Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-01-13

In many cases the nationa
and local representatives of {
denomination occupy the same
building.
The Apostolic Delegation Build
ing at 1899 Massachusetts ave.
nue. NV. and the Methodist
Building. 100 Maryland avenue
NE. were both erected by theil
church bodies.
On the other hand, the
Episcopal Washington Diocesan
House at 1902 Rhode Island ave-
nue. NV. was a gift to the
diocese. The District Of Column
bia Baptist Convention Building
was bought by that group. Office
space is rented by the National
Association of Evangelicals at
1405 G street NV. and by the
Washington City Presbytery
Presbyterian Church. u. s. A.,
1929 Connecticut avenue NV.
Sold by EplScOpalianS
One of the most unusual ad-
miniStrative organizations is in
the District Baptist Convention
Building. This structure, one
time residence of Navy Capt.
John L. Edie. was left by him to
the vestry of an Episcopal
church. The vestry sold the
four-story, 42-room building in
1947 to the local Baptist group.
What makes the set-up unique
is the automatic affiliation of
congregations belonging to the
District Baptist Convention with
the Southern Baptist and Amer
lean Baptist Conventions, two
national bodies independent of
each other. The District Con-
vention is the only State con-
vention whose constituent con-
gregationS belong to both ma
tional bodies at the same time.
The Washington convention
has four major departments
education, missions and evan
gelism. institutions and promo
ton.
Worldwide Clearing House
DR.. NJ. Chandler Stith, District
Convention executive secretary
since 1943. co-ordinates the
varied activities of the church
boards, committees and inStitu-
tions. The convention has 81
churches and eight chapels and
approximately $4,000 members.
The building also serves as
quarters for the Baptist World
Alliance and the Baptist Joint
Committee on Public Affairs.
The former serves as a clearing
house for Baptist denominations
throughout the world.
The Joint Committee on Public
Affairs represents six national
Baptist bodies, including two
colored groups, in Washington.
It's main function is to keep
these churches informed on
events taking place in the Ma
tons Capital and to state his
toric Baptist principles when
issues arise calling for such
action.
Another headquarters devil
ating from the usual is the
Lutheran Church Center. 1888
Sixteenth street NV. This
building, bought in 1854 from
the Kabat-Kaiser Clinic, is op-
Grated Jointly by the National
Lutheran Council and the Lu-
theran Church-Missouri Synod.
Chaplain Service
Three council agencies located
here are the Bureau of Service
to Military Personnel, Chap
laincy Service of the Division of
Welfare, and the Washington
Office of the Division o. Public
Relations.
Missouri Synod has two agen-
cies corresponding to the three
named above. They are the
Armed Services Commission
dealing with both military chap
lains and institutional chap.aIrs
and the Washington Office of
Public Relations.
Another agency, Lutheran
Service Commission. is a io,nt
council and Missouri Synod ven
ture. The commission Operates
service centers for armed forces
personnel. The United Lutheran
Church in America, largest Lu-
theran denomination. has it's
board of higher education here.
The only local agency, Luth-
eran Inner Mission Society.
serves Lutheran needs in the
washington area.
50 Million Members
The National Council of
Churches, representing 80 Prot
estant and Eastern Orthodox
communions having 35 million
members, established its Wash
ington Office at 122 MARYLAND
avenue NE, in 1853. Since then
the Office has served as a center
OF information concerning Con-
gressional legislation; provided a
news service on this legislation.
judicial decisions and admin
istrative actions, and established
itself as a medium for the
transmission of information to
Government officials and agen-
cies regarding church bodies and
their interests"
The National Association of
Evangelicals here serves the as
ISOLATION as its Washington
Office and is the headquarters of
the Evangelical Foreign Mis-
sions Association. The latter,
started in 1914, represents Al
mission agencies having 1000
missionaries in over 100 coun-
tries.
1T is the only evangelical
agency established in the United
States having both denomina-
tional and mathematician
boards as members DR.. Clyde
w. Taylor. executive secretary. I
explained. THE Association isL