The National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA remains the premier ecumenical entity in this country, made up as it is of Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican, African American, and historic peace churches…among others. The NCC has struggled for years, however, financially, as member communions deal with their own tight budgets and much of the remaining “ecumenical energy” goes into dialogues, full communion relationships, and even interfaith encounters.
The previous General Secretary came to office with a mandate to turn the institution around financially and, in large part, he did so. The problem was it was done by securing grants for specific programs and not for core support of the Council. So, while fully supported grant programs continue unabated, the Governing Board had to slash the staff last week to about 19 in order to avoid busting the budget for this quadrennium…and the next!
In my opinion, the NCC needs to reclaim its vision as a “council of churches” and the denominations need to recommit to their “ownership” of the Council. That may well mean it will be a leaner organization (because we are limited, as communions, as to how much money we can afford) and we may need to do less, but do it better. Primarily, we must re-focus on the goal of church unity and not continue to function primarily as a social action agency, an NGO with ecclesiastical overtones, or a political action committee!
The NCC has a prophetic role to play in society and, historically, it has been on the “side of the angels” with respect to many pressing social problems. But primarily we are to be a visible expression of our yearning for the unity of the Church, working together from a theological and spiritual base. We do not need to have an opinion on everything, but we can and must speak out when we have broad consensus grounded in our common faith.
So, the bad news is the NCC is in trouble. The better news is that it may be a wake-up call to return to our roots, reclaim our original vision, and focus on what we can do well together.
The selection of a new General Secretary — about whom the Search Committee came to consensus last night — should help in this process.
Stay tuned for the announcement…!
That We All May Be One 
September 30, 2007 at 7:04 pm |
But primarily we are to be a visible expression of our yearning for the unity of the Church, working together from a theological and spiritual base.
amen!
October 1, 2007 at 5:25 pm |
“Primarily, we must re-focus on the goal of church unity and not continue to function primarily as a social action agency, an NGO with ecclesiastical overtones, or a political action committee!”
Amen!
And may The Episcopal Church remember this lesson.
October 21, 2007 at 11:32 pm |
on a lark i went today to the ncc website, and i noticed something. the headlines were as follows:
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month
SCHIP veto
NCC Health Talk Force endorses policy reform effort
Kinnamon nominated for NCC General Secretary
NCC leaders welcome Muslim leaders’ message
NCC Eco-Justice seeks thanksgiving prayers
NCC help thousands fast for an end to the Iraq War
NCC Board calls for equal justice in Jena
The NCC reshapes itself
NCC resources helps heal body, spirit, creation
NCC joins yearlong event to raise Darfur awareness
WCC calls Premawardhana to inter-religious post
Disabilities Committee leads worship at North Park
Survey: churches give high priorite to health care
Health care for children
Churches remain faithful to the rebuilding of the gulf
Call for essays on theology and the environment
NCC biotech policy
Two of these are interfaith matters, two are internal NCC matters. Those are arguably concerned with ecumenism, though only at a second remove.
every other article is about something other than ecumenism.
and, every other article is about something better done by someone else. the ncc really needs to focus on where it has expertise, which ought to be ecumenism!
October 22, 2007 at 9:37 am |
I could not agree more! I have some confidence, however, that our new nominee for General Secretary, Dr. Michael Kinnamon — a noted ecumenist — will begin to turn this around shortly after the first of the year.