wfn.org | NCCCUSA General Assembly Nov. 14

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the 
U.S.A.
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
Internet: news@ncccusa.org

NCC11/14/97

DAY THREE: NCC'S NOV. 12-14 ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY

 WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 14 ---- Following is a 
synopsis of news from the third and final day of 
business of the National Council of Churches’ Nov. 
12-14 annual General Assembly, meeting in 
Washington, D.C.  The 270-member assembly is the 
highest governing body of the NCC and is made up of 
official delegates from the Councils’ 34 member 
communions (denominations), which in turn have 52 
million members.

 This is a long file.  Here is an index of the 
news items in it:

* U.S. Vice President Gore Addresses NCC Assembly
* NCC Reiterates Support for Affirmative Action
* Assembly Hears Reports in Two Key Public Policy 
Areas
* Appreciation for Outgoing President Bishop Talbert
* In Other Business….

U.S. Vice President Gore Addresses NCC General 
Assembly

U.S. Vice President Albert Gore greeted the 
NCC's General Assembly this morning, in particular 
hailing the Council's work for civil rights and 
environmental protection and its stand for unity.

"You stand for unity, not instead of, or in 
spite of, diversity but unity inspired by 
appreciation for and celebration of our diversity 
and absolute mutual respect," he said.

Furthermore, the NCC understands that "it's not 
enough for churches and other houses of worship to 
be united if the people are not," the Vice President 
continued.  "You've put this into practice in 
communities across the nation through your 150,000 
congregations.

"You've been especially effective on civil 
rights.  The churches ignited that little spark of 
celestial fire called conscience, and forced America 
to see the issue of race as a direct and 
irresistable invitation to practice the love of God.

"You've helped communities rebuild churches 
destroyed by arsons, and to rebuild communities 
where in so many cases racial hate was cause of the 
fires," Mr. Gore continued  "You are helping Black 
pastors be more effective in politics, and white 
pastors to lead work against racism in their 
congregations and communities.  You are reaching to 
Native, Asian, Hispanic and other Americans of all 
kinds.  You have a large view of the moral role of 
the churches in their society."

The Vice President continued with praise for 
the NCC's work to protect the environment, 
especially through its participation in the National 
Religious Partnership for the Environment, "just one 
example of the growing bonds between the 
environmental and religious communities."  He 
commented, "We cannot glorify the Creator while 
heaping contempt on the Creation."

He also expressed gratitude for all the NCC's 
work "in advancing the social and spiritual 
condition of all people," and acknowledged a number 
of people by name, including the NCC's General 
Secretary, Presidents past and present and the 
Director of its Washington Public Policy Office, and 
welcomed the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of India as the 
NCC's newest member communion.  He also thanked the 
Assembly for its prayers for him on Thursday 
morning, when he originally was scheduled to address 
the group but was called away to a meeting on the 
stand-off in Iraq.

The Rev. Dr. Joan B. Campbell, the NCC's 
General Secretary, welcomed the Vice President as "a 
man of faith who acts out your commitment in the 
public square."  Praising his commitment to 
religious liberty and justice for all, she noted 
that the NCC also "challenges you when we must."  
She assured him and President Clinton the ecumenical 
community's prayers.

 United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert, the 
NCC's President, offered the concluding words, 
including a prayer for peace and for blessings on 
Mr. Gore "as he continues this day to be a vital 
force of change in this world."

 The Vice President started his address with a 
string of humorous comments and stories that 
provoked the Assembly to side-splitting laughter.  
He shared real bloopers from church bulletins ("At 
the Easter Services, Mrs. K—will be asked to lay an 
egg on the altar"), and joked about the 
investigations of his fundraising activities.

"You continually reach out to Jewish, Hindu, 
Muslim and Buddhist congregations," he said in 
praise of the NCC's interfaith relations work, then 
added,  ?I've also reached out to Buddhist 
congregations."  Then he paused and turned to Dr. 
Campbell and asked,  "THIS isn't a fundraiser, is 
it?  Just checking!"

NCC Reiterates Support for Affirmative Action

 In its third and last day of business, the 
General Assembly of the National Council of Churches 
(NCC) unanimously accepted a resolution expressing 
continued support for affirmative action.

 The resolution, put forward this week in the 
wake of turmoil over the confirmation of Bill Lann 
Lee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, 
calls on the NCC:

   to continue support of and advocacy for 
effective affirmative action programs, statutes, 
policies and practices;
   to speak out against retrogressive 
legislative and other attempts to rescind or weaken 
affirmative action statues on municipal, state or 
federal levels;
   to align themselves with others of good will 
to defeat anti-affirmative action initiatives 
constructed to “turn back the clock,” which are 
attempts to establish Proposition 209 at the federal 
level; and
   to encourage members to exercise their 
constitutional and civil responsibilities fully in 
helping to defeat these and other assaults on 
productive affirmative action programs.

 The resolution states that California’s 
Proposition 209 and similar state and federal 
legislation “are antithetical to achieving a mature, 
diverse and egalitarian society.

 The General Assembly passed the resolution with 
no discussion.

