UPDATE ON THE
ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT
(NCC & WCC)
Editorial
May/June, 2000
Volume 35, Number 3
It has been sixteen years since we last wrote on the ecumenical
movement. BRF does not harp on the participation of the Church of the Brethren
in the National and World Councils of Churches. We are opposed to such
affiliation, but ecumenism is just one among many of our concerns. Back
in 1967, Brother Harold Martin wrote an essay on our affiliation with the
Councils of Churches. The original concerns he raised are still applicable
today. Brother Martin pointed out five troubling areas (edited for re-publication
here):
1) The NCC is not primarily a spiritual organization.
It is the primary business of the church to attend to spiritual matters,
to present Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour that men and women will be
converted and equipped by the Holy Spirit for every good work. We believe
the primary concern of the Church should be the care of souls, not the
winning of elections and the implementation of social legislation.
2) The National Council of Churches' activities and
publications lean toward the political left. We recognize that the
NCC has no "theology" of its own. But the general direction of the whole
movement is on the side of liberal (neo-liberal) theology, and is hostile
to the evangelical faith. The NCC supports causes and promotes purposes
which are not in harmony with Biblical teachings. Apparently its most influential
leaders have strong convictions with reference to social action, but lack
corresponding convictions with reference to the essentials of the Christian
faith itself.
3) The NCC is an organization preparing the way for
a super-church. The NCC (and the WCC) deny aspirations to become a
world church, but certainly they are preparing the way for this. We are
not saying the WCC is a superchurch, but it will eventually lead to one.
Many of its leaders believe that when its work is done, it must disappear
as a fellowship of churches, in the creation of the one great world church.
4) The NCC often speaks "to" the churches and not necessarily
"for" them. The executives and staff members of the Council (along
with certain chosen "experts") usually plan the programs, pull the strings,
and issue the directives that ultimately affect the lives of millions of
people. The work of the Councils of Churches is, to a great extent, the
business of theologians and church leaders. There seems to be a great divorce
between the thinking of many of our ecclesiastical leaders, and the believer
in the pew.
5) The NCC is not really a cohesive power within Christendom.
There has been much dissension in the Church because of the Councils of
Churches, and sometimes life-long friendships have been wrecked. Some have
withdrawn from their local congregations, while many withhold funds. The
denomination's membership in the Councils of Churches has precipitated
discord and dissatisfaction.
We have heard from those, whose main reason for leaving
the Church of the Brethren--or not joining the Brethren--is the denomination's
membership in the NCC and WCC. We believe that is not a good reason for
abandoning the Church of the Brethren, because individual congregations
decide whether or not to fund Brotherhood programs which support the ecumenical
organizations. Congregations may designate that their contributions to
the General Board not go to any program or mission involved with the NCC/WCC.
We pray for unity in the Church. It must be a unity based
upon the truth of the Scripture, and not merely on the lowest common denominator
of belief. For this reason we continue to call for the Church of the Brethren
to withdraw from the NCC and WCC, and seek to support those who uphold
the evangelical understandings of theology. Such withdrawal does not mean
that we cannot be involved in relief and recovery efforts. The Mennonites
have not joined the ecumenical organizations, but still have a wide relief
and aid work. Congregations could still support Church World Service--or
other relief and mission agencies--without joining with the errant theology
and politics of the Councils of Churches.
--Craig Alan Myers
Note: Additional information has been received since
the publication of this edition of the Witness, and it is added to the
article below, in grey type.
Update on the Ecumenical Movement
by Craig Alan Myers
The NCC and the WCC grew out of several movements which originally were
intended to bring a united Christian witness to the world. The International
Missionary Conference was held in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910, with the
hope of creating a common approach to world evangelization. Various agencies
over the years were formed to work together at planning Sunday School lessons,
providing material aid to the needy, and evangelizing the unsaved. The
NCC and WCC are the result of a merger of a number of interdenominational
agencies. Today the NCC is a federation of 35 Protestant and Orthodox denominations
with a total membership of 52 million persons. The World Council of Churches
has 337 member denominations around the world.
While the NCC and WCC have no direct organizational tie, they tend to
reflect one another and work closely together in their concerns. The WCC,
based in Geneva, Switzerland, and with a US office on Riverside Drive in
New York City, has worldwide connections and interests; the NCC, based
at Riverside Drive in New York City, focuses on US-related issues. The
Church of the Brethren has been a member of the Federal (later National)
Council of Churches since 1941, and of the World Council of Churches since
1948. This membership has been challenged at, and reaffirmed by, Annual
Conference of the Church of the Brethren several times since the 1940s.
