wfn.org | NCC still dealing with budget crisis

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

Nov. 18, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-21-71B{617}

NEW YORK (UMNS) - The budget crisis of the National Council of Churches
(NCC) remains unresolved following the meetings of its executive board and
general assembly during the November 50th anniversary celebration in
Cleveland.

But the Rev. Bruce Robbins, chief executive, United Methodist Commission on
Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, said the executive board "made
large strides" in addressing the problem.

Because of the restructuring recommended by the executive board's transition
management team, a specific budget for 2000 was not presented. Instead, a
"financial framework" was adopted that includes staff reductions and setting
aside 10 percent of projected income as a reserve. 

"Between now and the end of the year, there will be significant changes in
the staff," United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert, a transition team
member, told United Methodist News Service. "As those changes are made, they
will have serious budget ramifications for 2000."

Talbert said a maximum of 44 positions could be affected - including
part-time and contract jobs - with an overall reduction of 20 positions. But
eliminating a position does not automatically mean the person filling that
position will be laid off. "It just simply means we will have to do some
serious reconfigurations," he explained.

The NCC currently has a 122-member staff at its New York headquarters, with
another 250 staff persons based outside New York. 

The financial framework does not address a debt of nearly $4 million from
authorized but unbudgeted expenses of the council. During the executive
board's October meeting, it had been suggested that a $1.4 million grant
from Church World Service and Witness and $2 million in contributions from
member communions could be used to reduce the shortfall.

That financial recovery plan, however, was stalled when the United Methodist
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns decided to suspend
funding from the church's interdenominational cooperation fund to the NCC
until certain financial questions were answered.

The transition team's report to the executive board in November acknowledged
the concern of United Methodists and others. "It is recognized that the
rapid fulfillment of these requests for information and a subsequent end of
this suspension is important to several communions and should be pursued
diligently," the report said.

"We're deeply committed to working with the National Council to get the
suspension lifted," Robbins said, adding that he hopes the action will occur
before the end of the year.

Issues that remain to be resolved before the funding is restored include
questions on the audit, costs of the transition into a new structure and
concerns about past management of fiscal policies.

"I'm still optimistic," Talbert said. "I believe that the suspension will be
lifted and I also believe much of the money that we anticipate will
eventually come in."

The assembly approved a transition team recommendation that Clifford
Kirkpatrick of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and Richard Hamm of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), lead an appeal to member churches
for additional donations to cover the shortfall.

Another finance-related issue is the negotiations around establishing a new
type of relationship between Church World Service and Witness and its parent
body, the NCC. Talbert, who was part of a negotiating team meeting on Nov.
8, said there is no way of predicting what that relationship "is going to
look like yet." 

Despite the continuing struggles facing the NCC, the bishop believes its
members are optimistic about the new leadership of the Rev. Robert Edgar as
general secretary and the Rev. Andrew Young as president. "I think people
went away feeling good about the future of the national council," Talbert
said. 

# # #

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://www.umc.org/umns