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[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

November 21, 2002

2002-267

Episcopalians: National Council of Churches emerges from 
financial crisis, reaches out for new vision

by James Solheim

(ENS) Under the banner "For the Common Good: Seeking Justice, 
Working for Peace," the National Council of Churches (NCC) 
balanced its budget, paid off its debt, forged a new 
relationship with its relief and development agency, Church 
World Service, and entered a period of self-examination to 
determine its future at its General Assembly in Tampa November 
14-16.

"This is a very important time," said Bishop Christopher 
Epting, the Episcopal Church's deputy for ecumenical and 
interfaith relations, in an interview following the meeting. 
"They are out from under the financial cloud, but now they must 
decide what the NCC is all about and what its mission will be in 
the new century."

Epting said it was "absurd" to pretend that the NCC 
represents Christians in the United States when Roman Catholics 
and Evangelicals are not participants. "It is essential that we 
have a wider forum," he said, "a new table that will include a 
much broader group--even if that includes some risk in not being 
able to speak with a prophetic voice."

Several exploratory meetings with a wide range of church 
leaders have been held, under NCC auspices, and they issued a 
statement last May describing how "we began to see a vision of a 
new life together." They adopted a name to express that 
developing vision--Christian Churches Together in the USA.

The Rev. Patrick Mauney, director of Anglican and Global 
Relations for the Episcopal Church, agreed that the council "has 
come through a rough patch pretty well. It no longer has to fear 
for its survival but now it faces a different set of problems. 
Chief among them is the mutual commitment of the member churches 
to making the NCC a body recognized and respected by other 
Christians in the USA as well as by the general public." And 
that challenge can't be met by the general secretary alone, 
Mauney warned. "Member churches--including the heads of those 
churches--must be visible advocates of conciliar ecumenism in 
this country. Otherwise the NCC is just another para-church 
agency, albeit one a bit out of tune with majority sentiment."

Turning the corner

In his comments on "the state of the council," General 
Secretary Bob Edgar said that, as the new millenium began on 
January 1, 2000, prospects for the future of the NCC "seemed 
bleak at best," marred by "tensions over major fiscal and 
organizational challenges...Internal tensions were rife; 
relations with Church World Service were at the breaking point. 
Our financial reserves were depleted, the budget was in deficit. 
The loss of confidence by communions, foundations and donors 
threatened our very existence."

While some predicted the imminent demise of the council, 
"others were hoping for an instant miracle," Edgar noted. "What 
did happen was that the faithfulness of our member communions, 
the valuable contributions of a core staff and the inherent 
strength of ecumenism gave us a base from which to build." 

With obvious relief bordering on glee, Edgar announced at the 
Tampa meeting that the council ended the fiscal year on June 30 
with a small operating surplus after facing a budget that had 
been $5.9 million out of balance and reserves that fell from $24 
million in 1994 to $3 million in 1999. Despite some necessary 
staff reductions, he said that "our program ministries have 
become stronger" and support from member communions has grown.

Yet he pointed to the new challenge that calls the NCC "to 
invent an ecumenism appropriate and sustainable for our times. 
Such a task requires all the ingenuity and creative thinking 
that we can muster."

Relationship with CWS clarified

Clarifying the relationship between the council and Church 
World Service has been a difficult process but, according to 
Edgar, "We are entering an era of good partnership."

Mauney, who is a vice president of the NCC and chairs the CWS 
board, said that "there is a much healthier relationship between 
the council and CWS. But we are still living into that 
relationship." He said that it is important now to "coordinate 
our international contacts and determine who deals with which 
issue better."

In his report to the assembly, the Rev. John McCullough, 
executive director, traced the activities and advocacies of CWS, 
pointing out that HIV/AIDS is "a critical issue for all of us" 
and a major component of the new Africa 
Initiative. "Over 85 percent of the AIDS-related deaths are 
in Africa," he said. In his report on income and expenditures, 
total income was almost $70 million. About a third was used in 
refugee resettlement assistance, almost 20 percent in disaster 
relief and recovery, just under 7 percent in hunger development 
in the United States, under 5 percent in education and advocacy 
and the rest in mission relationships and witness, 
administration and fundraising.

