wfn.org | WCC is told to keep spending down...

["Sheila MESA" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
2 September 1999

CENTRAL COMMITTEE  No. 15  

WCC IS TOLD TO KEEP SPENDING DOWN; PROD NON-CONTRIBUTING MEMBER CHURCHES FOR BASIC SUPPORT

The Geneva headquarters of the World Council of Churches (WCC) is being asked to keep its deficit down to about CHF 50,000 (US$33,000) for the current year. The WCC may be facing a more significant shortfall according to Bishop Wolfgang Huber of Germany, moderator of the finance committee.  

The WCC's total operating income was CHF 34,000,000 (US$22,667,000) in 1998 and it budgeted  about CHF 28,700,000 (US$19,133,000) in 1999.  

The committee, reporting to the WCC Central Committee meeting in Geneva August 24 -September 3, also urged the international organization to work with member churches in the hopes of increasing the number of churches paying the basic WCC membership fee of CHF 1,000 (US$666). Some 167 of the 336 member churches did not contribute their membership fees in 1998, the committee reported.  

"Not all of the non- or low contributors came from economically depressed areas," the finance committee report said. The WCC's financial report shows that a number of North American and European member churches had not paid the basic membership fee for that year.  

After two years, according to a resolution adopted by the Central Committee, non-payment of the membership fee should have "consequences" for the non-contributing churches. The consequences, the resolution said, would be somehow related to participation in the decision-making processes (of the WCC)," and might affect the member churches' eligibility to receive WCC subsidies.  

The WCC decreased its operating expenses from CHF 35 million to CHF 30 million in the last two years;  a good performance by investments offset some of the negative consequences of the reduction in contributions.  

The Central Committee also approved a proposal from the finance committee encouraging member churches to consider an "Ecumenical Commitment Sunday" as a special means of highlighting the work of the WCC and collecting money to support WCC projects.  

Contact:  Karin Achtelstetter, Media Relations Officer           
Tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53   Mobile:  (+41) 79.284.52.12

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of 336 churches, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest governing body is the Assembly, which meets approximately every seven years.  The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
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