Evening star., 1950-11-19

American pTOGeSCdIlIlSm WILL
mark another major milepost in
its history with formation of the
National Council of the Churches
of Christ in the U. S. A. on No
vember % at Cleveland.
An outpouring of 1900 official
delegates and of more than 5000
visiting delegates, more by far
than witnessed the birth of the
World Council of Churches two
years ago in Amsterdam, Holland,
will jam the lake city for the his
toric event.
The official delegates will repre-
sent 20 communions, Is Protestant
and four Eastern Orthodox, having
100000 churches and 31,183, ,227
communicate members. Repre-
senting approximately 80 per cent
of Protestant and Eastern Ortho-
dox church membership in the
United States, they will create "a
new national cooperative agency
designed to give added power and
effectiveness to the Christian
forces in American life"
Great Merger
Most church leaders consider
the constituting convention, No
vember 28-December 8, as "the
most important gathering of non-
Roman Christians in the history
of the American church" The
Right Rev. Henry Knox Sheriff..
presiding bishop of the Episcopal
church, views the national coun-
Gil as proof of the great underly-
ing spirit of cooperation among
the churches and a promise that
in action together we will face
the great issues and opportunities
of our time"
What then, will the National
Council of Churches be? OF what
will it consist? How will it op-
crate? What are its aims? And
OF almost equal Importance, what
will the council not be.
The national council is a
merging of eight national inter-
denominational service agencies
now operating separately. They
are the Federal Council of
Churches, Foreign Missions Con-
ference of North America, Home
Missions Council of North. Amer
lea, International Council Of Re-
ligious Education, Missionary Ed
Ecation Movement of the United
States and Canada, National
Protestant Council on Higher Ed
ucation, United Council Of
Church Women and United Stew
ardship Council. When the Ma
tional Council comes into being,
these agencies will cease to ex-
ist and their functions will be
taken over by the new body.
Their functions are as follows:
The Federal Council of Churches,
organized 1908, is a federation Of
% Protestant and four Eastern
Orthodox national church bodies
cooperating in evangelism, social
service and work advancing
Christian influence upon all hu-
man relations.
The Foreign Missions Confer
ence Of N. A., 1898, embraces so
denominational foreign boards to
help needy peoples overseas.
Thirty seven home mission
boards, active in such areas
as migrant workers, rural life and
race relations, form the Home
Missions Council, 1908.
Oldest of these agencies, the
International Council of Religious
Education, 1872, unites 40 de-
nominational boards of Christian
education in leadership, educa-
tional evangelism and Sunday,
weekday and vacation school pro-
grams.
Two Groups Missing
The Missionary Education Move
ment of the United States and
Canada, 1902, unites various boards
of % denominations in training
leaders and in publishing books,
pamphlets, maps and teaching
aids on the church's mission in
North America and overseas. The
National Protestant Council on
Higher Education, 1911, repre-
sents 26 denominational boards
concerned with church-reguleted
colleges, Christian student work,
ministerial training and Christian
education on campus.
Twenty-eight communions form
the United Stewardship Council,
1920, for the promotion of Chris
tian stewardship. The United