wfn.org | UCC nominates five officers to lead denomination

[powellb@ucc.org]

June 10, 1999
Office of Communication
United Church of Christ
W. Evan Golder, press contact
(216) 736-2218
goldere@ucc.org
On the Web: www.ucc.org

United Church of Christ nominates
five officers to lead denomination

     CLEVELAND -- The Rev. John H. Thomas, currently Ecumenical Officer for

the United Church of Christ, has been nominated to lead that denomination
into a
restructured national setting as Acting General Minister and President.
Also
nominated this week is the Rev. José A. "Joe" Malayang as Acting
Executive Minister of Local Church Ministries.  He now serves as General
Secretary for the Division of Evangelism and Local Church Development, part
 of
the UCC's U.S. mission agency, the United Church Board for Homeland
Ministries.
     The two join three other nominees for national offices of the UCC,
whose
nominations were confirmed in March.  They are Edith A. Guffey, currently
Secretary of the UCC, for Associate General Minister;  Bernice Powell
Jackson,
now head of the UCC Commission for Racial Justice, for Executive Minister
of
Justice and Witness Ministries; and Dale L. Bishop, General Secretary for
Mission Program with the United Church Board for World Ministries, for
Executive Minister of Wider Church Ministries.
     Delegates to the United Church of Christ's 22nd General Synod will
vote
on whether to "call by election" these five new officers for a
reconstructed
national setting of the church.  Dates for the biennial Synod, the UCC's
largest deliberative body, are July 1-6 in Providence, R.I.
     In a unique executive arrangement, the five officers will work
together
in a Collegium of Officers, meeting as peers.  This setting will provide an

opportunity for mutual responsibility and reporting and ongoing assessment
of
UCC programs.
     Here is the background on the five nominees.
     The Rev. John H. Thomas, 48, has served in the Office of the President
 of
the UCC as Assistant to the President for Ecumenical Concerns since 1992.
In
that position, Thomas has built a national and global reputation as an
ecumenical leader.  Among other achievements, he co-chaired the effort to
restore full communion among the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America,
the
Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America and the UCC.  A
Euro-American, he earned a B.A. degree from Gettysburg (Pa.) College and an

M.Div. degree from Yale University Divinity School in New Haven, Conn.,
before
serving churches in Cheshire, Conn., and Easton, Pa.  He is a member of
Pilgrim Congregational UCC in Cleveland.
     If "called by election," Thomas will serve a two-year term as Acting
General Minister and President and be eligible to seek two more four-year
terms as General Minister and President.  The abbreviated term and the
"Acting" before his title and Malayang's are in deference to the
accelerated
search process which produced their nominations.
     Before joining the national setting of the UCC in 1991 as Secretary,
an
elected office, Edith A. Guffey, 45, was an administrator at the University
 of
Kansas.  She is a graduate in sociology of Baker University, Baldwin, Kan.,

and holds a master's degree in social work with a concentration in
administration from the University of Kansas.  Guffey, an African American,
 is
a member of Federated UCC in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.  In the new structure of
the
UCC's national setting, the Associate General Minister will be responsible
for
administering the Office of General Ministries.  If called by election, she

will serve for four years and be eligible for reelection to two more
four-year
terms.
     The Rev. Jose A. "Joe" Malayang, 60, is the nominee for Acting
Executive Minister of Local Church Ministries, responsible for encouraging
and
supporting local UCC churches in the fulfillment of God's mission. He now
serves as General Secretary for the Division of Evangelism and Local Church

Development, part of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries. He
also
has served in the UCC's national Office for Church Life and Leadership, on
the
UCC's Southern California/Nevada Conference staff, and as a local church
pastor in Richmond and Rochester, Mich., and in Mindanao in the
Philippines.
A Filipino-American, he earned a B.Th. degree from Silliman University in
the
Philippines, a B.A. from the University of the Philippines and an M.Ed.
from
Wayne State University in Detroit.  He is a member of First Congregational
UCC
in Elyria, Ohio, but is actively involved in an Asian-American new church
project in Lakewood, Ohio.  If called by election, he will serve a two-year

term and be eligible for reelection to two more four-year terms.
     Bernice Powell Jackson, 50, is the nominee for Executive Minister of
Justice and Witness Ministries, responsible for the church's work on
social,
racial and justice concerns.  She is currently head of the UCC Commission
for
Racial Justice.  Prior experience includes directing a scholarship fund for

South African archbishop Desmond Tutu.  Her undergraduate studies were at
Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pa.  She also holds an M.S. degree in
journalism
from Columbia University and an M.Div. degree from Union Theological
Seminary
in New York City.  Jackson, an African American, is a member of Mount Zion
Congregational UCC in Cleveland.  If elected, she will serve a six-year
term
and be eligible for reelection to a four-year term.
     Dale L. Bishop, 52, is the nominee for Executive Minister of Wider
Church
Ministries, responsible for overseas missionaries, relief aid, refugee
resettlement and volunteer services.  A  Euro-American, he is a graduate of

Heidelberg (Ohio) College and holds an M.A. in history and a Ph.D. in
Middle
East languages and cultures from Columbia University in New York.  He is a
widely-respected scholar on the Middle East and has served as area
executive
for the Middle East for both the UCC and the National Council of Churches.
  He
is a member of The Riverside Church UCC in New York City.  If called by
election, he will serve for four years and be eligible for re-election to
two
more four-year terms.
     For the past several years the United Church of Christ has been
restructuring its national agencies.  This General Synod will vote on
adopting
amendments to the bylaws so that the restructure will come to fruition on
July
1, 2000.  If called by election, the five new officers will take office at
that time, although they will begin work this coming Oct. 1.
     The United Church of Christ, with national offices in Cleveland, has
some
1.4 million members and more than 6,000 congregations in the United States
and
Puerto Rico.  It was formed by the 1957 union of the Congregational
Christian
Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
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