wfn.org | NCCC General Assembly Okays Budget-Reducing Restructure

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

15-November-1999 
99385 
 
    NCCC General Assembly Okays Budget-Reducing Restructure 
 
    Staff cut by one-third, $4 million shortfall in 1999 still unresolved 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
CLEVELAND-In what outgoing president Craig Anderson called "trying to ride 
a bicycle while we're still trying to build it," the General Assembly of 
the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCCC) approved a 
massive restructuring plan for the 50-year-old council Nov. 10. 
 
    The restructuring plan calls for Church World Service and Witness 
(CWSW) to become semi-autonomous -- accountable directly to the NCCC's 
General Assembly with its administration and management handled internally 
- and for the bulk of the council's programmatic activity to be housed in a 
single unit called "Unity and Justice." 
 
    Many of the details of the restructuring have yet to be worked out - 
the Assembly, for example, only "endorsed the direction" of the CWSW/NCCC 
negotiations - but one thing is for certain: the NCCC's New York-based 
staff will be reduced by at least one-third.  Thirty-four staff positions, 
including three associate general secretary and four high-level "director" 
positions, were eliminated. 
 
    The restructuring plan is so complex and fluid that no 2000 budget has 
yet been developed.  Instead, the NCCC's Executive Board is working with 
what NCCC treasurer Margaret Thomas of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 
called "a fiscal framework." 
 
    The restructuring plan passed the Assembly without debate or dissent 
after the Executive Board spent the two previous days in extended, intense 
conversations. 
 
    In preliminary remarks 10 Nov. before the Executive Board went into an 
extended closed session to talk about staff and budget cuts, Thomas said, 
"We can't talk about a budget yet, for many decisions are still ahead.  "We 
don't want to simply project the present into the future - we need a fiscal 
feasibility study in order to create a viable financial plan for the 
council." 
 
    Anderson, an Episcopal bishop, appealed to the Executive Board to work 
together.  "Our work is not completed and much of it will be handed over to 
new leadership," he said referring to the new administration of the Rev. 
Robert Edgar, a United Methodist minister who will be voted upon Nov. 12 as 
the new general secretary, succeeding the departing Joan Brown Campbell. 
 
    "We can't wrap it [the restructuring] up and put a nice bow on it - 
that would be unfair to our processes and to those who will inherit our 
work to carry it forward," Anderson told the Executive Board.  "I make an 
impassioned plea to be together and what we are about - the unity of the 
body of Christ - and not be pulled apart and fragmented, which is sin. 
 
    Racial ethnic delegates demand accountability on issues of 
inclusiveness 
 
    The specter of fragmentation was certainly in the air as African 
American Executive Board members demanded that concrete steps be taken at 
all levels of the NCCC to be more racially inclusive. 
 
    Bishop McKinley Young of the African Methodist Episcopal Church called 
for "a radical formula" to redress the absence of African Americans from 
the top staff leadership of the NCCC.  "I am greatly aggrieved that the 
history and contributions of black churches are so disrespected" in the 
current staffing and leadership patterns of the council. 
 
    Bishop Nathaniel Linsey of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church 
concurred with Young.  "We say we are serious about these issues, but when 
it comes to making decisions, we have a serious problem," he told the 
Executive Board.  While not directly threatening withdrawal, Linsey 
cautioned, "Change takes power and we don't have the power of money.  All 
we have is the power of our presence and we don't want to have to withdraw 
our presence." 
 
    Some correctives were approved as part of an amended Transitional 
Management Team report, which resulted from conversations the previous 
evening with the Black Church Liaison Committee of the council.  For 
instance, the Executive Board voted to "achieve the council's goals for 
inclusiveness in filling vacant staff positions and the positions of Deputy 
General Secretary of CWSW and General Manager when they become open."  And 
the Executive Board stated that "the individual to serve at this juncture 
as the new Deputy General Secretary should be a person of color." 
 
    Further, the Executive Board voted to establish an office of 
"Inclusivity and Justice" within the General Secretary's office to monitor 
the NCCC's compliance with its stated inclusiveness goals and to 
incorporate those goals into the NCCC's governance documents. 
 
    How to cover 1999 shortfall still unresolved 
 
    The Executive Board, which has sole responsibility for approving the 
NCCC's budget, still has not resolved how to cover a 1999 shortfall of 
nearly $4 million.  While the NCCC's 1999 budget was balanced, "authorized 
but unanticipated expenses" have created the severest financial crisis in 
the organization's 50-year history. 
 
    The shortfall resulted from $2.4 million in consulting fees since March 
1998, a $330,000 misallocation of funds from the Burned Churches Fund to 
the NCCC's racial justice program which must be restored, a one-time 
contribution of about $500,000 to the NCC's Pension Fund due to a missed 
payment several years ago and a small overexpenditure of the General 
Secretary's budget for the year. 
 
    An emergency appeal to member churches to make a one-time extra "gift" 
to cover the shortfall has run into resistance until member churches - 
particularly the United Methodist Church - are convinced that adequate 
financial plans and controls are in place.  The Methodists have not yet 
determined whether the actions taken today are sufficient in their opinion. 
 
    Meanwhile, the Executive Board has appointed Clifton Kirkpatrick of the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Richard Hamm of the Christian Church 
(Disciples of Christ) to solicit funds from member churches to cover the 
shortfall. 
 
    Another monkey wrench was thrown into the financial recovery works when 
Margaret Thomas reported that, despite assurances to the contrary, the 50th 
anniversary celebration here will run a deficit of between $50,000 and 
$150,000.  Calls to scale back or even cancel the $750,000 celebration have 
been discussed since the 1999 shortfall came to light.  Council officials 
have assured the Executive Board that private and corporate donations plus 
income from participants' registration would adequately cover celebration 
expenses. 
 
    "As you know," Thomas told the Executive Board, "few issues have been 
as hotly-debated recently than the cost of this celebration and our 
insistence that there be no deficit.  Unfortunately, we received 
significantly different projections last Friday (Nov. 5) than we have 
received as recently as the last week in October." 
 
    John Thomas of the United Church of Christ sighed, "I'm not surprised 
by this news but I'm profoundly disappointed and angry."  Margaret Thomas 
replied, "Your feelings are widely shared." 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  This note sent by Office of News Services, 
  Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
  to the World Faith News list <wfn-news@wfn.org>.
  For additional information about this news story,
  call 502-569-5493 or send e-mail to PCUSA.News@pcusa.org

  On the web:  http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/

  If you have a question about this mailing list, 
  send queries to wfn@wfn.org