wfn.org | NCC Gives First Leadership and Courage Award to Paul H. Sherry

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National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
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Email: news@ncccusa.org
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Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
	50th Anniversary Newsroom - Nov. 8-12, 1999 call 216-696-8490

NCC11/11/99 					FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FIRST LEADERSHIP AND COURAGE AWARD TO PAUL H. DR. SHERRY

Nov. 11, 1999, CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The "Paul H. Dr. Sherry Leadership and 
Courage Award" will be a triennial event at General Assemblies of the 
National Council of Churches (NCC).  Sponsored by the Interfaith Assembly 
of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Caucuses and Affirming 
Organizations, the award honors a heterosexual religious leader who has 
taken a risk by defending sexual minorities. The first recipient is the 
individual in whose honor the award was named: retired United Church of 
Christ President Paul H. Dr. Sherry.
	
"But really," Dr. Sherry said at the Interfaith Assembly's Nov. 11 prayer 
breakfast, as his eyes filled with tears, "this award should be given to 
you. I know the exclusion and pain you have felt. But I truly believe that 
through your efforts God's purpose will be fulfilled."
	
"God's purpose," Dr. Sherry said, is the inclusion of lesbian and gay 
Christians in the church. The Assembly-which represents LGBT caucuses in 
more than 30 denominations-says that one of its hopes for the new 
millennium is that the NCC will "welcome into membership any communion 
which confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, including those communions 
whose members are primarily LGBT persons."
	
One of the gifts LGBT Christians bring to the church is "persistence and 
commitment," said the Rev. Tricia Dykers Koenig at the breakfast. The Rev. 
Dykers Koenig, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is moderator 
of Ohio's Western Reserve Presbytery.
	
"Your commitment to the church is proven because you stay and refuse to 
leave. Why do you put up with us, while we're agonizing over membership 
decline and at the same time doing our best to shut you out? The fact you 
want so much to remain with us is a sign of hope: maybe the church really 
does have a lot to offer."
	
Two of the NCC's new leaders-Ambassador Andrew Young and the Rev. Robert 
Edgar-spoke at the prayer breakfast.  "I feel proud to be associated with 
Paul Dr. Sherry," Ambassador Young said.

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