Panel wants 215th General Assembly to generously support World Council By John H. Adams The Layman Online Tuesday, April 29, 2003 A denominational committee paints a bleak picture of the financial viability of the World Council of Churches, but nonetheless calls on the 215th General Assembly to affirm the council's work and continue providing major funding. The recommendations of the five-member PCUSA team that reviewed the WCC are included in a report to the General Assembly. One member of the review team is Ashley Seamon, who, with Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, is also a member of the the WCC's governing Central Committee. The other members of the review team are the Rev. John Bartholomew, the executive for the Synod of the South Atlantic, who is also a member of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly; the Rev. Heidi Husted, pastor of Columbia Presbyterian Church in Vancouver, Wash., who preached at the opening worship service at the 213th General Assembly; the Rev. Philip Wickeri, a professor of mission and evangelism at San Francisco Theological Seminary; and James Henderson. Kirkpatrick has been an unwavering supporter of the WCC. Working through the ecumenical committee and the General Assembly, he has been able to get the denomination to provide millions of dollars in cash and provide PCUSA employees to help the WCC. Meanwhile, as the report notes, 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 theological direction. Consequently, many of the Orthodox denominations do not contribute money. Only 53 percent of the WCC's "members" make contributions to the organization. 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." "The WCC 2002 annual budget was 52.5 million Swiss francs ($34.7 million US), some 22 percent dedicated to general operations and the balance related to sixteen 'program' areas covering 115 separate activities," the review says. "That budget showed a projected deficit of 1,070,000 Swiss francs ($789,376.62 US) in 2002. The program portion of the budget likewise was in a deficit position, with a deficit of 4,561,000 Swiss francs ($3,364,810.00 US) projected in 2002." While the WCC has cut back programs, laid off employees and spent all of its reserves, it still faces dracononian cuts and more restructuring, depending on the generosity of the PCUSA and other mainline supporters to keep it afloat. "An unknown is whether the steady erosion of income from member contributions can be slowed or reversed," the report said. "The next few years will be challenging as WCC attempts to continue to adjust its mission in the face of financial realities." The report does not blame the WCC's initiatives for any of its financial problems. But the organization has been criticized internationally for some of its political alliances, including financial support for the Patriotic Front, a guerrilla group once led by Robert Mugabe, now the president of Zimbabwe. In 1978, the WCC gave the Patriotic Front $85,000 from its Fund to Combat Racism, to which the PCUSA had generously donated. In the same month as that gift was made, the Patriotic Front shot down a civilian plane, killing 38 of its 56 passengers. Twenty years later, in December 1998, Mugabe, whose ruthless regime has brought Zimbabwe to the brink of anarchy, welcomed the WCC's 50th Anniversary Assembly to Harare, Zimbabwe. Eight Presbyterians attended the assembly, including Kirkpatrick. Also in attendance was Mary Ann Lundy, formerly a high-ranking member of the staff of the PCUSA who was fired after she helped the 1993 ReImagining God Conference secure a $66,000 gift from the PCUSA's Bicentennial Fund. Now retired, she landed a job as a deputy general secretary with the World Council of Churches. The committee's review asked the General Assembly to: 1. "Affirm, with gratitude to God, the achievements of the World Council of Churches (WCC) since its founding in 1948, and express its appreciation to the member churches for their participation in this instrument of the ecumenical movement, as we seek to find the unity declared by our Lord Jesus Christ." 2. "Express our appreciation to the open and responsive way in which senior staff of the WCC cooperated with our review, providing full information in a timely and collegial fashion." 3. "Having heard the gratitude of our partner churches both within North America and around the world for his significant contributions to ecumenism, express our appreciation to our Stated Clerk, the Reverend Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick." 4. "That the PC(USA) continue to strongly advocate for the WCC's historic commitment to the greater participation of women, youth, and indigenous people in the life of the council." 5. "Urge PC(USA) members of the central committee, and others whose participation in the work of the WCC enables them to be heard, to exercise their fiduciary responsibility and insist on work plans and budgeting that keep expenditures and revenues balanced." 6. "Declare its intent that the PC(USA) shall seek to sustain the level of its support, both financial and in human resources, to the work of the World Council of Churches, while also urging our partner churches to seek every possible way of increasing their support to something more nearly resembling our level of giving." The review of the WCC was the second in a series ordered after Presbyterian leaders were flooded with complaints after the General Assembly Council and the Office of the General Assembly approved $500,000 in one-time gifts to the National Council of Churches to forestall the NCC's bankruptcy. The 214th General Assembly received a review of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 2002. Despite having to make massive cuts in spending in the 2002, 2003 and 2004 budgets, the 214th General Assembly approved allocations to the World Alliance at the current level. The 216th General Assembly will receive a review of the National Council of Churches.

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