wfn.org | UCC nominates five officers to lead denomination

[BARBARA_POWELL.parti@ecunet.org (BARBARA POWELL)]

June 10, 1999
Office of Communication
United Church of Christ
W. Evan Golder, press contact
(216) 736-2218
goldere@ucc.org
On the Web:  http://www.ucc.org

United Church of Christ nominates
five officers to lead denomination

	CLEVELAND -- The Rev. John H. Thomas, currently Ecumenical Officer for the 
United Church of Christ, has been nominated to lead that denomination into a restructured national setting as Acting General Minister and President.  Also nominated this week is the Rev. José A. "Joe" Malayang as Acting Executive Minister of Local Church Ministries.  He now serves as General Secretary for the Division of Evangelism and Local Church Development, part of the UCC's U.S. mission agency, the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries.
	The two join three other nominees for national offices of the UCC, whose nominations were confirmed in March.  They are Edith A. Guffey, currently Secretary of the UCC, for Associate General Minister;  Bernice Powell Jackson, now head of the UCC Commission for Racial Justice, for Executive Minister of Justice and Witness Ministries; and Dale L. Bishop, General Secretary for Mission Program with the United Church Board for World Ministries, for Executive Minister of Wider Church Ministries.
	Delegates to the United Church of Christ's 22nd General Synod will vote on whether to "call by election" these five new officers for a reconstructed national setting of the church.  Dates for the biennial Synod, the UCC's largest deliberative body, are July 1-6 in Providence, R.I.
	In a unique executive arrangement, the five officers will work together in a Collegium of Officers, meeting as peers.  This setting will provide an opportunity for mutual responsibility and reporting and ongoing assessment of UCC programs.
	Here is the background on the five nominees.
	The Rev. John H. Thomas, 48, has served in the Office of the President of the UCC as Assistant to the President for Ecumenical Concerns since 1992.  In that position, Thomas has built a national and global reputation as an ecumenical leader.  Among other achievements, he co-chaired the effort to restore full communion among the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America and the UCC.  A Euro-American, he earned a B.A. degree from Gettysburg (Pa.) College and an M.Div. degree from Yale University Divinity School in New Haven, Conn., before serving churches in Cheshire, Conn., and Easton, Pa.  He is a member of Pilgrim Congregational UCC in Cleveland.
	If "called by election," Thomas will serve a two-year term as Acting General Minister and President and be eligible to seek two more four-year terms as General Minister and President.  The abbreviated term and the "Acting" before his title and Malayang's are in deference to the accelerated search process which produced their nominations.
	Before joining the national setting of the UCC in 1991 as Secretary, an elected office, Edith A. Guffey, 45, was an administrator at the University of Kansas.  She is a graduate in sociology of Baker University, Baldwin, Kan., and holds a master's degree in social work with a concentration in administration from the University of Kansas.  Guffey, an African American, is a member of Federated UCC in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.  In the new structure of the UCC's national setting, the Associate General Minister will be responsible for administering the Office of General Ministries.  If called by election, she will serve for four years and be eligible for reelection to two more four-year terms.
	The Rev. José A. "Joe" Malayang, 60, is the nominee for Acting Executive Minister of Local Church Ministries, responsible for encouraging and supporting local UCC churches in the fulfillment of God's mission. He now serves as General Secretary for the Division of Evangelism and Local Church Development, part of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries. He also has served in the UCC's national Office for Church Life and Leadership, on the UCC's Southern California/Nevada Conference staff, and as a local church pastor in Richmond and Rochester, Mich., and in Mindanao in the Philippines.  A Filipino- American, he earned a B.Th. degree from Silliman University in the Philippines, a B.A. from the University of the Philippines and an M.Ed. from Wayne State University in Detroit.  He is a member of First Congregational UCC in Elyria, Ohio, but is actively involved in an Asian-American new church project in Lakewood, Ohio.  If called by election, he will serve a two-year term and be eligible for reelection to two more four-year terms.
	Bernice Powell Jackson, 50, is the nominee for Executive Minister of Justice and Witness Ministries, responsible for the church's work on social, racial and justice concerns.  She is currently head of the UCC Commission for Racial Justice.  Prior experience includes directing a scholarship fund for South African archbishop Desmond Tutu.  Her undergraduate studies were at Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pa.  She also holds an M.S. degree in journalism from Columbia University and an M.Div. degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.  Jackson, an African American, is a member of Mount Zion Congregational UCC in Cleveland.  If elected, she will serve a six- year term and be eligible for reelection to a four-year term.
	Dale L. Bishop, 52, is the nominee for Executive Minister of Wider Church Ministries, responsible for overseas missionaries, relief aid, refugee resettlement and volunteer services.  A  Euro- American, he is a graduate of Heidelberg (Ohio) College and holds an M.A. in history and a Ph.D. in Middle East languages and cultures from Columbia University in New York.  He is a widely- respected scholar on the Middle East and has served as area executive for the Middle East for both the UCC and the National Council of Churches.  He is a member of The Riverside Church UCC in New York City.  If called by election, he will serve for four years and be eligible for re-election to two more four-year terms.
	For the past several years the United Church of Christ has been restructuring its national agencies.  This General Synod will vote on adopting amendments to the bylaws so that the restructure will come to fruition on July 1, 2000.  If called by election, the five new officers will take office at that time, although they will begin work this coming Oct. 1.
	The United Church of Christ, with national offices in Cleveland, has some 1.4 million members and more than 6,000 congregations in the United States and Puerto Rico.  It was formed by the 1957 union of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
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