wfn.org | NCC Gives $1.6 Million For 38 Burned Churches;

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9-January-1997 
 
 
97013     NCC Gives $1.6 Million For 38 Burned Churches; 
             Total Nears $4.6 Million For 79 Churches 
 
                        by Carol J. Fouke 
            National Council of Churches News Service 
                                                                                
 
                                                                         
NEW YORK--Thirty-eight burned churches were voted nearly $1.6 million in 
new grants Dec. 18 by the Grants Committee of the Burned Churches Fund, 
established by the National Council of Churches (NCC) and supported by a 
broad ecumenical and interfaith community. 
 
     These latest grants bring to nearly $4.6 million the funds that the 
committee has earmarked through the National Rebuilding Initiative for the 
rebuilding of 79 houses of worship, most of them African-American churches 
in the southeastern U.S.  The purpose of the Burned Churches Fund is to 
help rebuild houses of worship burned for reasons of hate and to address 
the racism that underlies many attacks. 
 
     The $4.6 million in cash grants constitutes part of a larger "blended 
package" of assistance being coordinated through the NCC's Burned Churches 
Project. To date, wood products donated by the International Paper Company 
and valued at $420,000 have been used at 28 of the rebuilding sites, and 
modular buildings donated by G.E. Capital and valued at $155,394 have been 
deployed to eight sites. 
 
     In addition, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is 
working closely with the NCC in the National Rebuilding Initiative to offer 
guarantees for more than $10 million in private reconstruction loans for 
houses of worship that have suffered arson attacks. 
 
     The 79 houses of worship voted rebuilding grants to date are among the 
124 burned churches that the NCC is assessing in "Phase One" of its 
response to the ongoing epidemic of attacks.  With this round, the 
committee has completed assessment of 94 houses of worship. Of those, 10 
said they did not need assistance and five were judged not to fit the NCC's 
criteria for grants. 
 
     Thirty of the 124 are still to be assessed. The assessment process 
includes examinations of the circumstances of the fire, the congregation's 
profile and plans and other resources available for rebuilding, including 
fire insurance payouts and other donations. 
 
     Grants this round ranged from $5,000 to $100,000 and included several 
$10,000 grants to help congregations defray the closing costs of 
refinancing their current mortgage using the HUD loan- guarantee program. 
 
     In most cases, grants are disbursed in installments in close 
consultation with the respective congregations as they proceed through the 
various stages of rebuilding. All grants are specified as "up to" the 
designated amount and as such serve as a "line of credit" from the Burned 
Churches Fund. This is because actual cash needed could be less than 
currently estimated or could be reduced by use of in-kind goods, other 
contributions and donated labor. (This already is happening with the "up 
to" amounts awarded in earlier rounds, the Grants Committee was told. A 
full accounting was expected by year's end.) 
 
     Churches voted funds from the Burned Churches Grants Committee on Dec. 
18: 
 
     ALABAMA:  Little Zion Baptist Church, Boligee; Central Baptist Church, 
Marion Junction; Emmanuel Church, Decatur. 
 
     ARKANSAS:  Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, Proctor; St. Mark's 
Missionary Baptist, Tyronza; Mount Zion Missionary Baptist, Turner; Love's 
Rest #11 Church, Gillett; St. Matthews Baptist, Marvel; Kentucky Missionary 
Baptist, Benton. 
 
     CALIFORNIA:  New Creation Lutheran Church, San Jose. 
 
     CONNECTICUT:  Second New Life Free Will Baptist, Bridgeport. 
 
     FLORIDA:  Faith Christian Center, Tallahassee; Salem African Methodist 
Episcopal Church, Greensboro; Solid Rock Baptist Church, Miami. 
 
     GEORGIA:  Salem Missionary Baptist, Barney; Elam Baptist Church, Gray. 
 
     LOUISIANA:  Rose Hill Baptist, Abbeville. 
 
     MISSOURI:  Grace Chapel Ministries, St. Louis. 
 