Ecumenical Movement in Crisis
Today the NCC and WCC face one crisis after another. Sharp membership
losses in key supporting denominations have weakened the councils' role
as major religious players. The World Council of Churches (US office) web
site acknowledges, "the ecumenical movement no longer dominates the front
pages like it did in the 1940s and 50s." Many within the constituent denominations
have criticized the radical political and social emphases of council programs.
Financial shortfalls and poor accounting and investment practices have
taken their toll. In 1999, the NCC restructured and cut back on staff in
an effort to stem the red ink. About half the anticipated crowd of two
thousand showed up for the NCC fiftieth anniversary celebration in November
1999.
In an attempt to reinvigorate their leadership, the NCC elected former
United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young as president and former Claremont
School of Theology president Robert Edgar as general secretary, who both
took office January 1, 2000. Both men--ordained ministers--served as Democratic
congressmen together in the 1970s.
The former executive director of the National Association of Evangelicals,
Billy Melvin, writes, "The crisis does not surprise those in the Protestant
community who years ago voiced concerns about the National Council. To
a great extent, the decline of the council and some of the denominations
it represents is the fruit of theologically liberal leadership" (Answers
to Your Questions, page 2).
As a result of this decline, the NCC and WCC are seeking ways to expand
their membership and influence. The creation of a new "Forum of Christian
Churches and Ecumenical Organizations" was affirmed at the Harare Assembly
of the WCC in 1998. Its goal is to attract Pentecostal, Roman Catholic,
and evangelical denominations to the ecumenical table. This forum may eventually
take the place of the shrinking WCC. Dialogue with non-Christian groups
continues, not with the goal of evangelism, but for the purpose of finding
common ground to combat the world's ills.
Denominations Withdrawing
Several denominations have withdrawn their membership or participation
in the ecumenical bodies. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland and the Salvation
Army withdrew from the WCC in the 1970s. The Georgian Orthodox Church quit
in 1997; the Bulgarian Orthodox Church pulled out in 1998; the Russian
Orthodox Church suspended active participation in 1998; other Orthodox
leaders have warned of dwindling participation. The concerns of the Orthodox
focus are on the ordination of women (which they, and many professing Christian
denominations, oppose); the acceptance by the WCC of all denominations
as equally faithful churches; the growing toleration of homosexual behavior;
and moves to include other religions as members of the WCC.
Political Involvement
For years the NCC has championed radical causes, including the use of
racial quotas, inclusive language for both human beings and God, unrestricted
abortion rights, and environmentalism. It criticizes the United States,
and defends oppressive regimes such as Communist China and Cuba. An NCC
delegation to China declared that it found no evidence of government persecution
of Christians--when at the same time, the Associated Press and Freedom
House (a human rights organization) were reporting a crackdown on the Chinese
house-church movement. The NCC also supports Palestinian ruler Yasser Arafat,
who is noted for saying one thing to Western liberals and another to the
Palestinian people about the legitimacy and existence of the State of Israel.
The Council in 1996 established a "Burned Churches Fund" to assist churches
which had their houses of worship destroyed by apparent arson. NCC officials
suggested that the burned churches were primarily African-American houses
of worship and that the burnings were racially motivated "hate crimes."
However, the National Church Arson Task Force reports that of the 827 investigated
incidents, fewer than a third (269) involved African-American churches.
Of that number, only 185 were in the NCC's target area in the South. The
task force found that reported church fires resulted from many causes--including
inadequate wiring and poor maintenance--and that there was scant evidence
of arson in many of the incidents. Among those church burnings that were
verified as arson-related, one-half of those who were arrested for setting
the fires were African-Americans (Third Year Report
to the President, National Church Arson Task Force, January 2000,
page 5).
The NCC and WCC have also been promoting the cancellation of debts owed
by the world's poorest countries. The debts were incurred in the 1960s
and 1970s as the countries became independent. Much of the money ended
up in the pockets of dictators and their cronies. It is ironic that while
the NCC calls on the government to cancel debts of others, it apparently
has not called on its own creditors to forgive its debts to them.
The NCC has inserted itself in the heartbreaking case of Elian Gonzalez,
the six-year-old Cuban boy whose mother drowned as her family attempted
to come to Florida late in 1999. Long sympathetic to the cause of the only
Communist state in the Western Hemisphere, the NCC portrayed itself as
primarily interested in the boy's best interest. However, the NCC General
Secretary was reported as indicating that the NCC's interest in children
is "not necessarily children for children's sake, but for a bigger cause
. . ., " and "that the boy has become the political leverage that may lead
to normalization of relationships between the U.S. and Cuba." ("NCC
head says children leverage political aim," The Layman Online,
2/21/2000). [The
NCC flew Elian's grandmothers to the US on a Learjet.]
