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National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: Carol J. Fouke, NCC, 212-870-2252
Internet: carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

NCC11/20/96     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCC GENERAL ASSEMBLY ATTENDS TO WIDE VARIETY OF
CONCERNS -- PART ONE

 CHICAGO, Ill., Nov. 15 ---- In the course of
its meeting here Nov. 13-15, the National Council of
Churches General Assembly attended to a wide variety
of concerns, including:

NO BARRIERS FOR DEAF PEOPLE
 "No Barriers for Deaf People in Churches" is a
newly proposed policy of the NCC that received first
reading at the General Assembly.  Beth Lockard, a
mission developer for the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America and a student at the Lutheran
Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, presented the
nine-page document which carries a series of
recommendations aimed at meeting the needs of three
distinct groups: Deaf people who use American Sign
Language as their primary language and who identify
with Deaf cultural values; Deaf and hard of hearing
people who use English-like signing and who identify
with a mix of Deaf and hearing cultural values, and
hard of hearing people who use spoken and written
English and who identify with hearing cultural
values.  Assembly delegates received the proposed
policy with enthusiasm, offering suggestions to
further strengthen it.  The statement will be
reviewed across the NCC's 33 member communions and
come back to the General Assembly for second (and
final) reading in November 1997.

WELFARE REFORM
 "To call the new law welfare reform is an
oxymoron.  This is really, of course, welfare
repeal," said Wade Henderson, Executive Director of
the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, at a
dialogue on welfare reform held Nov. 14.  Panelists
encouraged NCC General Assembly members to make the
new welfare law one of their top policy issues and
to be more intentional in their role in the
entitlement planning that will take place at the
State level.

The Hon. Earlean Collins (D-Illinois State
Senator) pointed to her state's innovative "earn
fair" programs as a model.  Panelists also
encouraged NCC leaders to show the white face of
welfare rather than just the black woman or the
undocumented immigrant.  Lavinia Limon, Director of
the Office of Refugee Resettlement for the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, noted the
contradiction in the fears expressed about
immigrants, namely, that "they're coming to take
over our jobs" and "they're all on welfare."  Above
all, the NCC needs to bring "imagination and
creativity" to the new situation, according to Susan
Christie, Director of the Institute for Family Self-
Sufficiency and Professional Development for the
Public Welfare Association.

HOMOSEXUALITY CONSULTATION
 The NCC plans to sponsor a national "Ecumenical
Consultation on the Implications of Homosexuality
for Christian Unity" in 1997.  The Rev. John Thomas
of the United Church of Christ, who chairs the NCC's
Counseling Committee, presented the decision of the
NCC Executive Board to host the consultation at a
place and date to be announced.  Member communions
will be invited to send representatives "for the
full experience of the churches on this issue to be
expressed."  The Rev. Thomas said the consultation
"would not have any legislative component" but would
provide a safe environment for open discussion about
issues that continue to be fractious within and
among churches.

CLIMATE CHANGE
 The General Assembly heard about an
international petition campaign on climate change
sponsored by the World Council of Churches.  Job
Ebenezer, Director for Environmental Stewardship of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said
scientists have found that gases leading to a
gradual warming of the atmosphere can be traced to
the consumption of fossil fuels.  "Scientists are
unable to change the behaviors of people," he said,
but the churches can act out of love for God's
creation in petitioning world governments to enact
policies leading to reductions in emissions.  Mr.
Ebenezer said many of the practices being promoted
could save American churches millions of dollars in
operating costs.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS
 The NCC adopted a Policy Statement on Churches
and the Public Schools in 1963.  "The last policy
was good for over 30 years.  We'd like the next one
to last just as long," said Dr. Nanette Roberts of
the United Church of Christ, a consultant to the
NCC's Ministries in Christian Education, describing
her committee's efforts to revise the policy.  The
purpose of the policy is "to inform our communions
of the importance of public schools" as partners in
educating Americans, she said, and of the
difficulties public schools face especially in
receiving equitable funding.  Dr. Roberts named the
publications of several member churches on the
topic.  The committee will meet Feb. 14 in
Washington, D.C., to continue its work.

ECCLESIOLOGY TASK FORCE
 A task force looking into what it means "to be
church" for the NCC's member churches reported to
the General Assembly.  The Rev. Dr. Michael
Kinnamon, Chair of the NCC Ecclesiology Study Task
Force, said the study hopes "to promote deeper
commitment of our churches one to another within the
NCC."

 "Our final report will likely include
recommendations next year for revision of the NCC's
Constitution and 'Marks of Commitment,'" said Dr.
Kinnamon.  "New initiatives mean little if not
accompanied by renewed commitment of the churches to
one another" and to the national council, he said.
The Assembly approved development of a "prayer
cycle" booklet that will designate each Sunday of
the year to highlight a different NCC member church,
national ecumenical body or NCC agency.

POST-ELECTION "FIGHT PLAN" AND "FAITH PLAN"
 The Rev. Jesse Jackson, speaking as part of an
NCC General Assembly panel on post-election
prospects, called for a religious coalition around
issues of poverty that has some fight to it.  "The
Christian Coalition has a fight plan; they're
organized," he said.  "We cannot win without one."
Joining the Rev. Jackson on the panel was Democratic
political organizer David Wilhelm.  "Fewer people
are hearing the message of the mainstream churches,"
he said.  "What to do?  Become more explicitly
partisan?  I used to think so.  Now I think it is
most important for preachers to preach well and to
mean it when they stand before their congregations,
to deliver a picture of God and Jesus with vigor and
conviction."

 Fear makes many Americans impatient and willing
to tear down institutions, said the third panelist,
Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action
Center of Reform Judaism.  "That makes for dangerous
times," he said.  "A balanced budget amendment will
devastate social programs in America and we will be
shackled with that for years."  He warned churches
to prepare to provide "more shelters, more feeding
centers, more tutoring, more transitional housing --
plus more volunteers."  According to the Rev.
Jackson, "We have enough time to work out targets
and strategies.  We can beat the Christian
Coalition.  That's a political organization, not a
religious organization.  It takes the faithful to
fight, but fighters can't fight without faith."

TEXACO, INC.
 The NCC General Assembly supported strategies
of the Interfaith Center for Corporate
Responsibility, an NCC related organization, to
press Texaco, Inc., and other corporations "to
embrace the concept that public accountability and
assuming leadership in diversity is good for
Corporate America."  After reviewing discrimination
suits against Texaco, Assembly delegates called on
the corporation "to act quickly in order to allow
the public to reestablish its belief in Texaco,
Inc., and review their court cases with a view to a
reasonable settlement of them."  In light of the
disclosed Texaco information, they further urged the
NCC's National Ministries Unit to petition the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission "to end its
position that disallowed shareholders resolutions
dealing with employment issues and employment
discrimination."  And they asked the NCC to join
with ICCR in its call to American corporations "to
take the leadership role in implementing guidelines
against discrimination in the workplace such as the
Glass Ceiling Commission's recommendations."

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