     MISSISSIPPI:  St. Paul's Primitive Baptist Church, Lauderdale (awarded 
a small, second grant to meet a construction cost overrun); Rocky Point 
Baptist Church, McComb. 
 
     NORTH CAROLINA:  Mt. Moriah, Mebane. 
 
     SOUTH CAROLINA:  Rosemary Baptist Church, Varnville; First Thankful 
Baptist Church, Estill; Macedonia Baptist Church, Manning (HUD guaranteed 
loan only, as the church has a large enough congregation to finance a 
low-cost rebuilding loan); Tucker Chapel, Newberry; Mt. Hill Missionary 
Baptist Church, Montmorenci; Jerusalem Branch Baptist, Salley; South 
Richland Bible Way, Gadsen. 
 
     TENNESSEE:  Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, Bolivar; God's Chapel, Niota; 
Boones Temple Pentecostal, Speedwell; New Shiloh United Methodist Church, 
Humboldt; Jellico Baptist Church, Jellico. 
 
     TEXAS:  Cyprus Trails Methodist, Spring; Compassionate Community, 
Dallas. 
 
     VIRGINIA:  Greater Mt. Zion Tabernacle, Portsmouth 
 
     WASHINGTON:  Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Puyallup. 
 
     Additionally, under the Grants Committee emergency provision, Holy 
Cross Church of God in Christ, Dallas, received a rebuilding grant. 
 
     Contributions to the Burned Churches Fund totaled more than $6.2 
million as of Nov. 30, with an additional $3.9 million in "in kind" 
contributions available to be drawn upon ($1.5 million in wood products 
from the International Paper Company, $400,000 in modular buildings from 
G.E. Capital, and a $2 million preconstruction loan fund from the 
Enterprise Foundation.) 
 
     More than $1 million in new gifts was received in November alone, 
including $350,000 from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), $150,000 from the 
Olympics "Dream Team," and $20,000 from the Christian Science community. 
The Rev. Albert Pennybacker, NCC associate general secretary for income 
development and interpretation, reported that an additional $475,000 has 
been pledged but not yet received. 
 
     Of the more than $10 million total resources in hand, $8.7 million is 
budgeted for rebuilding and $1.3 million for anti-racism programs and 
program administration. This is in line with the NCC's consistent 
declaration that of all resources provided (including cash and in-kind 
contributions), 85 percent is being allocated for reconstruction and 
restoration of churches and 15 percent for programs to address racism and 
for administration. The budget incorporates the NCC's assessment of needs 
and its commitment to respect donor designations. 
 
     Pennybacker estimated that, including the $475,000 already pledged but 
not received, an additional $2.5 to $3 million will need to be raised to be 
able to complete "Phase One." "At that point we will have spent $12 million 
to $13 million, very close to our original projection that this would be a 
$12 million project," he said. 
 
     The Burned Churches Fund Grants Committee is seeking a date for a 
face-to-face meeting in January or February, at which time it will seek to 
complete "Phase One" and lay plans for "Phase Two." The Center for 
Democratic Renewal already has 44 more churches on its list for assessment 
above and beyond the 124, said the Rev. Mac Charles Jones, NCC associate to 
the general secretary for racial justice and director of the Burned 
Churches Project. 
 
     On its conference call Dec. 18, the Grants Committee also celebrated 
an important symbolic victory -- South Carolina governor David Beasley's 
recent call for the removal of the Confederate flag from atop the State 
Capitol Building. 
 
     The NCC, at its Oct. 24-26 "Emergency Conference on Racism" in 
Columbia, S.C., added its voice to a long list of South Carolinians and 
others demanding that the flag come down, calling it "the flag of white 
supremacy." Commented the Rev. Joan B. Campbell, NCC general secretary, to 
the Grants Committee Dec. 18, "This governor, who was dead set against any 
discussion about the flag, has now said he wants to implement removing the 
flag." 

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