NCC lags in money, alliances By Mark Tooley Layman Correspondent Volume 34, Number 2 Posted March 26, 2001 NEW YORK – The National Council of Churches appears to have stalled in its efforts to reach two major 2001 objectives: a balanced budget and closer relations with evangelicals. During its meeting in February, the NCC’s executive board learned that, through January, revenues were $237,000 under expectations for the first six months of fiscal 2001 and that spending was $673,000 over budget for that period. The council had projected a break-even budget for the first six months. The NCC’s $5.9 million deficit in 1999 erased its remaining reserves, so there’s no room for red ink in 2001. For the last year, the NCC has trumpeted enhanced cooperation with evangelicals and Roman Catholics, and had openly courted the National Association of Evangelicals. But Presbyterian Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, in a brief report to his fellow NCC board members, said it was “not likely” that the National Association of Evangelicals would help “sponsor” an ecumenical summit late this year that the NCC had proposed. Kirkpatrick expressed hope that “maybe” a few of the NAE’s member communions might join with the NCC in future cooperation. The Salvation Army is one possibility, he said. In a later comment, Kirkpatrick conceded that the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, also was not interested in cooperation with the NCC. Kirkpatrick mentioned that the NCC had met with representatives of the U.S. Catholic bishops in an effort to persuade them to co-sponsor an ecumenical summit this fall. The Roman Catholic bishops will vote on that proposal at their June meeting, according to Kirkpatrick. Unmentioned by anyone at the NCC meeting was a major reason for the NAE’s lack of interest in cooperation with the NCC. A “Christian Declaration on Marriage,” endorsed by the National Association of Evangelicals and the Roman Catholic bishops last November, initially got General Secretary Robert Edgar’s backing on behalf of the NCC. But pressure from homosexual activists persuaded Edgar to withdraw his signature because the declaration defined marriage as the union of a man and woman. Mark Tooley is a writer-researcher for the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C.

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