Episcopal Press and News
Financial Crisis Raises Questions About Future of U.S. Office of World Council of Churches
Episcopal News Service. December 12, 1990 [90321]
The financial officer of the World Council of Church (WCC) brought grim news to member churches in the United States. Michael Davies of the WCC's Geneva office told 70 participants at the December 6-7 U.S. Conference in Washington, D.C., that his first examination of the budget showed deep trouble looming for the international ecumenical organization "unless there was preventative action." Davies said it was his impression that "we have been trying to do too much for the resources available."
Citing the slipping strength of the U.S. dollar and other currency fluctuations, Davies said "rethinking and restructuring are vital" to avoid financial chaos. Among steps already taken are a 15-percent reduction in this year's budget and an embargo on hiring for 1991. Davies reported that the WCC will also search for new sources of income and seek the participation of those members of the WCC who do not contribute to the budget. Currently one-third of the WCC's 310 members do not contribute.
The Rev. J. Oscar McCloud, a Presbyterian who is a member of the WCC Central Committee, said that U.S. church support for the WCC "isn't really what it ought to be -- and there is no substitute for continued, increased, and expanded support on the part of our member churches." Several representatives of historic black churches spoke glowingly of the "tremendous revitalization" their involvement with the WCC has brought to their churches. One representative said the contacts he has made through the WCC with Third World churches were, in many ways, more valuable than most contacts with churches in this country.
The financial crisis has direct implications for the WCC's U.S. office in New York. The Rev. Joan Campbell, who has headed the office for four years, will not be replaced when she becomes the new general secretary of the National Council of Churches (NCC) in January. Andrea Cano, communications director, will not renew her contract when it expires next fall.
The future of the WCC presence in the United States will be decided after a new Central Committee is elected at the WCC's Seventh Assembly in Australia next February. Several representatives at the Washington meeting urged a closer relationship with the NCC since both ecumenical organizations are in a "time of creative transition," in the words of Dr. Janice Love, recently elected associate general secretary of the NCC.
Dr. Avery Post, who chairs the planning committee for the Seventh Assembly, shared details of the program, suggesting that the meeting will take seriously the tensions of the world and member churches. "With the Holy Spirit as our theme, some Pentecostal tension will be unavoidable," he said. "If this is not a tense meeting -- given what is happening in the world today -- then we will not be faithful."
Dr. Emilio Castro, general secretary of the WCC, expressed his hopes that a "prevailing awareness of our communion in Christ" will help participants "live with our tensions."
Representatives to the U.S. Conference of the WCC passed a resolution urging a peaceful solution to the Persian Gulf crisis, support for programs that assist victims of the crisis, and prayer for the people and churches in the Middle East. The resolution also expressed support for the peace pilgrimage of Protestant and Orthodox church delegates to the Middle East in midDecember.