Citing the need for fiscal responsibility in the face of projected $1.2 million budget shortfalls for the current and subsequent fiscal years, the governing board of the National Council of Churches, meeting Sept. 25 in New York, announced significant budget cuts and a sweeping staffing restructure.

Fourteen professional staff positions, including two deputy general secretaries and six associate general secretaries and the professional program positions reporting to them, will be eliminated on Dec. 1. 

The Rev. Michael Livingston, president of the NCC, acknowledged the cuts are "deep and painful" especially given the "extraordinary professionalism and dedication of our staff."

"But," Livingston said, "we are committed to operating within budgetary parameters that are realistic. This plan moves us forward toward long-term sustainability so that the important ecumenical witness of the Council can continue well into the future."

While the NCC's 35 member communions, including the UCC, have not backed away from their support of the NCC's mission, the action was deemed necessary because of the obvious diminishing capacity among member churches to sustain the organization as they have in the past.

The Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, called the budget reductions and resulting staff cuts "painful but necessary."

"While the Council has been able to engage in new ministries over recent years because of a number of grants received, support from the member churches has declined," said Thomas, one of several UCC representatives on the NCC governing board. "It became clear that current expenditures were exceeding revenue to an irresponsible degree and that the long term viability of the Council and its core programs required immediate action."

The changes at the NCC come on the heels of the departure of the Rev. Robert Edgar, NCC's general secretary since January 2000, who stepped down in May to become president of Common Cause.

Thomas said he is grateful for the leadership of the NCC's acting general secretary, Claire Chapman, and its president, the Rev. Michael Livingston, "who have lead us in capable and faithful ways through this painful process."

The new structure leaves in place the five commissions that form the basis of the NCC's programmatic work. Those commissions include ecumenical and interfaith relations, justice and advocacy, communication, education and issues of faith and order. However, the plan calls for eliminating all the staff positions that support the five commissions, along with the NCC's research and planning office.

Oversight of this work will now fall to four newly created positions.

The governing board conceded that the announcement will mean a reduction in the NCC's scope and breadth. However, confidence was also expressed by some members that this moment represents an opportunity to reconisider how the NCC commissions do their work.

"This new configuration embodies the principles of the strategic plan and creates a more nimble structure for the Council to be responsive to God's unfolding history in the 21st century," said the acting general secretary.

Read the NCC's press release.