wfn.org | National Council of Churches struggles to move beyond

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org (ENS)]

`ecumeni
December 4, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-2040
National Council of Churches struggles to move beyond `ecumenical
voyeurism'

     (ENS) Pledging to move ahead with new leadership, and
embracing a five-year study to refocus on closer relationships among its
members and other Christian organizations, the National Council of
Churches (NCC) concluded its annual General Assembly in Washington,
DC, in mid-November.
      Representing an estimated 52 million Protestant members in 34
denominations, the NCC installed Episcopal Bishop Craig B. Anderson
as president of the 48-year-old ecumenical body. Anderson, former
bishop of South Dakota and former dean of the General Theological
Seminary in New York who now serves as rector of St. Paul's School in
New Hampshire, challenged his colleagues about the future of
ecumenism, envisioning new opportunities to be a clear and bold
Christian witness on the brink of the new millennium.
     Saying that the NCC "needs to be strengthened in an increasingly
secular and pluralistic age," Anderson suggested that "if we did not have
a strong NCC, then we would need to invent one, because the world is
looking for a Christian witness that transcends parochialism and is not
interested simply in institutional survival.
     "We have a unique opportunity, unlike any other in the recent
past, to work cooperatively and practice ecumenical principles,"
Anderson said at his inauguration on November 12.

Ministry of reconciliation 
     "It is not by accident that I chose the Washington National
Cathedral for my installation," Anderson explained. "It is a House of
Prayer for all people. It is also the National Cathedral, and we are a
national council. This cathedral overlooks our nation's capitol, for which
we pray. Its mission is to provide a clear, forceful, compelling
articulation of the Gospel, so that we might not neglect but that we might
remember and we might serve.
     "Our vision must spread to this Capitol and to the world [that]
God sustains and loves," Anderson said. "We should not allow the voice
of the mainline churches to be co-opted by undue influence from those
religious bodies aligned with the Religious Right, nor should the NCC be
dominated by special interests or pressure groups," he said.
     "We need to provide forceful and thoughtful influence on
governmental structures. We must not succumb to the religious slogans
of either conservatives or liberals," Anderson said. "I think the NCC is
crucial to the future of American Christianity as we know it, and I
believe God is calling us to an intentional and prophetic ministry of
reconciliation."

Joys and struggles
     Anderson's remarks followed enthusiastic adoption of a five-year
study calling on the NCC to seek a more inclusive and sensitive
ecumenism by sharing each others joys and struggles and reaching out to
Christian groups who have been marginalized by the structures of the
ecumenical giant.
     "The essence of a council of churches is not the relationship of
the churches to the structure of the council, but their relationship to each
other," said Dr. Michael Kinnamon, dean of the Lexington Theological
Seminary and chair of the task force presenting the study.
     The report grew out of concerns by the Eastern Orthodox
members that "other churches did not seem to be sufficiently invested,
that they did not take seriously enough what happened within each
others' fellowship," Kinnamon said. "For example, right now the
Presbyterian Church is wrestling with concerns about human sexuality,
yet we do not talk about our common life together. We could be sharing
these kinds of things and lifting them up in prayer. Just as the joys of
one should become the joys of another, so should the struggles of one
become the struggles of another."
     Kinnamon called on the NCC to determine what "marks of
fellowship" characterize their ecumenical life, noting that "we tend to
play off unity against justice, or unity against mission." Instead, the NCC
should be asking what it means to be the church together, and calling
upon the council and General Secretary Joan Campbell to "seek
partnerships without worrying about memberships," and to take
"appropriate steps to foster the development of the wider Christian
forum."
     The NCC membership includes many mainline Protestant and
Orthodox churches, but does not include churches in the National
Association of Evangelicals, the Roman Catholic Church, the Pentecostal
Conference of North America, or the 15-million member Southern
Baptist Convention, which does not belong to any group.
     The Rev. John Thomas of the United Church of Christ, agreed
with the assessment, suggesting that although the ecumenical movement
in the United States had "moved beyond isolation and ignorance . . . we
live in a kind of ecumenical voyeurism. How can we move toward
mutual understanding?"
     The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick of the Presbyterian Church
U.S.A. said, if anything, "the recommendations seem a bit timid. We
need a new ecumenical movement that includes not only the groups
mentioned, but parachurches and other groups, to allow us to cross all
barriers that divide us."

Gore praises efforts
     Vice President Al Gore offered supportive words to the NCC,
hailing the council's work for civil rights and environmental protection,
as well as its visibility for unity.
     "You stand for unity, not instead of, or in spite of, diversity, but
unity inspired by appreciation for and celebration of our diversity and
absolute mutual respect," Gore said. "You have a large view of the
moral role of the churches in their society."
     The vice president also praised the NCC's work to protect the
environment, especially through participation in the National Religious
Partnership for the Environment. "We cannot glorify the Creator while
heaping contempt on the creation," Gore said.
     He also cited the NCC's efforts to rebuild burned churches and
for its leadership in fighting against racism, saying that "it's not enough
for churches and other houses of worship to be united if the people are
not. You've put this into practice in communities across the nation
through your 150,000 congregations," Gore said. "The churches ignited
that little spark of celestial fire called conscience, and forced America to
see the issue of race as a direct and irresistible invitation to practice the
love of God."
     In a later business section, the NCC unanimously accepted a
resolution expressing continued support for affirmative action programs,
and pledged to oppose legislation to "rescind or weaken affirmative
action statutes on municipal, state, and federal levels."
     They also heard reports on campaign finance reform and on the
"Jubilee 2000-Debtor Nation" campaign to allow for forgiveness of
foreign debt in underdeveloped countries.

Final challenge
     Following a tribute, the NCC's outgoing president, United
Methodist  Bishop Melvin Talbert, challenged the council members to be
more loving and inclusive in their ecumenical relationships.
     "Much has been said about us being around the table, and I think
it is at the heart of what it means to be the people of God," Talbert said.
"It is not just a conference table, but the table of our Lord."
     "As much as I cherish ecumenical relationships, we cannot say
that we all sit around the table of the Lord," he said. "We create barbed
wire fences around the table of the Lord and decide who is in and who is
out.
     "The table of the Lord belongs to all of us, not only those in this
council but those knocking to get in," Talbert said. "We should pray that
God will provide us with a kind of boldness to say, `Yes, God, we have
become instruments of you and we invite all of your children, regardless
of who they are.'"

--based on reports from the news office of the National Council of
Churches.