PCUSA will continue life-support for WCC By John H. Adams The Layman Online Thursday, May 29, 2003 215th General Assembly Denver, Colo. May 24-31, 2003 General Assembly news index DENVER – The 215th General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to continue providing financial life-support for the World Council of Churches, a controversial ecumenical body that faces financial collapse. There was no discussion on the proposal to approve a number of recommendations, including affirming the "achievements" of the WCC and commending Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, a member of the WCC's Central Committee. Kirkpatrick has been an unwavering supporter of the WCC, which has moved increasingly away from its founding purpose – the proclamation of the Gospel to all of the world and the unity of Christians for that purpose. He has succeeded in convincing leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to support the council generously – $1.4 million in 2001, according to a PCUSA study of the council. Only about $400,000 of that amount is clearly identified in the PCUSA budget as a contribution to the WCC. The proposal for continued sustaining support for the WCC came to the General Assembly through a report by a five-member PCUSA review committee. The committee acknowledged that the WCC has serious financial problems – exacerbated by the fact that only 53 percent of its member communions pay their dues. But it asked the General Assembly to continue full support and full funding. The commissioners did call for a continuing examination of the WCC and asked the General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical Relations to address some questions at the next WCC review: "Why do so few churches choose to be a part of the WCC? · "Why do so many member churches choose not to support the WCC financially?" "What role has the PC(USA) played in creating or perpetuating this situation?" · "Is the WCC perceived by many churches in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, etc. as an essentially Eurocentric or Western institution?" "Does the contribution of 98 percent of its funding give to European and North American churches a disproportionate and unjust degree of power within the WCC in relation to larger but less wealthy churches?" "If so, how can such inequities be fairly and justly resolved?" The WCC does not count among its members Catholics, Southern Baptists or most evangelical and Pentecostal denominations. And its largest contingent – Orthodox denominations – disagrees bitterly with its socialist political direction. The WCC says it has a membership of 342 churches in 120 countries (there are nearly 1,700 denominations in the U.S. alone). "The WCC is currently in a major time of retrenchment – facing a reduction in staff and program," the PCUSA review says. "The financial resources of the WCC have been shrunk severely, due to: (1) the decline in European contributions, as government, tax-supported contributions to churches have been reduced; (2) the shrinkage in income from investments, familiar to the PCUSA and to most churches in industrialized nations; and (3) the exhaustion of reserves held by the WCC." The review places no blame on eroding support for an ecumenical organization that has considered some radical steps, including bringing non-Christian religious groups into the WCC fold, to help enlarge its financial base. "Even though the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is the largest financial supporter of the council from North America, our contribution represents only a small percentage," the report says. "Our denomination's support in 2001 was 1,948,947 Swiss francs ($1,437,806.75 US), some 70 percent more than the next largest North American supporter; the United Methodist Church. Only 53 percent of the WCC member churches made financial contributions in 2001." The Presbyterian Church (USA) has 2.5 million members; the United Methodist Church has 8.5 million. On a per-capita basis, the PCUSA's support is five times higher than the Methodist support for the WCC. The review rationalizes that disparity by concluding that the "size of the PC(USA) contribution to the WCC comes in part because, as one of the wealthiest churches in the world, we believe that our sharing is on behalf of the Reformed family of churches as a whole."

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