Evangelical-Reformed group calls for end of National Council of Churches The Layman Online Tuesday, November 2, 1999 Diane Knippers, president of the Institute of Religion and Democracy WASHINGTON, D.C.– A national group of evangelicals and Reformed leaders has called for the dissolution of the National Council of Churches as the organization prepares for its 50th birthday party and tries to figure out how to wipe out $3.4 million in red ink. "Rather than a birthday party, the NCC should be given a funeral service," said Diane Knippers, president of the Institute of Religion and Democracy. She is one of the members of the Association for Church Renewal that seeks dissolution of the National Council. James V. Heidinger II, president of the United Methodist Good News, called the National Council "a hindrance to the cause of Christian unity. It does not include the Roman Catholic Church and its extremely liberal theological and political views have made 'ecumenism' a negative word among evangelicals." Even now, the PCUSA leaders are seeking additional funds to help the National Council overcome its financial crisis. David Stanley, chairman of United Methodist Action, said the National Council is in decline because it has "abandoned the fulfillment of Christ's Great Commission as the Church's purpose and plunged into the swamp of far-left partisan politics and social engineering." Parker T. Williamson, editor of The Presbyterian Layman Parker T. Williamson, editor of The Presbyterian Layman, called for a new ecumenical movement. "The membership of the NCC-member churches has been hemorrhaging for decades and the NCC finds itself in a serious financial crisis. The NCC simply has too much baggage to play a constructive role in ecumenism in the next millennium." Knippers also said a new ecumenical movement is needed to "help reform our churches and renew our society." David Runnion Bareford of the Biblical Witness Fellowship (United Church of Christ) cited some new movements toward ecumenical cooperation and understanding, including statements by Evangelicals and Catholics Together, the Celebrate Jesus 2000 movement and grassroots ministries. A founding purpose of the Association for Church Renewal is "to envision and model a genuine ecumenism for the church in the 21st century."

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