Self-examination

The process of building a vision for the future was an 
important element of the 

Tampa meeting. "We must understand who we are so we can act more 
efficiently," said NCC president Elenie Huszagh, a Greek 
Orthodox lay person, during an exercise in self-examination 
about the "changing landscape of the ecumenical movement." 

The Rev. Robert Welsh, president of the Council on Christian 
Unity for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and chair 
of the Strategic Reflection Task Group, asked, "What's the 
future? What do members expect after 50 years of living 
together? How do we relate to that larger table, including a 
wider variety of Christians, in light of the stated purpose to 
manifest our visible unity in Christ? Are we seeking the same 
goals, following the same visions? Is the NCC able to meet the 
expectations of members, given their different understandings?"

Big questions with widely differing answers--and worries. 
Bishop Tom Hoyt of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, 
president-elect of the NCC, said that historic black churches 
had always been a part of the ecumenical movement but he warned 
that there was a growing perception that the racial/ethnic 
agenda was being abandoned in favor of "the larger table and 
financial stability." He said that he was worried that some 
relationships among the constituencies of the council would be 
sacrificed along the way towards change."

Bishop Vicken Aykazian of the Armenian Orthodox Church said 
that, while he appreciated Edgar's leadership on questioning the 
rush to war with Iraq, there is still "too much social justice 
and politics" on the NCC agenda. "Don't forget theology," he 
pleaded. "Only by doing theology can we come to visible unity. 
He was worried that the search for unity doesn't seem to be very 
important to the NCC now.

Yet Courtney Goto of the World Council of Churches staff for 
interfaith dialogue argued that the immense diversity of the 
council makes it impossible to think only in terms of a 
Christian unity agenda. She said that the September 11 terrorist 
attacks was "a reminder of how quickly ignorance can turn to 
intolerance," resulting in hostility and violence directed at a 
group of people. "Are we up to the task of educating our young 
people to have respect for those of other religions?" she asked. 
"Where's the interfaith curriculum for those young people?"

Lydia Veliko of the United Church of Christ warned that 
efforts to create a new table through Churches Together "could 
leave some people behind." She urged the council to "tend old 
relationships while seeking new ones," warning against what she 
called the "new best friend mentality."

Statement on Iraq

The possibility of war with Iraq emerged as a deep concern of 
delegates to the assembly. Following on a statement by the NCC 
executive board in October that urged the Bush Administration to 
step back from the brink of war and to pursue a path of 
consultation and collaboration with other nations, the assembly 
unanimously voted to commend President George W. Bush and 
Secretary of State Colin Powell for "working through the United 
Nations towards securing a Security Council resolution to 
require Iraq to comply with its disarmament obligations under 
relevant resolutions of the Security Council." 

The assembly also urged the president and Congress "to do all 
possible, without going to war, to ensure Iraqi compliance with 
the UN resolution adopted November 8." At the same time the 
resolution called on the president and Congress "to insist on 
Israeli compliance with all relevant UN Security Council 
resolutions" and to "play an active role in working toward a 
peaceful and just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 
within the context of the UN."

The assembly also expressed appreciation for a statement on 
Iraq by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 
highlighting the contention that "Iraqi leadership must cease 
its internal repression, end its threats to its neighbors, stop 
any support for terrorism, abandon its efforts to develop 
weapons of mass destruction, and destroy all such existing 
weapons." 

The bishops also warned that war against Iraq "could have 
unpredictable consequences, not only for Iraq, but for peace and 
stability elsewhere in the Middle East" and could lead to "wider 
conflict and instability in the region."

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Stories from the NCC meeting are available from the NCC website 
at the bottom of this page: 
http://www.ncccusa.org/news/02news96.html.

--James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.