wfn.org | U.S. Official Hails End of "Cold War"

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9-December-1997 
97456 
 
    U.S. Official Hails End of "Cold War" Between 
    Two Big Interchurch Groups 
 
    by Tracy Early 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
NEW YORK--The "cold war" between two of the most influential interchurch 
organizations in the United States -- the National Council of Churches 
(NCC) and the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) --  is over, 
according to the NCC's general secretary, Joan Brown Campbell. 
 
    Between them the two organizations have links with the vast majority of 
active U.S. Christians, with the exception of Roman Catholics. About 52 
million Christians belong to the churches linked to the NCC, which takes a 
moderate or liberal line on many issues, while about 27 million Christians 
are members of churches and organizations linked to the NAE, which is 
generally more conservative. 
 
    In her report to the NCC's annual General Assembly in Washington last 
week, Campbell  listed what she described as "signs that bode well for 
increased cooperation." 
 
    The list included regular consultations with NAE's president, Donald 
Argue, as well as other meetings including Argue and  the chairman of the 
Roman Catholic bishops' ecumenical committee. 
 
    Campbell later told Ecumenical News International (ENI) that a speech 
given by Argue to the NCC's General Assembly in Chicago last year could be 
seen as the end of the "cold war."  His speech had been especially 
significant because he spoke with the approval of his board and also 
because his  predecessor had not been open to such an invitation, she said. 
 
    Campbell pointed out to ENI that the improved climate did not mean the 
NCC and NAE were on the brink of merger.  But she said cooperative 
relations enabled them to defuse tensions and act together in areas of 
common interest. 
 
    The NCC was founded in 1950 as a union of the Federal Council of 
Churches and a number of ecumenical agencies working in such areas as 
mission and religious education.  (At the recent General Assembly, the NCC 
accepted -- as its 34th member -- the U.S. branch of the Mar Thoma Syrian 
Church of India, which has 37 parishes in the United States.) The NCC's 
member  churches include mainline Protestants, Orthodox and other groups, 
with a combined membership of 52 million. 
 
    Conservative evangelicals who considered the Federal Council of 
Churches too liberal founded the NAE in 1942 with a commitment to the 
infallibility of the Bible and "cooperation without  compromise."  Its 
membership now includes 48 denominations, congregations from 10 others and 
more than 250 parachurch ministries and educational  institutions, with a 
total constituency of more than 27 million.  NAE bylaws  say any 
denomination belonging to the NCC cannot be recognized as evangelical  in 
the NAE understanding and therefore cannot be eligible for membership. 
 
    (The Southern Baptist Convention, which with 15 million members is the 
biggest Protestant body in the  United States, does not belong to either 
the NCC or the NAE,  though some of its local congregations have affiliated 
with the NAE.) 
 
    Argue's secretary told ENI that Argue did not wish to comment on 
Campbell's  statement about "the end of the cold war." 
 
    But last year, after his address to the NCC, he told ENI that he had 
developed a "good relationship" with  Campbell and had no difficulty 
recognizing NCC leaders as fellow Christians. 
 
    In contrast to recent actions by other conservative evangelical leaders 
who have campaigned in U.S. elections, Argue said he wanted to 
"depoliticize" the terms "Christian" and "evangelical" so they would not be 
connected with party politics. 
 
    Campbell told ENI that "reaching out" to evangelicals had been part of 
her agenda  since she became NCC general secretary in 1991. 
 
    Campbell added that the Washington offices of the NCC and NAE had been 
able  to work together on issues related to poverty. 
 
    Black churches could, she said, serve as a bridge between the policies 
of the NCC and NAE.  Black churches tend to be evangelical in  spirit but 
supported the active approach of the NCC on issues of social justice,  she 
said. 
 
    The NCC hoped to take part in a "Summit on Racial Justice and 
Reconciliation" organized by the NAE  with the  National Black Evangelical 
Association, scheduled for January 1999, Campbell said. 
 
    Episcopal (Anglican) bishop Craig B. Anderson has been installed as NCC 
president for 1998-99,  succeeding United Methodist bishop Melvin G. 
Talbert of California. Andrew Young, a United Church of Christ minister, 
was named NCC president-elect, to take office in the year 2000. 

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