Ecumenism: New and Old Issues Alike Fuel the Fires of NAE

A year after forming its seven-point statement of faith in 1943, the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) met in Columbus, Ohio. It was at that convention, 45 years ago, that the fledgling organization took steps to establish an affiliate, the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), which has become the largest group representing Christian broadcasters. Last month the NAE, which now represents 50,000 churches (with a total of five million members), returned to Columbus for its forty-seventh annual meeting around the theme “Revive Your Church, O Lord.”

Much of the discussion at this year’s meeting focused on a problem unheard of four decades ago: AIDS. It was the topic of a major open forum and a missions workshop. It was mentioned also in several major conference addresses as an opportunity for Christians to witness to their faith.

Taking Stands

Some of the problems addressed by the body, however, were more traditional. The NAE passed a resolution, for example, calling for legislation to ban alcohol advertising and urging support for “organizations which are against alcohol use and abuse.”

Approval of the resolution was overwhelming, despite the objection of a member of the Christian Reformed Church who noted that many Christians, particularly those from a European tradition, “have learned to praise God for the fruit of the vine.” Don Argue, head of the NAE resolutions committee, noted after the vote, “I would interpret the feeling of the body as [favoring] abstinence.”

In another action, the NAE, in keeping with the conference theme, resolved to “address the challenge for a revived church.” Additional resolutions dealt with child care, persecuted Soviet believers, and persons with disabilities.

The resolution on child care stated that the government “should leave to parents the choice of how to care for their children,” that it “should concentrate any child-care assistance in the form of tax credits to lower-income families with younger children,” and that it “should not establish credentials or guidelines for the provision of child care that would favor secularized child care.”

The NAE called on the evangelical community “to provide a generous and enthusiastic response” to Christians fleeing the Soviet Union. It also urged member churches and other believers to welcome disabled people into the life of the church, including the removal of physical and social barriers. A proposed amendment urging the advocacy of disabled persons as “full participants in society” was rejected.

Operation Rescue Considered

An afternoon session on civil disobedience provided considerable opportunity for open exchange. The session addressed antiabortion tactics embraced by the organization Operation Rescue, which portrays its efforts to block abortion clinic entrances not as civil disobedience but as obedience to God’s higher law.

Main speaker Harold O. J. Brown, professor of theology and ethics at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, observed that the current “political, social, and moral situation is pushing increasing numbers of Christians to reject the moral authority of the state and to engage in something between docile submission and active rebellion.”

Brown concluded that the rescue movement is “biblically justified” inasmuch as it does not violate the commandments of God, the principles of natural law, or the central criminal statutes of the state. He said he hoped for a better solution to the abortion problem than civil disobedience, adding, “But 16 years and 22 million infant deaths is a long time to wait.”

In her response to Brown’s address, Louisa Rucker, executive director of the National Organization of Episcopals for Life, expressed concern that, given the battle lines drawn by Operation Rescue, a “message of loving help to women with difficult pregnancies is being eclipsed.” Rucker noted that according to a Harris poll, 68 percent of Americans oppose unrestricted abortion. Given this, she said, believers ought to consider demonstrating their “commitment to the sanctity, dignity, and value of life not by blocking doors but through opening them.”

Also in response to Brown, Pittsburgh pastor Keith Tucci, who is active in Operation Rescue, stressed the need for action as opposed to “more or mere rhetoric.” Said Tucci, “To say you love me but will not physically intervene to save my life because you’re not led to do so is the sin of the priests and Levites.” At the conclusion of the session, NAE president John White noted that the organization’s prolife commitment is clear; White urged individuals to wrestle with how to carry out such a commitment.

Challenges From The President

White suggested in his presidential report that he would like to see some progress on the part of the organization in certain areas. “I’m concerned about our relationship to the black church,” he said, “and [also about] the perception that we’ve sold our soul to the Republican party.”

In an interview, he said he would like to have seen a resolution condemning racism come out of this year’s convention, given the rise of such racially motivated groups as the Skinheads, and the recent election of a former Ku Klux Klan member to the Louisiana legislature. White suggested that the selection of Ohio Congressman Tony Hall, a Democrat, as the NAE’s “layperson of the year” was, in part, an attempt to broaden the organization politically.

White said the NAE’s “driving passion” ought to be its attempt to express visibly its unity in Jesus Christ. He said this commitment to unity should not ignore theological truth, but urged a more compassionate and open response among evangelicals to Christians represented by the National Council of Churches (NCC), currently beset by major financial and organizational problems. NAE policy prohibits its members from belonging to the NCC. White called for “creatively aggressive advances” to bring believers into the NAE fold.

By Randy Frame, in Columbus, Ohio.

NAE Excerpts

“Some leaders say we are in a great revival right now. If we are, … I ask where are the tears? What’s happening to the intense spirit of conviction that always marks such things? Why are the converts coming in trickles instead of waves upon waves?… How come all the marriage breakups, even among the clergy? We are not in revival, although we may be much closer to its possibility than we realize.”

—David Mains of the “Chapel of the Air” radio program, the biblical keynoter at this year’s NAE meeting.

“God has allowed the world to arise and judge us.… The world will not tolerate us making money out of preaching the gospel. We are judged, and so the cost of the house, the place we live—all of that—is being watched.… And God knows it ought to be watched.”

—David Seamands, professor of pastoral ministry at Asbury Theological Seminary and featured speaker at an NAE evening session.

“Men and women professionals who otherwise are rational, thoughtful people, when confronted with the issue of AIDS, suddenly become irrational.”

—Richard Crespo, director of health training resources for MAP International, addressing Christians’ unreasonable fears about AIDS at an NAE workshop.

“In our days of organization, … of long-range planning, … of seminars one after another, it is very easy for us to forget that the church was God’s idea, that it was not formed by an ad hoc committee.”

—Paul Cedar, senior pastor of Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena, California, and featured speaker at an NAE evening session.

“I worked real hard this past year to try to school [NAE president John White] on our various denominations. I feel like an utter failure. When we recognized the two groups that joined today, [White] referred to one group as ‘Independent Baptist.’ Now as a lifelong Baptist, Mr. President, I want to tell you that to use the word independent when you use the word Baptist is needless repetition.”

—NAE executive director Billy Melvin.

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