Letter outlines reasons to support NCC
The Layman Online, February 9, 2000
The Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Louisville staff has sent members of the General Assembly Council a four-page letter urging the PCUSA to help bail the National Council of Churches.
The letter, written by the Rev. John A. Huffman of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, Calif., essentially relates points made in a previous letter by PCUSA Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick.
Huffman, who is chairman of the PCUSA’s delegation to the General Assembly of the NCC, is involved in a number of ecumenical groups. He is chairman of World Vision U.S., an evangelical organization.
Calls, letters, resolutions
The letters by Kirkpatrick and Huffman have been dispatched in response to hundreds of phone calls, letters and session resolutions opposing a contribution toward bailing out the NCC. Many of those responses were generated by the Presbyterian Lay Committee and its publications, The Presbyterian Layman and The Layman Online.
The Lay Committee has published point-by-point answers to many of the issues raised by Kirkpatrick and repeated by Huffman. The following are some of the issues raised and the Lay Committee’s response.
NCC’s appeal to evangelicals
NCC advocates: The NCC is seeking to broaden its appeal so that evangelicals will join. As evidence of that “intimations toward a broadening movement toward Christian unity,” the NCC advocates have cited a panel at the 50th anniversary meeting of the NCC which included representatives of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Roman Catholic Church and the Billy Graham Crusade organization.
Lay Committee’s response: Evangelical leaders came as a courtesy, not as an endorsement. During the discussion, Kevin Mannoia, NAE president, told the NCC: “We can’t have unity at all costs. We can’t have a theology of the lowest common denominator. It leads to a relativistic mush.”
Burned Churches Program
NCC advocates: “The Burned Churches Program, which has been at the center of some controversy and criticism, has demonstrably kept the promises made to donors concerned for racial justice and the rebuilding of sanctuaries destroyed by arson.”
Lay Committee’s response: Which promises? Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick recently said 70 percent of the money raised would go to rebuild churches and 30 percent for racial justice. NCC press releases put the proportion at 85-15. Furthermore, NCC financial documents distributed at its November 1999 meeting did not account for nearly $2.8 million in Burned Church Funds. The NCC Executive Board has refused to allow a special audit of the Burned Churches Fund.
One-time grant?
NCC advocates: “As a result of the costs of the consulting firm, the guarantee of pension and health care benefits for retirees and workers and the reorganization now taking place, NCC member churches find it necessary to raise nearly $4 million for a one-time grant to re-establish the financial stability of the Council.”
Lay Committee’s response: The $4-million loss was not a one-time occurrence. The deficit was $1.5 million in 1998 and $1.6 million in 1997. The 1999 crisis occurred because the NCC, after spending beyond its means for years, had exhausted its reserves. The recent expenditure of $750,000 for the NCC’s birthday party and the charter of a Learjet to ferry Elian Gonzalez’ grandmothers around the U.S. suggests that the NCC has not yet altered its lifestyle.
The NCC’s mission
NCC advocates: ” … An investment by the Presbyterian Church (USA) of $500,000 would be well worth the restoration of the NCC and its mission to energetic health.”
Presbyterian Lay Committee: How does a financial crisis instigate restoration and energetic health? Why is the Presbyterian Church (USA) by far the leading supporter of the NCC, according to the NCC’s November 1999 report?