wfn.org | NCC Board Fete's Ecumenical Council's Continuing Fiscal

["Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

For Immediate Release
Media Contact: 212-870-2227

NCC BOARD CELEBRATES COUNCILS CONTINUING FISCAL RECOVERY

October 1, 2003, NEW YORK CITY - Celebration of the National Council of
Churches continuing fiscal recovery and a sharpening of organization and
focus marked the fall meeting of the Councils Executive Board here Sept.
29-30.

The Board received the audited financial statements for the year ending June
30, 2003, which show not only a balanced operating budget for the second
year in a row, but also a more than $7 million increase in the Councils
long-term reserves.  The financial turnaround was achieved not only through
cuts in staff and expenditures but also through greater program focus, NCC
leaders said.

In 2002-2003, the Councils work for peaceful solutions to the Iraq crisis
attracted grants from several foundations and individual donors - including
an anonymous individuals donation of stock whose sale netted the NCC just
over $7 million.  Work in such areas as environmental justice, globalization
and biotechnology also attracted grants.

In contrast, the Councils finances in the 1980s and 1990s were marked by
slow attrition of staff and program and a drawing down of long-term reserves
from $24 million to about $2.5 million in order to compensate for deficit
program spending.

The NCCs audited financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30,
2003, showed total income of $12,474,125 and total operating expenditures of
$5,664,651.  The surplus increased the Councils total assets from
$6,309,200 as of June 30, 2002, to $12,651,535 as of June 30, 2003.

The NCCs salvage quadrennium is over, said National Council of Churches
General Secretary Bob Edgar, who along with the Councils officers has led
the financial recovery over the past four years.  Financially, we are
healthy and we are beginning a new phase.

The new phase includes focusing the Councils work through five
 commissions - Faith and Order, Education and Leadership Ministries,
Interfaith Relations, Communication and a new Advocacy and Justice
Commission, to be constituted at the Councils November 2003 annual General
Assembly.  Relating to all of the commissions are the Office of the General
Secretary along with offices for International Affairs and Peace, Research
and Planning, Development, and Administration and Finance.

Also at the Sept. 29-30 meeting, two key staff positions were filled by the
Executive Board:

-- The Rev. Dr. Shanta D. Premawardhana, an Alliance of Baptists pastor and
a leader in interfaith work in Chicago, was elected to serve as the Council
s Associate General Secretary for Interfaith Relations.   He succeeds the
Rev. Dr. Jay Rock, who had been seconded to the NCC by the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) for 16 years.  On Sept. 1, Dr. Rock became interfaith
relations coordinator in the PCUSAs Worldwide Ministries Division in
Louisville, Ky.

-- Ms. Leora E. Landmesser, a United Methodist who is a seasoned financial
officer with experience in a wide range of organizations, was elected to
serve as the Councils Associate General Secretary for Administration and
Finance.  She succeeds Spencer Bates, who has returned to retirement after
serving in that position on an interim basis.

In addition, it was announced that the Rev. Dr. Paul H. Sherry, former
President of the United Church of Christ, has agreed to donate a year of his
retirement to lead the NCCs Mobilization to Overcome Poverty.

This is a wonderful opportunity, commented the NCCs President, Elenie
Huszagh.  Those of us who know Paul are delighted at his offer of service.

The NCC Executive Board also approved changes in the Councils Constitution,
Bylaws and Standing Rules to bring them in line with the reorganization in
the Councils program structure, and forwarded the revised documents to the
NCCs November 2003 General Assembly for action.

Further, the Board commended a proposed new policy - The Church and
Children: Visions and Goals for the 21st Century - to the November Assembly
for first reading.   And the Board forwarded for the Assemblys action:

-- A resolution urging churches to give increased attention to work for
quality public education, as detailed in the NCC policy The Churches and
Public Schools at the End of the Twentieth Century, adopted in 1999.

-- A recommendation that the General Assembly approve a resolution to
endorse the Taco Bell Boycott, as called for by the Coalition of Immokalee
Workers.  The vote was unanimous with six abstentions; the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America and Richard L. Hamm, General Minister and
President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), asked that their
abstentions be registered.

-- A resolution that the General Assembly endorse a boycott of the Mount
Olive Pickle Company, effective as soon after January 1, 2004, as
determined by the NCC Executive Board, unless there is substantial
movement by then toward better working conditions of the farm workers who
pick the cucumbers used in the companys products.  The vote was unanimous
with three abstentions; the ELCA asked that its abstention be registered.

-- A resolution supporting re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada
as one means of making lower cost prescription drugs available to those who
need them.

The Executive Board meets quarterly to attend to NCC business between annual
meetings of the Councils 280-member General Assembly, which next meets Nov.
4-6 in Jackson, Miss.	Both the Board and Assembly are composed of official
delegates from the NCCs 36 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member
churches.  Those churches comprise 50 million adherents in 140,000 local
congregations across the nation.

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