wfn.org | NCC's survival hinges on Methodist contribution

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Note #6267 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

14-November-2000
00409

NCC's survival hinges on Methodist contribution

Council, in "deep, deep trouble," trims program areas, payroll

by Bill Lancaster

ATLANTA -- The National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) will
cease to exist if funding does not come through from one of its major
supporting denominations, the United Methodist Church (UMC), according to
Phillip Young, the NCC's outgoing treasurer. The finance arm of the UMC is
to decide the matter this Friday and Saturday (Nov. 17-18).

	The NCC is taking strong measures to reinvent itself because of its severe
and chronic financial problems. On Tuesday, its executive board approved a
reorganization of program areas and a reduction in NCC staff from 64
exployees to 47, effective Nov. 20.

	During the meeting of the NCC executive board, Young and Barbara Ellen
Black, the NCC's interim general manager, told the board the ecumenical
organization will finish 2000 with a surplus of $176,870, if -- and it's a
big if -- the United Methodists come through with $400,000 of the
approximately $618,000 remaining that they pledged in 1999.

	During an interview after the meeting, Young said auditors have told the
NCC that the UMC pledge is not a good account-receivable because it is more
than a year old. Auditors already have required the NCC to write off "a
significant amount" -- about $150,000 -- of other non-receivable pledges.

	"If the Methodists don't come through," Young said, "we are in deep, deep
trouble."

	The former treasurer said he "cannot conceive what this council would be
like if they failed to do that. They are a major contributor.  Half of the
money for this council comes from the Methodists and the Presbyterians. If
the Methodists pull out, the Presbyterians are going to look like they sure
made a mistake in September."

	That's when the General Assembly Council (GAC) voted to forward an
emergency grant of $400,000 to the NCC.

	Young said he couldn't imagine that the Methodist funding would not come
through. Asked whether the NCC had a contingency plan for that eventuality,
he replied, "We would declare that the National Council of Churches is not a
going entity, and figure out how to shut it down."

	Even if the UMC money is forthcoming, Young said, the Methodists' giving
would be reduced in future years. If the Presbyterian Church (USA) also were
to reduce its contribution, "we have more painful things" ahead, he said.

	In September, the GAC forwarded its pledged $400,000 to NCC, even though
the Methodist Church had not come through with debt-reduction funds they had
pledged in 1999. One stipulation of the PC(USA) contribution had been that
the UMC would give its money first.  When that did not happen, the GAC,
after an appeal from Young, decided to overlook the stipulation and honor
its commitment. Young, a Presbyterian minister and a former executive of the
Synod of the Pacific, said then that the NCC was in dire financial straits.

	Cash flow projections through Dec. 31 indicate that the NCC will end the
year with a surplus of $176,870. Without a contribution from the Methodists,
it would end the year in the red.

	The NCC has spent its reserve funds down to $3.4 million. Young said the
organization has pledged not to spend any more reserves for operating
expenses.  If the NCC should shut down, those reserves would pay for staff
severance packages and other obligations, he said.

	Bob Edgar, the NCC general secretary, said the UMC pledge is the only
outstanding commitment in a $2 million debt-reduction plan put together by
NCC member denominations. If the Methodist money isn't delivered, he said,
"it will be very difficult, because we are counting on those funds to stay
within our budgeted means. God still has work for the National Council of
Churches, in its faith, justice and education arm, and its
service-and-witness arm."

	If the Methodists don't come through, Edgar said, the NCC hopes to solicit
funds from foundations. He said it has $3.4 million in reserves -- "so we
are not bankrupt" -- although the organization would spend only income and
not principal from the reserves.  If the NCC starts "dipping into" the
principal, he said, "they'll have to find another general secretary."

	Andrew Young, the outgoing president of the NCC, a member of the United
Church of Christ, said, "We've got to find a way to keep the National
Council going and get all the member churches to fulfill their commitments."
(Only half of the NCC's 34 participating churches contributed money to the
debt relief, Edgar had told the board earlier.) "We have pared down this
staff and this budget from where we would have been close to $9 million in
the hole, and the way we have now got it structured, we end up with nearly
$200,000 in the black," Young said.

	Andrew Young said the NCC is "moving clearly in the right direction,"
adding that he thinks churches will be more willing to contribute. "We
really can't do anything without the Methodists," he said, expressing hope
that somehow the long-troubled organization will make it. "I don't think
that anybody can afford to let the National Council of Churches die. I can't
conceive of the United Methodists not living up to this obligation."

	Phillip Young said some of the employees to be let go will find new
positions with Church World Service and Witness (CWSW), a humanitarian
relief organization that was spun off from the NCC earlier this year.

	On Tuesday afternoon, the NCC General Assembly spent time in "conversation
groups" by denomination, looking to the future and brainstorming "what new
national expression of Christian life, faith and action the Holy Spirit may
enable us to bring into being."

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