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Resources for Ministry & Mission

NCC Brochures
- Download information about the NCC for your area, congregation or group.

Education and Leadership
- ELMC prayer this month

- An NCC resolution on the U.S. responsibility to protect the weak
'Honor the Legacy' Campaign Asks Rededication to Geneva Conventions, International Law
- Report of Human Genetics Policy Development Committee
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Download the Family Values Resource here.
- Interfaith Relations Newsletter for
September 2007
- 'Denying Muslims rights not a religious value,' by David J. Lull
 
NCC Eco-Justice Newsletter
- God's Earth is Sacred
Rooted in God's Word & Lands
Protect God's Gift of Water
Other Eco-Justice resources
 
- Let Justice Roll: Faith and Community Voices Against Poverty
- New NCC Study Guide on Millennium Goals:, 'Eradicating Global Poverty'
- 'Love for the Poor' booklet
- Cover the Uninsured Week
- Index to Ecumenical Resources for Welfare Reform
- Web site of the NCC Special Commission on the Just Rebuilding of the Gulf Coast
- Choices facing families in poverty, a reality check from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
 
- 'Speaking of Unity' ecumenical journal of Faith & Order Commission
- 'American-Born Churches and Ancient Faith' -- new Faith & Order book
- 'Gather Heart,' an online community sharing prophetic sermon preparation
- November 2006 issue of EcuLink, NCC's newspaper: now online
 
Faith and Order
- Faith and Order Commission Response to 'Petrine Ministry: A Working Draft'
- 'Toward the Common Confession of Apostolic Faith Today' (bibliography)
- Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
- An Ecumenical Celebration of the Word: Prayer for Unity
 
- The NCC and Racial Justice
- Resources for Special Days in the Black Church
- 2005 CBS-TV Christmas Special featuring NCC President Thomas Hoyt and CME Church available on DVD
- Annotated Bibliography of Africentric Resources. Order by phone at (212) 870-2151 or e-mail btilley@ncccusa.org
 
'For the Peace of the World': new NCC curriculum for churches
- Toward a Theology of Non-Proliferation, by Antonios Kireopoulos
- 'Faith Seeking Peace', a study guide from WAND Education Fund
- Peaceful Ends Through Peaceful Means: A Witness for Peace in Israel and Palestine
- Prayers for Middle East Peace
- Religions for Peace U.S.A.
- Church Folks for a Better America, a peacemaking website from Princeton
- Resources on the Sudan Crisis
- Online Bibliography from the Institute for Theology and Peace, Hamburg, Germany.
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A World at War and Christian Peacemaking, by Antonios Kireopoulos
 
- Special Commission for the Just Rebuilding of the Gulf Coast
AsiaTsunami Bulletin Insert (Easter)
- Church Response Guidelines
- Church World Service Updates
- Worship and Prayer Resources
- Connecting with Asian Immigrants
 
- Make a gift to the NCC
- Ask, Thank, Tell, Improving Stewardship Ministry in Your Congregations, by Charles Lane
- Resources for Ecumenical Decade to Overcome Violence
- 'Violence, Moral Darkness and Peacemaking' (a bibliography)
- "Peacemaking Begins at Home" Nonviolent Conflict Resolution for Families

Celebrating the special moments and special leaders who brought us together.
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The summer of the bomb: churches spoke
Sixty-three years ago this summer, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan "to end the agony" of the Second World War. U.S. churches, stunned like everyone else that such awesome power had been unleashed for destruction, lost little time in assessing the moral significance of the bomb – both in 1945 and in the future. The general secretary of the Federal Council of Churches ( who became the first general secretary of the NCC in 1950) summarized the churches' reaction in a telex to President Truman. The bomb "sets extremely dangerous precedent for future of mankind," wrote Samuel McCrae Cavert, echoing the sentiments of church leaders like Presbyterian John Foster Dulles, later U.S. Secretary of State. An unrepentant Truman fired back: "When you have to deal with a beast you have to treat him as a beast." This August 6 and 9, billions of people of faith will remember the awful destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the U.S., the member communions of the National Council of Churches will note that the historic efforts to ban the bomb began with them. More.

NCC, CWS plan 2008 General Assembly in Denver
Plans are underway for the annual NCC/CWS General Assembly in Denver November 11-13. The theme of the 2008 General Assembly is, "Jesus Said ... Whoever is Not Against You is For You," from Luke 9:50. Registration and hotel information forms may be downloaded from the General Assembly Web site. The registration fee is $250 until September 29, when the price goes up to $275. More.

Poll on race affirms need for 'sacred conversations'
A recent New York Times/CBS News poll revealing deep national divisions along racial lines is an urgent reminder of the need for “sacred conversations on race,” NCC General Secretary Michael Kinnamon said. The poll indicated that a large majority of African Americans – nearly 60 percent – believe race relations in the United States are “generally bad," and 40 percent said discrimination was as bad as ever. More

A call to prayer for all NCC member communions
NCC President Archbishop Vicken Aykazian and  General Secretary Michael Kinnamon have written to the member communions, inviting their congregations/parishes to engage in prayer and fellowship with other NCC-related churches. Resources for this time of common prayer – recognizing that the churches also have a rich store of materials that could be used for such gatherings – are linked
here.

Church councils minister creatively to immigrants
Compelled by faith to welcome all people as neighbors, church people have developed creative and effective immigrations ministries. Across the country, city and state councils of churches are welcoming additional ideas to enhance their support of neighbors who are sometimes dismissed as 'aliens.'  For an overview of their work – and ideas for ministries in your own neighborhood – look here.

