LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Based on a recommendation of its Justice Committee, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (PMAB) approved membership in and affiliation with the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative, the successor organization to the former National Council of Churches (NCC) Poverty Initiative.
In the committee meeting, J. Herbert Nelson, who heads the denomination’s Office of Public Witness in Washington, D.C., said that the need to join the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative grew out of the downsizing of the National Council of Churches. The other area dropped by the NCC that Nelson identified a continuing need for PCUSA participation in is related to environmental action.
When asked if he foresees any other reductions by the NCC that the PCUSA might have to expand commitments to cover, Nelson answered, “Not out of the old NCC covenant but as we move forward and see what the NCC is going to do.” He later commented that the NCC had “been struggling to discern the next move for the organization.”
He said that the NCC has “moved away from the historic umbrella organization convening everyone around one ecumenical table to convening” smaller groups concerned about particular issues like criminal justice sentencing and prison reform.
According to Nelson, the NCC “determined first what they would put out as opposed to what they would continue.” Poverty, the primary global concern identified by other ecumenical groups like Lausanne and one of the two primary concerns identified by the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s World Mission area, was dropped by the NCC.
So, as the NCC downsizes and the PCUSA continues its commitment to engage and influence the root causes of global poverty, the PMAB voted to add the newly formed “Ecumenical Poverty Initiative” to the official PCUSA Affiliates list.
According to the office of Compassion, Peace and Justice that list now includes:
- ACT Alliance (formerly ACT; ACT International Alliance)
- After the Spill: Religious Communities Restoring the Gulf
- Alliance for Fair Food
- Alliance to End Slavery
- Alternatives for Simple Living
- Bread for the World
- Community Food Security Coalition
- Creation Justice Ministries
- Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance
- Faith Advocates for Jobs Campaign
- Faith United Against Gun Violence
- Faithful Democracy
- Faithful Reform in Health Care
- Fighting Poverty With Faith
- Food Research and Action Center
- Food Resource Bank
- Heifer International
- InterAction
- Interdenominational Hunger Coordinators
- Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC)
- Interfaith Domestic Violence Coalition
- Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care
- Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign
- National Farm Work Ministry
- National Immigration Forum
- National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters
- Oikocredit USA
- ONE Campaign
- Religious Working Group on the Farm Bill
- Rural Coalition
- Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc.
- SouperBowl of Caring
- Tax Justice Network Coalition
- Truth Commission on Conscience in War
- U.S. Committee on World Food Day
The Ecumencial Poverty Initiative can be found at Facebook: http://www.faithendpoverty.org/index.php