General Assembly Hears Reports in Two Key Public 
Policy Areas

 The General Assembly heard reports about two 
important public policy issues about which NCC 
member communions and the NCC Washington Office are 
advocating, campaign finance reform and a Jubilee 
2000 for debtor nations.

 Bishop McKinley Young of the African Methodist 
Episcopal Church said that “religious communities 
have played an active role through statements and 
conferences in calling for campaign finance reform.”

 Bishop Young discussed current and upcoming 
legislation on the campaign finance issue, saying 
“it is time to step up our efforts in support of 
these bills.”  Too often, Congresspeople in support 
of campaign finance reform “are voices crying alone 
in the wilderness.”

 “Over $5.2 million has been spent on 
congressional investigations” into campaign 
financing, he said.  “That would feed a lot of 
homeless people.  I believe the time is right for 
the prophetic word and call for change.”

 Sister Marie Dennis of the Maryknoll Society 
Peace and Justice Office then reported on a “Jubilee 
2000 - Debtor Nation” campaign that would allow for 
the forgiveness of foreign debt to allow indebted, 
underdeveloped countries “a fresh start.”

 “As we near the millennium, there is a 
prevalence of jubilee images,” Sister Dennis said.  
“Countries deserve a new start, free of lingering 
debts.”

 “Creditor and debtor nations share the 
responsibility for these debts, but only the 
indebted bear the weight of repayment under terms 
imposed by the International Monetary Fund,” she 
explained.  “No mechanisms for bankruptcy exist.”

 She also noted that many of the factors for 
increasing debt have been external to the countries 
involved, such as rising oil prices and the levying 
of high interest rates.

 Sister Dennis gave staggering statistics, 
pointing out that some countries pay three times 
more in loan payments than they receive in aid and 
that the entire worldwide debt amounts to $2.4 
trillion.

“Economic decisions need to involve moral 
factors,” Sister Dennis said.  “As the Church, me 
need to insist that policies must be shaped in the 
context of God’s love and demand for justice.”

Most of the discussion centered around the 
Debtor Nation issue, with delegates supporting the 
call and stressing the need for ensuring that aid 
makes it to the grass roots level.

Bishop Zacharias Mar Theophilus of the NCC’s 
newest communion, the Mar Thoma Church, described 
the international debt system as “a new world 
economic order of slavery and mastery.”

The Rev. Dr. Albert Pennybacker, Head of the 
NCC’s Washington, D.C. Office, concluded by saying 
that campaign finance reform and debt forgiveness 
“are two issues where we have the opportunity to 
make a real difference.”

Appreciation for Outgoing President Bishop Talbert

 Because it was the last day of the meeting, 
incoming President Bishop Craig Anderson, General 
Secretary Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell and United 
Methodist Bishop William Boyd Grove took time to 
thank United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert for his 
two years of service as NCC President.

 Dr. Campbell listed the many things that 
happened during Bishop Talbert’s tenure, including 
responding to burned churches, the transformation of 
the NCC, giving “medicine to Cuba, food to North 
Korea and hope to East Timor,” his support of gay 
and lesbian people in the church, and the first 
exchange of greetings with the Roman Catholic 
bishops.  “You have left the council stronger than 
you found it,” Dr. Campbell said.

 Bishop Talbert had a word of challenge for the 
General Assembly.  “Much has been said about us 
being around the table, and I think it is at the 
heart of what it means to be the people of God,” 
Bishop Talbert said.  “It is not just a conference 
table, but the table of our Lord.”

As much as I cherish ecumenical relationships, 
we cannot say that we all sit around the table of 
the Lord,” he continued.  “We create barbed wire 
fences around the table of the Lord and decide who 
is in and who is out.”

“The table of the Lord belongs to all of us, 
not only those in this council but those knocking to 
get in,” Bishop Talbert said.  “We should pray that 
God will provide us with a kind of boldness to say, 
‘Yes, God, we have become instruments of you and we 
invite all of your children, regardless of who they 
are.”

Dr. Campbell presented Bishop Talbert with a 
frame picture of his granddaughter and Bishop Grove 
presented him with a large print version of the New 
Revised Standard Version of the Bible because, he 
said, “this bishop is a field bishop who lives in 
the world, so he can read as he rides, as he runs 
and as he preaches in the churches.”

In Other Business …

In other business, the General Assembly heard 
reports from NCC delegation visits to North Korea, 
Indonesia/East Timor and the Middle East.

The Rev. Dr. Riad Jarjour, General Secretary of 
the Middle East Council of Churches, said one of the 
most important parts of the NCC delegation’s visit 
to his region was not “the prestige and exposure 
through the media,” but that “ordinary people in the 
Middle East saw that there is a positive, sensitive 
Christian link between the Middle East and the 
United States.”

The General Assembly also accepted a report 
from the Communication Commission naming four 
priorities for the remainder of the quadrennium.  
The “four R’s,” upon which the Communications 
Commission will develop a media plan, are:

  Renewing Christian unity in the context of 
interfaith relationships
  Responding to human need at home and abroad
  Resisting racism and building racial 
reconciliation
  Re-affirming a Biblical rootedness

The meeting closed with a prayer.

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