Sterling Cary: racism is still 'a huge problem' in U.S.
The Rev. Dr. William Sterling Cary, a retired United Church of Christ minister who was NCC president from 1972 to 1975, recently looked back on his years as an ecumenical and civil rights leader, and ahead to the future of ecumenism and American society. He expressed a fear that the rhetoric of the current presidential campaign may obscure the racism that continues in the United States.
Read more.

NCC Eco-Justice honors 'Green Churches' in U.S.
The Manassas Church of the Brethren is passing along the values of Creation Care to the next generation of people of faith, while St. Marks Presbyterian Church was named the Audubon Society’s “Greenest in the Nation." These are just two examples of winners of the Great Green Congregations contest sponsored by the Eco-Justice Program of the National Council of Churches and launched last May. More.

Decision 2008: principles for casting a Christian vote
Christians will have strong opinions on the issues of Campaign '08 but amid the clamor it's helpful to keep focused on views compelled by our relationship to Christ and to one another. The NCC has reissued "Christian Principles in an Election Year," a helpful Christian lens for examining the issues. The principles can be found here, and can be downloaded for bulletin inserts here.

Iraq bishop: remember the Christians of Iraq
A prominent Christian leader in Iraq has lamented that few Americans are aware of the Christian presence in Iraq.
"It is important for the Christian world to take this factor into account," said Archbishop Avak Asadourian, Ph.D., Primate of the Armenian Church of Iraq, during a June 12 meeting with ecumenical leaders here in The Interchurch Center. The meeting was hosted by the NCC.  More.

Churches receive NCC delegations with warmth
Hospitality, openness and a common commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ were abundantly evident in Church-to-Church visits to two member communions conducted by National Council of Churches (NCC) delegations. Both primates (Diocese of the Armenian Church of America - Eastern, and the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch), welcomed the delegations warmly. More.

'Pray Without Ceasing' - Kinnamon keynote address
In a recent keynote address to the National Workshop on Christian Unity, the NCC General Secretary committed the Council to be "both a forum in which conflicting perspectives meet in dialogue and a body that boldly declares the gospel’s partisanship on behalf of the excluded and oppressed." Michael Kinnamon's analysis of the ecumenical future is printed here.

NCC Women's Ministries offer electioneering guides
Your congregation can make your voice heard during this election year with the assistance of  In Times of Great Decision: How Congregations Can Take Part in Legal, Non-Partisan Election Activities, and Faith Seeking Peace, new resources developed by WAND Educational Fund for people of faith and available through NCC Women's Ministries and the Justice for Women Working Group. More.

NCC resource relates poverty and climate change
This Earth Day, the NCC Eco-Justice Programs are marking Earth Day Sunday (the Sunday closest to Earth Day, which is April 22) by recognizing the interconnectedness of poverty and climate change and offering a resource for worship, adult study, and youth activities. Water scarcity, drought, crop failure, increased disease, and flooding are just a few of the impacts. More

NCC: all Christians can embrace encyclical on hope Pope Benedict's encyclical, Spe Salvi, addresses important truths for Christians in and outside the Roman Catholic Church, said Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, the NCC’s newly elected Senior Program Director for Faith & Order and Interfaith Relations. The encyclical asserts that basic Christian beliefs have been obscured by modern developments. More.

2008 Yearbook: church health ministries abound
The nation's largest study of church health ministries shows a remarkably wide range of services provided by churches, reports the 2008 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches. The venerable yearbook is widely regarded as the most reliable source of church membership and growth trends reports on the membership statistics and histories of 224 national church bodies.
More

Fond farewells to ones who helped along the way
The ecumenical family is richly diverse and populated with sisters and brothers whose lives were models of faith, fortitude and courage. Some made powerful impacts on the world stage while others lived out God's call in humbler settings. All of them, when they are gone, leave an enormous void. In this page we pause to remember some of them with gratitude and love. More


NCC Health Task Force endorses policy reform effort
The newly formed NCC Health Task Force has joined with AARP and others in promoting a campaign to urge all Americans to seek policies that will better address the unmet needs of the poor and those who lack adequate health care coverage. The NCC recently completed a study in which more than 6000 congregations reported their own health ministries. More.

Survey: churches give high priority to health care
A groundbreaking survey reveals that churches spend a significant amount of time, energy and money in the ministries of health care. The Congregational Health Ministry Survey, conducted by the NCC with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shows that a majority of churches are ministering to their communities by providing health care ministries. More.


NCC specials from Friendship Press

Eradicating Global Poverty
Eradicating Global Poverty, A Christian Study Guide on the Millennium Development Goals
, written by Lallie Lloyd, is available now from Friendship Press for $7.95 each. This is a compelling and possibly life-changing guide for church schools and other study groups. Ordering information

 

For the Peace of the World
This 87-page book, edited by Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, the National Council of Churches’ Senior Program Director for Faith and Order and Interfaith Relations, examines the issue of peace and international relationships with essays, Bible studies, prayers, litanies and other worship resources. Ordering information
 


Other National Council of Churches headlines
- Father Walter Burghardt, influential Jesuit theologian, is dead at 93
- Mennonite editor chairs ecumenical curriculum series
- Krister Stendahl dies; a promoter of ecumenism
- The First Lady of Positive Thinking is dead at 101.
- Archbishop Christodoulos of Greece is dead
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General Assembly sets directions for 2008-2011 quadrennium
- NCC leaders express dismay at assassination of Bhutto

- October 2007 was established as 'domestic violence month'
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Faith Community to Congress: Sow Justice
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Abolish Genocide alliance is formed in New York
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Tony Kireopoulos: time for a change of mind in Iraq
- Clare J. Chapman is acting general secretary of the NCC.
- Claire Randall, former NCC general secretary, dies at 91
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Tony Kireopoulos' work for Darfur featured in national magazine

- NCC slide shows of recent events and programs

Index of the 25 most recent NCC press releases


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