wfn.org | NCCCUSA Hails Evangelical Association's Bylaw Change

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National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Email: news@ncccusa.org  Web: www.ncccusa.org

Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227

28NCC3/16/2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCC WELCOMES NAE BYLAWS CHANGE 
PERMITTING DUAL MEMBERSHIP
Statement by Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary, National Council of Churches

March 16, 2000, NEW YORK CITY -- The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) is delighted at the announcement by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) that it has adapted its bylaws to permit dual membership in the NAE and other ecclesiastical groups, mostly notably, the NCC.

Bishop Kevin W. Mannoia, President of the NAE, said, "This amendment represents a major statement about the strength of our identity and future. Our predecessors have done a remarkable job in defining our theological unity as evangelicals. Whereas we have often been defined relative to the more theologically liberal NCC, we recognize that our identity is no longer based on being compared to them."

The new change in bylaws permits those who affirm the NAE's "Statement of Faith and Commitment to Mission" to retain membership in the association as well as hold a membership in the National Council of Churches.

For more than a half a century the two organizations have had a relationship often characterized by antagonism. In recent years there has been a softening of the sharp conflict that was characteristic of the earlier relationship. 

In November 1996 in Chicago, Dr. Donald Argue, then president of the National Association of Evangelicals, was the first representative of that organization to address a General Assembly of the NCC. Last fall at the NCC's 50th anniversary celebration in Cleveland, Bishop Mannoia participated in an evening entitled "The Great Conversation" which brought Roman Catholics, Evangelicals, and Pentecostals into dialogue with the NCC.

The National Council of Churches welcomes this change in bylaws and rejoices in this new opportunity to draw closer to brothers and sisters in Christ. We have long hoped that together we might ask the important questions of what God is calling us as Christians to do and say together in this nation and around the world. This bold step by the NAE is evidence of God's abiding Spirit working in and through us for the sake of the world.

As I take up my work as General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, I look forward to becoming better acquainted with the NAE and its work and priorities. I am grateful to all those who have worked to make the relationship stronger among all Christians. In many coalitional activities we have worked with the NAE in those areas in which we find a common mission and calling in Christ. Reliant on God's guidance, we look forward to a future that brings us into the candid and discerning kind of conversation that ought to characterize Christian fellowship.

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