wfn.org | United Methodist looks to council's future

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

Nov. 11, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-21-71BP{604}

NOTE:  A photograph is available with this story. For related coverage of
the National Council of Churches' meeting in Cleveland, see UMNS stories
#605 and 606.

CLEVELAND (UMNS) - The Rev. Robert W. Edgar believes he has four qualities
that led to his nomination to succeed the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell as
general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ (NCCC) in
the USA.

Those same qualities - as a salvager, an optimist, a futurist and
coalition-builder - will help him shape the council, currently grappling
with financial and administrative problems, into a leaner and more effective
organization, the United Methodist minister said in a Nov. 10 interview.

Edgar, 56, a former congressman who has been president of the School of
Theology at Claremont, Calif., since 1990, will be formally elected by the
council's general assembly on Nov. 12. 

While acknowledging the challenges facing the NCCC, he detects "a deep well
of respect, a deep well of gratitude and a deep well of thoughtfulness"
regarding the council and its accomplishments.

Noting that many denominational structures have become bureaucratic and
bloated and "need to be refreshed," Edgar said it's not surprising to find
any 50-year-old institution "stuck in the mud."

When he took the helm at Claremont, the United Methodist-related school was
embroiled in financial difficulties, including the effects of embezzlements
in the 1980s. Since 1990, however, the school's endowment has grown from
$3.8 million to $21 million. Significant capital improvements also have been
made, such as the construction of 90 units of additional student housing.

The NCCC's financial problems were underscored in October, when the United
Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns decided
to suspend funding temporarily to the council from the denomination's
Interdenominational Cooperation Fund. The suspension is in place until the
commission receives answers to questions about "past and future fiscal
policies and management" and is assured that a viable financial recovery
plan will be implemented.

The real key to improved financial health for the NCCC, Edgar believes, is
not the usual strategy of cutting budgets and staff - although that may be
necessary - but "to build hope and to create enthusiasm." People give money
to fund exciting ideas, he explained, not to reduce deficits.

"My hope is that I could be a cheerleader to get some of that excitement
going," he said.

As a beginning, Edgar hopes to find some quick, achievable goals. He also
wants to sharpen the focus on the NCCC's mission and have the whole
structure "reflect the ethnic, gender and cultural diversity of its member
communions."  

Edgar would like the council's 35 members to consider the NCCC's mission for
the new millennium and find ways to tap into local communities. He envisions
a program similar to Habitat for Humanity - which focuses on building
affordable housing - that would be designed to rebuild people's lives.

He hopes the membership can celebrate its differences as well as find common
direction. "I want us to be able to respect a minority point of view," he
said.

Edgar served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for
Pennsylvania's Seventh Congressional District from 1975 to 1987. During that
period, he was a member of the House's Veterans' Affairs and Public Works
and Transportation committees; chairman of the Congressional Clearinghouse
on the Future; chairman of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition;
and a member of the Select Committee on Assassinations, investigating the
deaths of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy.

He was national financial director of Sen. Paul Simon's presidential
campaign from 1987 to 1988 and then director of the Committee for National
Security, a private think tank, until his appointment to Claremont.

Edgar is a graduate of Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa., and has a
master of divinity degree from Drew University in Madison, N.J. He was
ordained an elder in the United Methodist Eastern Pennsylvania Conference in
1968. As pastor of East Falls United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, he
founded a committee that led to efforts to reduce gang violence and promote
civil rights. He also is a co-founder of the People's Emergency Center, the
first shelter for women and children in Philadelphia.

A member of the United Methodist Commission on Communication since 1992,
Edgar currently is chairman of the search committee for a new general
secretary to succeed the Rev. Judy Weidman, who is retiring.

Edgar is married to the former Merle Deaver. They have three sons, Rob Jr.,
David and Andrew.  
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