Financial Troubles
Financial woes have also plagued the NCC over the past few years. The
deficit was $1.5 million in 1998 and $1.6 million in 1997. In 1999, expenses
outpaced income by $4 million. These costs included $2.4 million in management
consulting fees since March 1998 (which were budgeted at $750,000); a one-time
contribution of about $550,000 to the NCC's Pension Fund due to a missed
payment several years ago; $330,000 to the Burned Churches Fund; and over-expenditures
in the 1999 budgets of several departments in the NCC bureaucracy. The
50th anniversary celebration of the NCC in Cleveland in November 1999 cost
more than twice the original $300,000 estimate. The NCC Executive Committee
has refused to allow an audit of the Burned Churches Fund.
The NCC has requested additional funds from its member denominations--seven
of which give more than 90 percent of the organization's budget. The United
Methodist Church, which gives more than $2.5 million each year, was asked
for $700,000 in extra finances to bail out the Council; the Presbyterian
Church USA, already giving more than $2 million, was asked for an extra
$500,000. The denominations, already strapped for cash for their own programs,
were hesitant to do so. Much of the money was eventually supplied. ("NCC
Answers Financial Crisis," NCC News Archive, 11/13/1999).
In its March 2000 meeting, concerns were raised over financial control
of Church World Service, the aid agency of the NCC. Church World Service
accounts for 88 percent of the Council's projected $71.3 million income
this year. Patrick Mauney, who chairs the Church World Service governing
committee, charged that some donations intended for the aid group ``have
been used for purposes other than what was designated, to cover other costs
in the National Council of Churches.'' CWS recently agreed to pay a special
assessment of $1.4 million to help the NCC meet its deficit for 1999. ("National
Council of Churches to Meet," Associated Press, 3/16/2000).
[NCC
General Secretary Edgar assured Presbyterian leaders than NCC is serious
about living within its means, with the example that the Council will no
longer use limousines to chaffeur its staff from airports. (Presbyterian
Lay Committee letter, 5/23/2000).]
Relevancy Questions
The majority of professing Christians in the US are in denominations
that are not part of the NCC (the Roman Catholics, the Southern Baptists,
the Pentecostals, the Evangelicals, etc.), so the NCC is not really a national
ecumenical council. It may speak for many churches, but it does not speak
for all American Christians, any more than do Billy Graham or Pat Robertson.
It appears that the "mainline" has become the "sideline" in terms of the
American religious scene.
Many of the significant interdenominational endeavors of recent years--Promise
Keepers, Evangelicals and Catholics Together, etc. (whether or not one
approves of them)--have occurred outside of NCC's circle. The NCC appears
to respond to other interdenominational events, rather than inspiring
them.
The emphasis on campaign finance reform, welfare reform, the release
of the three American soldiers in Kosovo, attention to racism, and the
current "Cuban crisis" are primarily political activities, and many view
the NCC as a politically-motivated group. The NCC is involved in political
questions without explicitly demonstrating an underlying commitment to
spiritual questions and the proclamation of Jesus Christ as Saviour and
Lord.
Questionable Theology
Questionable teachings on the person of Christ, the authority of the
Bible, standards of morality, and evangelism receive considerable attention
in NCC circles. Speaking of Jesus, NCC President Young has said, "it took
Jesus from 12 to 30 to realize he was God's child"--hardly a full affirmation
of the deity of Christ.
Scriptural authority and Christian morality are denied by the NCC as
its leaders have been open toward the homosexual lobbies in the churches.
Mr. Young and Mr. Edgar both attended an interfaith caucus of homosexual
groups at the recent NCC General Assembly in Cleveland, and were warmly
welcomed and commended. NCC leaders Paul Sherry (a United Church of Christ
minister) and Melvin Talbert (a United Methodist bishop) have been active
in promoting homosexual acceptance in both the NCC and their respective
denominations.
Evangelism as historically understood is either ignored or redefined
in the NCC and WCC. Instead of declaring the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ based on the revelation given by God in His Word, evangelism
becomes "dialogue." Dialogue then seeks to find the best ideas from all
faith groups and merge them into a "higher understanding." Mission becomes
addressing economic and environmental issues. Soul-winning is seen as manipulation
and coercion.
The exclusive claim of the Gospel (for example, John 14:6
and Acts 4:12) seems to be more of an embarrassment to the NCC/WCC
rather than a basis for activity. The councils have become political interest
groups, reflecting left-wing political thinking rather than the mind of
Christ as revealed in the Scriptures.
Defective theology should be enough to cause conscientious Christians
to avoid supporting the NCC/WCC. When to this is added to financial mismanagement,
political maneuvering, and waning significance among Christians, it is
hard to see how anyone can support these organizations.