In mid-June of 1996, the National Council of Churches (NCC) launched a national rebuilding
project to assist in the rebuilding of burned churches. A dedicated team of consultants from the
NCC developed a comprehensive plan and process to distribute the many resources amassed
though a broad appeal. The functions of the Church Rebuilding Project Team include a wide
variety of technical assistance and building services, coordination of volunteer participation, and
the matching of partner organizations and denominations to congregations struggling to rebuild
their sanctuaries. In addition to a very detailed assessment process, the team conducts and
coordinates the fair, equitable and efficient distribution of donated resources (in-kind) including
church furniture, other furnishings, supplies and accessories, building materials/supplies and the
screening and allocation of cash grants.
From June 1996 to July 1997, the Church Rebuilding Team reviewed 124 churches in total (of
which 21 were referred to the second phase of the rebuilding process that started July 1st of
1997). The team assisted a total of 87 of these churches in Phase 1 with cash, in-kind goods,
volunteers or technical assistance of some kind. Of those 87, we actually assisted 65 to rebuild.
Thirty have been completed to date; the others are currently in process of being rebuilt. The other
churches in Phase 1 were assisted in various ways: to purchase new facilities, or to receive
temporary/module buildings, in-kind resources, volunteers only or debt reduction.
During Phase 1, the Church Rebuilding Project was actively responsible for providing volunteers to 48 churches, matched 32 with partner organizations and denominations and coordinated the participation of over 8,000 volunteers. Volunteer efforts represented approximately $960,000 in cash value.
July lst the Church Rebuilding Project Team initiated Phase 2 of the rebuilding process and to
date we have 126 churches on our list. As of mid-November we had completed approximately a
third of those assessments and are recommending 19 houses of worship to the grants committee
for cash allocations totaling $470,000 dollars.
Return to
the NCCC's Main Page