wfn.org | OUTGOING NCC PRESIDENT ANDREW YOUNG HONORED AT RECEPTION

["Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
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NCC11/15/01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OUTGOING NCC PRESIDENT ANDREW YOUNG HONORED AT RECEPTION

November 14, 2001, OAKLAND, Calif. -- Members of the National Council of
Churches General Assembly participated in a reception the evening of Nov.
14 that honored Ambassador Andrew Young, who is completing a 2000-2001 term
of office as the Councils president.

NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar thanked the Rev. Young for his contributions
to the continuing task of bringing people together, not only as the
Councils president, but also as a young NCC staffperson in the 1950s, as a
civil rights leader at Martin Luther King, Jr.s side, as U.S. Ambassador to
the United Nations during the Carter Administration, as mayor of Atlanta and
in many other capacities.

The Rev. Young, a United Church of Christ minister who has been a part of
the Council at points throughout its 52-year history, said that the
organization originally grew out of the unanimity of the call to social
justice.

But in recent decades, he reflected, its member churches have divided
between and among themselves, particularly on issues of gender and
sexuality. Yet, we are still challenged to speak to the world, he said,
and slowly but surely we find that voice by coming together as churches.

September 11 set a context for the churches and the nation that is more
evil than I have ever known in my lifetime, he said. We struggle as a
nation to contain that evil. What may be getting lost in that struggle, he
indicated, is the impact of all the events in the wake of September 11 on
the poorest and most vulnerable people.  The Rev. Young said he lives with
fear and trembling that we are under the judgment of God  because we are
not considering the poor enough. It is the element of justice that we have
to face.

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