National Council of Churches deficit: $3.4 million $300,000 birthday party continues on schedule By Parker T. Williamson The Layman Online Friday, November 5,1999 Vociferous in its demands that the United States cancel loans made to third-world governments, the National Council of Churches now seeks some debt relief of its own. With their ecumenical organization $3.4 million in the red for 1999, leaders – including several Presbyterian staffers – are requesting a $2-million bailout from their member denominations. Costly consultants Eugene Turner, director of the Department of Governing Body, Ecumenical and Agency Relations for the Presbyterian Church (USA), told The Layman that the Council’s problem is primarily a “cash flow issue.” “A heavy amount of the $3.4 million was the cost of consultants who have been advising the Council on financial problems over the past year,” said Turner. Reports from Presbyterian Church (USA) headquarters say aides to Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick have been searching for funds to help bail out the ailing Council. Turner said he hopes that denominational officials can find between $400,000 and $600,000. He said the Council holds between $22 million and $23 million in restricted funds. “They’re not supposed to use that money for the budget deficit,” he said, “but they may be forced to if member churches do not come up with the money.” Presbyterians pay The Presbyterian Church already gives the Council $408,000 toward its operations and almost $1 million more for specific programs. Donations of co-opted staff and other in-kind contributions from Presbyterian headquarters make it virtually impossible to determine the total amount of support that flows to the Council from the denomination. Kirkpatrick gave the Council a special gift of $25,000 from his budget’s 1998 year-end disbursements to help fund the organization’s Nov. 9-12 birthday party. The event’s estimated cost is $300,000. Methodist resistance The Council’s recovery plans suffered a major setback when United Methodist Church officials voted to suspend payments from its $670,000 “basic financial support” and to decline to consider a proposal that the denomination pay $700,000 toward the Council’s debt bail-out fund. Methodist officials said they had many questions about the Council’s financial practices and they were unwilling to forward any more money to the organization until those questions were answered. In an Oct. 11 press release, the United Methodist News Service listed the following concerns: “the enormity of the NCC’s debt, the lack of fund balances to cover that debt, the absence of a budget based on realistic income from member communions, and the lack of clarity on future liabilities and the lack of data to address these issues.” A call for dissolution “Rather than a birthday party, the NCC should be given a funeral service” said Diane Knippers in a press release from the Association for Church Renewal, which calls for “the dissolution of the National Council of Churches.” (See story) The Council “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” added David Stanley. Different strategies Turner told The Layman that Presbyterian representatives to the Council “have the same questions that the Methodists have … and we have raised them … their questions are our questions.” Turner said that Presbyterian officials differ from their Methodist counterparts “only in strategy.” Noting that the Council’s treasurer, Margaret Thomas, is a Presbyterian Synod executive, Turner said that he trusts her and believes that the questions will be answered. “The United Methodists decided to use their purse to ensure that the answers will be given,” he said, “but we didn’t think that was necessary.”

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