wfn.org | NCCCUSA's 1999 Yearbook Off Press

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

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
E-mail: news@ncccusa.org; Web: www.ncccusa.org

1999 YEARBOOK OF AMERICAN AND CANADIAN CHURCHES 
NOW OFF PRESS
New & Updated Listings, Data & Analysis Make it 
the "Most Valuable Yearbook Ever"

 NEW YORK, March 5 - Just off press, the 1999 Yearbook 
of American and Canadian Churches arguably is the most 
valuable in the book's 67-year history, with more than one 
thousand updates and two new chapters enhancing its value 
for local church ministry.

  Already recognized as the most up-to-date, 
comprehensive available summary of membership and financial 
data from North America's churches, the annual Yearbook, 
prepared by staff of the National Council of Churches, also 
offers extensive descriptions and directories of national 
and regional denominational and ecumenical bodies.  The 1999 
Yearbook lists more U.S. church bodies than ever before - 
213 in all.
 
  Trends essays in the 1999 Yearbook include a reflection 
on "American Religion at the Millennium's End" by Gustav 
Niebuhr, Senior Religion Correspondent for The New York 
Times.  Statistical charts and commentaries on a century of 
church growth in the United States and Canada go hand in 
hand with data on the continuing "flattening out" of 
"mainline" membership losses and "non-mainline" gains, along 
with evidence that giving to churches continues to increase.
 
 In its 408 pages - a more than 30-page increase over 1998 
- the 1999 Yearbook also includes:
 
* A new index to help churches and others identify regional 
and local ecumenical programs in five key areas: Interfaith 
Dialogue, Hunger/Food Programs, Youth Activities, Faith and 
Order, and Homelessness/Shelter Ministries.

* A new chapter listing key religion research centers - a 
useful compendium for journalists, scholars and other 
"students" of contemporary American religion.

* A vastly expanded compendium of e-mail and World Wide Web 
addresses for North American denominations and cooperative 
organizations, local and regional ecumenical bodies, 
seminaries, religious periodicals; relief and disaster 
response agencies, databases and search engines, and for 
world religious bodies.  "The Emerging Electronic Church" 
chapter was six pages long when it premiered last year; this 
year's, compiled with the assistance of Ric Justice of 
Wylie, Texas, spans 23 pages.

 The 1999 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches is 
edited by the Rev. Dr. Eileen W. Lindner, the NCC's 
Associate General Secretary for Christian Unity; published 
by Abingdon Press, Nashville, Tenn., and available for 
U.S.$35 (including shipping) through the NCC's Friendship 
Press (212-870-2496) and at local bookstores across the 
United States and Canada.

"From the pulpit to the pew, from the podium to the 
press, this is the book for anyone who has anything to do 
with religion!" said Roger Burgess, director of Friendship 
Press, New York City, hailing its value for local churches, 
denominational and ecumenical leaders, journalists, seminary 
and public libraries, researchers and scholars alike.

Said Sylvia Ronsvalle, executive vice president of the 
empty tomb, inc., a Christian research and service 
organization based in Champaign, Ill., the Yearbook is "a 
vital source for researchers, scholars and any interested 
church person and consolidates information from many 
denominations into one central location."

Greta Lauria of Louisville, Ky., secretary/treasurer of 
the Association of Statisticians of American Religious 
Bodies, added, "Over the years, the Yearbook has become like 
a friend you can always count on to give you the information 
you need.  The Yearbook belongs in the library of anyone who 
has a serious interest in the church."

 The improvements in the 1999 Yearbook anticipate 
additional enhancements over the next three years, thanks to 
a $635,000 redevelopment grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.  
With the grant, the Yearbook will computerize its 67-year 
database on church membership and finances, develop new 
user-friendly CD-ROM and Web-based products to supplement 
its annual print edition, institute electronic data 
gathering and enhance its marketing.

 Here are some other features of the 1999 Yearbook:

* A listing of "Church Archives and Historical Records 
Collections" including full contact information, entirely 
updated and revamped with the assistance of Mark Duffey, 
Episcopal Church archivist.

* An interfaith calendar for 1999-2002, compiled from 
various sources but with special assistance from Father Will 
Krieger of Ecumenical Books, San Antonio, Texas.

* Seminary enrollment statistics, documenting the continuing 
diversification of the student body and, consequently, 
pastoral leadership for the 21st century.

* Directories of national cooperative organizations and 
religious bodies, regional and local ecumenical agencies, 
theological seminaries and Bible schools, and religious 
periodicals in the United States and Canada.

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