wfn.org | NCC launches mobilization campaign against poverty

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Nov. 21, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-71B{527}

By United Methodist News Service*

A 10-year "Mobilization to Overcome Poverty" was launched in Atlanta during
the Nov. 14-17 General Assembly of the National Council of Churches (NCC). 

The action of the 36-member denomination body, which includes United
Methodists, came after addresses delivered by William Gray of the United
Negro College Fund and Jim Wallis of the Call to Renewal. 

In Gray's opinion, neither of the presidential candidates has talked much
about eliminating the poverty affecting 13 million children and 21 million
adults in the United States. The real question, he added, is not whether
Bush or Gore will be president "but what is it we as a nation are going to
do with the $4.5 trillion surplus that's projected for the next 10 years."

Despite "unprecedented prosperity," Wallis noted, one in six children in the
United States lives in poverty, with the number increasing to one in four
for children of color. "In this country we have a contradiction that is
harder and harder to endure," he said. "I believe it's pricking the nation's
conscience. It is the unanswered moral question, 'What is this prosperity
for?'"

The NCC mobilization effort will include broad ecumenical involvement around
specific and measurable goals and objectives to end poverty.

Many at the assembly are connecting that goal with the organization's second
major focus - to seek a broader unity among U.S. Protestants, Orthodox,
Evangelicals, Pentecostals and Roman Catholics. After small-group
discussions around that goal, Barbara Brown Zikmund, immediate past
president of Hartford Theological Seminary, encouraged NCC members to
consider how they deal with tensions in their own lives and how that can
apply to the wider U.S. Christian community.

Should an "expanded ecumenical vision" start at the grassroots, she asked,
or begin with a revitalization of national ecumenical life? How can the
perspectives of both seasoned veterans and ecumenical newcomers be
accommodated? Zikmund emphasized the need for direct talk and a candid
sharing of differences as the discussions continue.

In keeping with the quest for broader unity, the Rev. Bob Edgar, a United
Methodist pastor who serves as the NCC's chief executive, had signed a
statement on "A Christian Declaration of Marriage," which was released Nov.
14 in Washington. Other signers were the Rev Richard Land, Southern Baptist
Convention; Bishop Kevin Mannoia, National Association of Evangelicals; and
Bishop Anthony O'Connell, Roman Catholic Church.

However, Edgar publicly removed his name from the document on Nov. 17 after
learning a number of NCC members considered the document to be more a
condemnation of same-sex unions than an affirmation of marriage. "The fact
that the declaration omits mention of same-sex unions is taken by some as
proof that all of the signatories disapprove of such unions," he said.

Edgar expressed concern that misinterpretation of the marriage declaration
could be used by some as an excuse to attack gays and lesbians. He also
noted that the council usually does not take positions on doctrinal matters,
including marriage, but leaves those standards to each member communion.

Bishop Melvin Talbert, currently ecumenical officer for the United Methodist
Council of Bishops and former NCC president, was honored twice during the
assembly. The organization established a one-year $10,000 fellowship in his
name, to be administered by the Fund for Theological Education. The Rev.
Eugene G. Turner, Presbyterian Church USA Associated State Clerk, and the
Rev. Andrew Young, NCC president, were similarly honored. The fellowships
support talented racial or ethnic minority students currently enrolled in
programs leading to doctorates in religion or theology.

Talbert's second honor came when the gay-lesbian interfaith caucus, an
unofficial group that meets during each assembly, presented him with its
Paul H. Sherry Leadership and Courage Award.

The Rev. Gwynne Guibord, chief officer of ecumenical and interreligious
concerns for the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches,
said that Talbert was chosen because of his outspoken support of gays and
lesbians within the NCC and his own denomination. "We of the caucus want to
uphold those people who - often at great risk to themselves - stand for the
inclusion of all God's people," she added.

In other business, NCC members:
·	Received an update on financial concerns, including an expectation
of funds from the United Methodist Church, and plans for further downsizing
of staff. The United Methodist General Council on Finance and Administration
voted during its Nov. 16-18 meeting to advance $400,000 to the NCC (see UMNS
No. 522).
·	Welcomed the Alliance of Baptists, created in 1987 after conflict
within the Southern Baptist Convention, as the 36th member communion of the
organization.
·	Adopted statements on the Middle East, Vieques, AIDS in Africa and
farm workers in North Carolina. 
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*Information for this story was provided by the communications office,
National Council of Churches.

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United Methodist News Service
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