National Council of Churches

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National Council of Churches of Christ

The National Council of Churches of Christ is a network organization that considers itself the "leading force for ecumenical cooperation among Christians in the United States." It was founded in 1950 as the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. Its member faith groups include Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches.^[1]^[2]

Officers and commissions

Officers The following are the NCC Officers for 2010-2011:^[3]

General Secretary: The Rev. Dr. Michael A. Kinnamon, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister elected staff head of the NCC in November 2007.
President: Rev. Peg Chemberlin, a Moravian minister and executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches.
President Elect: Kathryn Lohre, a lay member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and assistant director of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University.
First Vice President: Rev. Dr. Cheryl H. Wade, a minister in the American Baptist Churches in the USA, former treasurer of the ABC and currently Director of Philanthropy at the Kendal Corp., Kennett Square, Pa.
Vice President: Right Rev. Johncy Itty, Episcopal Bishop of Oregon, Portland, Ore.
Vice President at Large: Mr. Stanley J. Noffsinger, a layman and General Secretary of the Church of the Brethren General Board, Elgin, Ill.
Vice President at Large: Rev. Raymon E. Hunt, Secretary of the Christian Education Department, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
Secretary: Rev. José Luis Casal, General Missioner The Presbytery of Tres Rios, Presbyterian Church (USA)
Immediate Past President: Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, Diocesan Legate and Ecumenical Officer, Diocese of the Armenian Orthodox Church of America, Washington, D.C.

National Council of Churches Governing Board

The following are members of the 2008-2011 National Council of Churches Governing Board:^[4]

African Methodist Episcopal Church

Bishop John F. White, Sr., Communion Representative
Rev. Dr. Daryl B. Ingram, Chair, Education and Leadership Ministries Commission
Rev. Dr. Marcia Allen Owens, Communion Representative
Rev. Dr. Miriam Burnett, Chair, Justice and Advocacy Commission
Rev. Nicholas Genevieve-Tweed, Chair, Inclusiveness and Justice Committee

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

Rev. William Darin Moore, Communion Representative
Bishop George W.C. Walker, Sr, Communion Representative
Rev. Dr. Raymon E. Hunt, Vice President at Large

Alliance of Baptists in the USA

Paula Clayton Dempsey, Communion Representative

American Baptist Churches USA

Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley, Communion Representative
Dr. Arlee Griffin, Jr., Communion Representative
Rev. Dr. Cheryl H. Wade, Vice President for Administration and Finance

Armenian Church of America

Very Rev. Papken Anoushian, Communion Representative
Most Rev. Vicken Aykazian, President
Mrs. Arpi Kouzouian, Chair, Nominations Committee

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins, Communion Representative
Rev. Dr. Robert K. Welsh, Communion Representative

Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Bishop Ronald M. Cunningham, Communion Representative
Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., Past President
Rev. Dr. Carmichael L. Crutchfield, ELMC Representative

Church of the Brethren

Mr. Stanley J. Noffsinger, Vice President at Large, Communion Representative

Episcopal Church

Rt. Rev. C. Christopher Epting, Communion Representative
Ms. Alice R. Webley, Communion Representative
Bishop Johncy Itty, Vice President (Chair, CWS Board)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Bishop Mark S. Hanson, Communion Representative
Rev. Dr. Donald J. McCoid, Communion Representative
Mr. Dennis Frado, Church World Service Board

Friends United Meeting

Ms. Sylvia L. Graves, Communion Representative

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Most Rev. Archbishop Demetrios Trakatellis, Head of Communion
Rev. Mark Arey, Communion Representative
Dr. Anton C. Vrame, Chair, Faith and Order Commission
Mr. John Paterakis, Church World Service Board
Nikki Stephanopoulos, Communications Commission co-chair

International Council of Community Churches

Rev. Herman Harmelink, III, Communion Representative
Rev. Michael E. Livingston, Immediate Past President

Korean Presbyterian Church in America

Rev. Jacob Se Jang, Communion Representative

Mar Thoma Church

Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius, Communion Representative

Moravian Church in America

Rev. Dr. Hermann I. Weinlick, Communion Representative
Rev. David L. Wickmann, Communion Representative
Rev. Peg Chemberlin, President-Elect

National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.

Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith, Communion Representative

Orthodox Church in America

His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah Primate, Communion Representative
Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, Communion Representative

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

Arthur Larrabee, Communion Representative
Thomas Swain, Communion Representative

Presbyterian Church (USA)

Ms. Linda Valentine, Communion Representative
Rev. Robina Winbush, Communion Representative
Rev. José Luis Casal, Secretary
Rev. Jerry Van Marter, Chair, Communication Commission
Rev. Gradye Parson, Chair, Constitution and Bylaws Committee
Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, Church World Service Board

Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.

Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Smith, Jr., Communion Representative
Mrs. Arlene C. Tyler, Communion Representative

Reformed Church in America

Rev. Douglas W. Fromm, Jr., Communion Representative
Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, Communion Representative
Rev. David P. Baak, Chair, Ecumenical Networks Committee

Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch

His Eminence Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim, Communion Representative

The Swedenborgian Church

Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete, Ecumenical Officer

United Church of Christ

Rev. Geoffrey Black, Head of Communion
Rev. Lydia Veliko, Communion Representative and Chair, Membership & Ecclesial Relations

The United Methodist Church

Dr. Stephen J. Sidorak, Communion Representative
Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader, Communion Representative
Dr. Diana Eck, Chair, Interfaith Relations Commission
Mr. Raul Alegria, Chair, Human Resources Committee

Communication Commission

The following are Communication Commission officers for the term 2008-2011.^[5]

Chair: Jerry Van Marter, Presbyterian Church (USA), Louisville, Kentucky
Vice Chair: Wanda Bryant-Wills, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Indianapolis, Indiana
Secretary: Henry Hess, Christian Reformed Church, Burlington, Ontario
Treasurer: Burton Buller, Mennonite Media, Harrisonburg, Virginia
Delegate to NCC Board: Nikki Stephanopoulos, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, New York, N.Y.

Committee Chairs

Electronic Media Programming: Ava Martin, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Chicago, Illinois
News/Media Relations/WFN: J. Bennett Guess, United Church of Christ, Cleveland, Ohio
Media Advocacy and Education: Lesley Crosson, Church World Service, New York, New York
Marketing and Promotion: Kristi Bangert, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Chicago, Illinois
Web Managers: Dianna Ott, Presbyterian Church (USA), Louisville, Kentucky^[5]

Communication Staff

Wesley M. "Pat" Pattillo, Senior Program Director for Justice, Advocacy and Communication
Philip E. Jenks, Media Specialist
Doris "Dee" Glover, Administrative Assistant, Department of Communication
Shirley Whipple Struchen, Coordinator of Electronic Media Programming
George Conklin, Project Manager for Worldwide Faith News^[5]

Faith and Order Commission

"The Faith and Order Commission affirms the oneness of the Church of Jesus Christ and keeps before the churches the Gospel call to visible unity in one faith and one Eucharist communion, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ, in order that the world may believe."

The following are Faith and Order Commission Members, as of March 22, 2010:^[6]

Commission Chair, Anton C. Vrame, Ph.D. --Director, Department of Religious Education at Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Staff:

Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, Senior Program Director
Sarosh Koshy, Assistant to the Senior Program Director

Interfaith Relations Commission

The following are members of the Interfaith Relations Commission, 2008-2011:^[7]

Rev. Dr. E. Gail Anderson-Holness, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Rev. Dr. Alvin Durant, Rev. Dr. Michael Ellis and Rev. Dr. W. Robert Johnson, III, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
Rev. Williard R. Bass, Alliance of Baptists
Rev. Dr. Paul Eppinger, American Baptist Churches, USA
Mr. Michael Haratunian, Armenian Orthodox Church
Dr. Peter Makari, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) United Church of Christ
Bishop Ronald M. Cunningham Esq. and Juanita Bryant, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Rev. Dr. Larry K. Ulrich, Church of The Brethren
Rev. Dr. Alfred Moss and Rev. Dr. Gwynne Guibord, The Episcopal Church
Dr. Michael Trice and Rev. Michael Shelley, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Dr. Tom Papademetriou, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Rev. Kevin C. Brown, International Council of Community Churches
Fr. A.K. Cherian, Mar Thoma Church
Mrs. Elizabeth R. Zachariah, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
Rev. Dr. Damayanthi Niles, Rev. Dr. Jay T. Rock, and Rev. Nanette Sawyer, Presbyterian Church (USA)
Rev. John M. Hubers, Reformed Church in America
Dr. Michael Birkel, Society of Friends
Mrs. Nicole Diroff and Dr. Eleazar Fernandez, United Church of Christ
Dr. Diana Eck, Mr. Samuel D. Purushotham, and Rev. Dr. Galen Goodwin, United Methodist Church

