General Assembly Council approves $400,000 for NCC

General Assembly Council approves $400,000 for NCC

By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, February 19, 2000

LOUISVILLE – The General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted 52-6 on Feb. 19 to give the National Council of Churches $400,000 to help the council dig out of its $4-million 1999 deficit.

The PCUSA council attached some strings to the money and decided to transmit a pastoral letter to congregations explaining the bailout for the NCC, the loss of $1.7 million or more by “The Dawn … An Epiphany,” and a $3-million-plus emergency appropriation for publishing denomination curricula.

The letter was proposed as a response to overwhelming opposition to NCC funding by individual Presbyterians and sessions across the nation and concerns raised over the curricula cost and “The Dawn” losses.

Overwhelming opposition
John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly Council, said that as of Feb. 19 PCUSA headquarters in Louisville had received 1,170 communications – letters, E-mail and phone calls – opposing continued funding for the NCC. Detterick said there were 131 responses favorable to the bailout contribution.

“My sense is that as much as half of those responses may have been from sessions,” Detterick said. Responses continued to arrive in Louisville as the General Assembly met and likely after it adjourned on Feb. 19.

Five contingencies
The bailout plan reflected an awareness of that opposition. The contingencies for transmitting the $400,000 include:

1. Other denominations in the NCC must pledge at least $1.5 million for deficit bailout. [In 1999, 13 of the 39 member communions made no contribution to the NCC. The PCUSA gave $2.1 million in cash in 1999 and also paid PCUSA staff to work on NCC projects. The PCUSA’s financial contribution was more than any other denomination’s.]
2. The NCC must adopt a balanced budget for 2000, including budget cuts that may be necessary to reach that goal and a realistic plan to build reserves.
3. The NCC must approve a plan to resolve unfunded liability of the pension and healthcare plans.
4. All members of the NCC must be asked to on participate in the deficit bailout and any excess funds must be set aside for operating reserves.
5. There will be a comprehensive review every three years of the PCUSA’s relationship with ecumenical bodies.

Pledge to PCUSA Foundation
Robert “Bob” Edgar, a Methodist minister, former congressman and former president of Claremont School of Theology in California, who is the new general secretary of the NCC, spoke to the General Assembly Council the day before its vote.

Edgar added an incentive to keep the PCUSA in the NCC’s camp: He said the NCC is devising a plan to place its endowment funds in the PCUSA Foundation. Asked later in an interview with The Presbyterian Layman how much money would be transferred to the foundation, Edgar said none currently because the NCC has no endowment. But he says he intends to raise millions of dollars for one.

Detterick told The Layman that it was his idea to encourage Edgar to place NCC funds in the PCUSA Foundation. He said he heard that Edgar wanted to start an endowment and that he sent word through an intermediary suggesting that the PCUSA Foundation is unrivaled.

In discussions and comments about the National Council of Churches, there was no effort to justify the financial or management fiascos. Both Detterick and Stated Clerk Clifton Kilpatrick repeatedly said the NCC had made serious mistakes — but that the organization was now on the right course under Edgar’s leadership.

Key talking point
A statement by Peter J. Pizor of Cody, Wy., who is chairman-elect of the General Assembly Council, became a key talking point in the discussions.

Pizor’s statement criticized the NCC as an organization with its “finances out of control” and its internal management “in shambles.” But he also recommended continued membership and funding for the NCC.

Pizor’s recommendations included:

1. More training for Presbyterian delegates to the NCC and staff assigned to NCC tasks so that they are able to ask board-level questions.
2. The PCUSA’s professional and volunteer representatives should communicate with each other about NCC endeavors so that they “act with one voice.”
3. The question of “complete separation of CWS (Church World Service) or fuller integration should be explored and resolved.”
4. The PCUSA should continue to support the NCC but also be open to affiliation with other ecumenical bodies.