the very heart of the faith, Dr. Fry said. It is a daring thing to do.The outcome can determine the lasting strength of the whole movement to bring the churches closer together and increase their effectiveness. 161 DenominationsMore than 1, 500 representatives from 161 denominations with approximately 170 million members in 48 countries on both sides of the Iron Curtain will take part in the meeting.Dr. Henry P. Van Dusen, president of Union Theological Seminary and chairman of the councils U. S. study committee, described it this wayThe most truly ecumenical assemblage of the followers of Christ who have ever met in one accord in one place in the 20 centuries since his life and death and resurrection.Although the world council met once previously it is digging for the first time into basic and potentially shattering or consolidating matters of faith.Dr. Samuel McCrea Cavert, the councils American secretary, said he believes that the churches, instead of finding themselves far apart, will discover that they are on common ground to a far greater extent than they have known.The council does not seek to become a world church, or even to arrange mergers, viewing that as the task of individual denominations.But it does seek, said Dr. Visserts Hooft, to be an instrument of the holy spirit for healing our divisions.