wfn.org | Church yearbook receives Lilly grant

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Jan. 6, 1999	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York    10-71B{005}

NEW YORK (UMNS) -- The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches has
received a $635,000 redevelopment grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.

Published by the National Council of Churches (NCC), the yearbook is a
comprehensive source of statistics from North America's churches. The 1999
edition is expected to be available after Feb. 1.

The three-year Lilly grant will allow the NCC to computerize the yearbook's
67-year database on church membership and finances, according to the Rev.
Eileen Lindner, editor. A user-friendly CD-ROM and Web-based products will
be developed to supplement the annual print edition. The NCC also plans to
start electronic data gathering and enhance marketing of the yearbook.

The publication is used extensively by church leaders, journalists, seminary
and public libraries, researchers and scholars, Lindner said. Other users
include the U.S. Census Bureau, the American Religion Data Archive, the
World Almanac and Book of Facts and The New York Times Almanac.

The 1999 edition offers more than 1,000 updates on 231 churches, a new
listing of religion research centers, statistical charts and commentaries on
a century of church growth and an "electronic church" chapter with twice as
many listing as in 1998. Telephone orders can be made at (800) 672-1789.

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