Mannoia says he stepped down at the urging of NAE's executive committee. "I wouldn't have done this if I didn't sense that this is what the committee wanted," he told Christianity Today.

Founded in 1942, NAE has more than 50 Protestant denominations as members, encompassing 43,000 individual congregations. In addition, about 250 parachurch ministries and schools are members.

NAE has recently undergone two dramatic changes—relocating from Carol Stream, Illinois, to Azusa, California (near Los Angeles), and voting in March 2000 that organizations may hold dual membership with the National Council of Churches, the mainline ecumenical body with a liberal reputation.

Mannoia, 45, has said he wanted to change the organization's identity, moving it from an alternative to theological liberalism to an encourager of churches to transform communities. NAE's conciliatory stance toward the NCC sparked controversy among NAE supporters. While Mannoia said the changes would encourage more ethnic diversity, some NAE supporters remained concerned. National Religious Broadcasters broke long-standing ties with NAE in the spring partly because of such concerns.

Billy Melvin, NAE's president from 1966 to 1994, has been critical of Mannoia's point of view. "If it is possible for a denomination to have membership in both the NAE and NCC, then that indicates there is no difference between the organizations," he said.

Melvin disapproves of the NCC's interaction with the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, an association of 300 ...