Invited by The Commission

Rev. Jonathan Barton, Virginia Council of Churches
Rev. David Leslie, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon
Dr. Tony Richie, Church of God Theological Seminary & Society for Pentecostal Studies
Professor Kelton Cobb, Center for Faith in Practice – Hartford Seminary
Fr. Francis Tiso, Secretariat, Ecumenical & Interreligious Affairs US Conference of Catholic Bishops
Dr. Amos Yong, Society of Pentecostal Studies
Mr. Samir Selmanovic, Emergent Village
Dr. Don Thorsen, Wesleyan Theological Society

Interfaith Relations Commission Staff

Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, Senior Program Director for Faith and Order and Interfaith Relations of the National Council of Churches USA, as of March 22, 2010.^[8]

Justice and Advocacy Commission

The following are in the Justice and Advocacy Commission, as of March 22, 2010:^[9]

Wesley M. "Pat" Pattillo, Senior Program Director for Justice and Advocacy and Communication
Rev. Ann Tiemeyer, Director, Women's Ministry Program / Justice for Women
Cassandra Carmichael, Director of the Washington Office and the NCC Eco-Justice Program
Tyler Edgar, Associate Director of the Eco-Justice Program
Jordan Blevins, Assistant Director of Eco-Justice Program and Coordinator of Poverty Initiatives and Washington Internships
NaKeisha Sylver-Blount, Washington Advocacy Officer, Racial Justice/Human Rights
Kevin Williams, Administrative Assistant for the Washington Office

Affiliated Organizations

The Council has been affiliated with the following organizations:

Ground Zero, Nuclear-war alarmism and Soviet sympathizing "public education" group^[10]
Clergy and Laity Concerned, formed by the Council in 1965^[10]
Church World Service
National Council of Churches Philippines (NCCP)

Mildred Jeffrey

Meyerson explains^[11] Mildred Jeffrey's role as an emissary from United Auto Workers leader Walter Reuther to organizations including National Council of Churches, Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Students for a Democratic Society and events and movements such as Earth Day the Civil Rights Movement and the 1963 March on Washington.

By the end of World War II, Millie had become one of a number of extraordinarily talented staffers whom Walter Reuther hired to help him mold the auto workers into the greatest force for social democracy that America has ever known. Under Reuther, the UAW became the anchor tenant in the house of postwar liberalism. Its contracts, and those of the steelworkers,set the standard for the entire manufacturing sector, and for the three decades after World War II, working- class living standards in the United States rose just as steeply as upper-middle class living standards – an equality of economic opportunity that America has experienced only during this period of union strength.

More than that, though, the Reutherites saw it as their duty to bolster newer movements for social equality. They provided political and material assistance to the civil rights movement (it was the UAW that paid for the signs and sound system at the great 1963 March on Washington), for Cesar Chavez’s farm workers, for the campus left in the early ‘60s, for start-up feminist organizations and the first Earth Day. And for several decades, Walter Reuther’s emissary to these groups was Millie Jeffrey.

And so it was that Millie trained activists from the National Council of Churches to lobby for civil rights, introduced the young Jack Kennedy to NAACP leaders, secured UAW support for inner-city community organizing, and obtained the UAW’s campground at Port Huron for the founding meeting of Students for a Democratic Society. In the years before the New Left descended to ultra-left wackiness, there was no better emissary between the generations of ‘30s and ‘60s leftists. In the ‘70s, when many New Leftists began to re-engage reality, Millie was there to ease their reentry.''

External links

References

[0] About

[1] THE UNHOLY ALLlANCE, by C. Gregg Singer

[2] NCC Officers for 2010-2011

[3] National Council of Churches Governing Board

[commun-4] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 Communication Commission officers

[5] Faith and Order Commission

[6] IFR Commission

[7] Interfaith Relations Commission Staff

[8] Justice and Advocacy Commission

[warcalledpeace-9] 10.0 ^10.1 The War Called Peace: Glossary, published 1982

[10] ttp://www.dsausa.org/dl/Spring_2004.pdf

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