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NCC Names New Presidents
Submitted by Matt Costella on Nov, 17, 2011
The National Council of Churches (NCC) in the USA has elected a new president. Kathryn Mary Lohre, Director of Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations in the Office of the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), was installed as the 26th President of the NCC on November 9 at the NCC’s headquarters in Chicago, IL. The governing board also elected Roy Medley, the general secretary of the American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) as president-elect to follow Lohre’s two-year term.
Lohre, the first Lutheran and ELCA member to serve as president of the NCC, was assistant director of the Pluralism Project at Harvard from 2005 to 2011, serving with project director Dr. Diana Eck, a member of the NCC Governing Board and chair of the NCC's Interfaith Relations Commission. In addition, Lohre is a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Lohre said her NCC presidency is a good opportunity for the ELCA because it will "visibly demonstrate [the ELCA’s] commitment to the ecumenical vision, as well as its commitment to lifelong ecumenical formation, leadership development and women's leadership" (ELCA News Service, 11-9-11).
Medley, who will become NCC president following Lohre’s two-year term, is the third American Baptist chosen as the NCC president in the NCC’s 61-year history. Ruth Clark, the president-elect of the ABCUSA, said concerning Medley’s election as NCC president, “Roy’s ongoing efforts to find ways for the American Baptist Churches to walk beside other groups in partnership for the Kingdom are a model for cooperation rather than competition.” She continued, “American Baptists have led in the Baptist-Muslim dialogue under his encouragement. Our congratulations to Dr. Medley and the NCC” (American Baptist News Service, 11-10-11).
The NCC was established in 1950 and continues to be the mouthpiece for liberalism and ecumenical witness of mainline and evangelical churches in the United States. The NCC boasts 37 “member communions” that consist of over 100,000 congregations in the United States.