Members are the essence of NCC, says new leader

By Linda Bloom*

The Rev. Michael Kinnamon, newly named chief executive of the National Council of Churches, says he will focus on strengthening relationships among its member denominations. UMNS photos by John C. Goodwin.

NEW YORK (UMNS)-Members of the National Council of Churches need to invest in each other as much as they invest in good works.

That's the philosophy of the NCC's new chief executive, the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, and why he plans to focus on the essentials. "The essence of a council of churches is not just what we do, but what we are," he said during a mid-February interview with United Methodist News Service.

The 58-year-old Kinnamon--who started in January but has had a long history with the council--noted that too many people and churches categorize the NCC as a program agency. "If you think of the council that way, it's possible to duck the accountability that goes with membership," he said.

As a way of strengthening relationships, Kinnamon, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister, plans a series of official visitations to member communions. This year, he hopes that a five- or six-person delegation representing various denominations can visit six members. "We've already sent out a letter inviting ourselves," he said.

The council's new president, Archbishop Vicken Azkazian of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), Washington diocese, has an even more ambitious goal. "He's going to visit all 35 of the members during his two-year presidency," Kinnamon said.

United Methodist connections
Although his family roots are Presbyterian and Disciples of Christ, Kinnamon "fell under the spell of the local Methodist minister," the Rev. Paul Dietterich, from the third to seventh grade while living in the small town of Wellman, Iowa. Dietterich, who is now executive director emeritus of the ecumenical Center for Parish Development in Chicago, "was such a profound influence on me," he recalled.

Years later, when he served as a member of the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns from 1988-92, Kinnamon said he "remembered that sense of identity in the United Methodist tradition. I love the preoccupation with grace and the response to it, which feels comfortable to a Disciple."

During his 25 years as a seminary professor--most recently at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis--Kinnamon estimated he often traveled 35 to 40 weeks a year to speak in ecumenical settings. On the local level, he and his wife, the Rev. Katherine Kinnamon, become deeply involved in her congregations.

"The hallmark of my ecumenical work over the years has been the insistence that we are already one," he said, adding that the need to act as the body of Christ--bound to the communal table no matter how great the division--"makes all the difference."

A drafter for the NCC's strategic plan while serving on its governing board, Kinnamon will emphasize the goals set by that plan. In addition to strengthening relations among the member communions through official visits, he hopes the council can "serve as an animator of the ecumenical movement across the country."

That means working with other types of groups, such as state and local councils of churches, which are not formally a part of the NCC, and emphasizing the NCC's historical role in Christian unity.

More integrated work
Another goal is reshaping the program work the council does do to achieve "a more integrated sense of our work together," Kinnamon said. A January meeting that drew together representatives of the NCC's five program commissions for the first time was a step toward that goal, he added. Those commissions cover communications, education and leadership ministries, faith and order, interfaith relations and justice and advocacy.

Kinnamon, who has a doctorate in religion and literature from the University of Chicago Divinity School, believes the council can play a prophetic role in society. Instead of reacting to the world's political and social agenda, the NCC could "help the churches and society envision an alternate form of human community."

For example, the council could build upon its successful minimum wage campaign to demand a "living wage where no one lives in poverty."

The reorganization of NCC staff at the end of last year has brought annual expenses in line with guaranteed revenue, according to Kinnamon, and left the council with a healthy $6 million reserve fund. Maintaining that financial stability is another goal. "I think the money is being used very wisely," he added. "There's a good sense of stewardship here."

While he considers the council's overall health to be good, Kinnamon lamented "the personal toll" caused by the reorganization and said he hopes eventually to recover the NCC's strong emphasis on issues such as racial justice and ecumenical advocacy on Capitol Hill.

Kinnamon also hopes to see progress with Churches Uniting in Christ, another ecumenical movement. He was serving as the chief executive of the Consultation on Church Union when it was transformed into Churches Uniting in Christ in 2002. "I thought we had a lot of momentum," he said, but added that the movement now seems on hold. He was referring to the group's January gathering in St. Louis, where two historically black partner denominations chose not to attend.

In Kinnamon's opinion, what has slowed the development of Churches Uniting in Christ is that the alliance represents a new way of being the church together. "It demands that the churches relate to one another and not rely on an office to do it," he said.

Kinnamon spoke at the group's January plenary. He believes that if the African Methodist Episcopal and African Methodist Episcopal Zion churches are "willing to re-engage" with the other member communions, the movement will be worth continuing, if only as a way of addressing the racial divide in both church and society.

He pointed out that Churches Uniting in Christ is not a membership organization but a covenant that members made to each other before God.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.