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General
Assembly
Who's Who: NCC Governing Board The NCC's Officers CWS Board of Directors
NCC Program
Commissions:
CWS Programs
Staff and
Organization: |
General Assembly Registration Form Highlights of the 2008 General Assembly Preparing for the General Assembly
Every November, delegates from the National Council of Churches USA and Church World Service gather in General Assembly for worship, celebration and fellowship, study of major faith issues, and to discuss and adopt policies, resolutions and statements. For example, the 2007 General Assembly in Woodbridge, N.J., approved the "Social Creed for the 21st Century" that had been approved by the Governing Board in the previous September. In 1908 the NCC's predecessor, the Federal Council of Churches, adopted a social creed that addressed issues of the early twentieth century, such as industrialization. The churches in the last century pledged "to work together for a better, fairer and more faithful United States." The 2007 Assembly unanimously passed a statement reaffirming the NCC's commitment to peace in the Middle East. The statement is an update of the NCC's 1980 Middle East policy that was written in a more hopeful period after the Camp David Peace accords signed by Egypt President Anwar Sadat and Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The updated statement calls for "responsible public discourse" about Middle East issues and a focus on issues related to the Israel-Palestine conflict. It also expresses concern for the drop in the number of Christians in the Middle East, and calls for interfaith sensitivities "devoid of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. The 2007 General Assembly also urged the U.S. House of Representatives to pass legislation recognizing the slaughter of Armenians in 1915 as a genocide and received a report card from its Special Commission on the Just Rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. All the report card handed out a dozen "Fs," Mississippi earned the report card's highest marks, two "Bs," for its work in ensuring environmental safety and functional schools after Hurricane Katrina.The photos below, provided by Kathleen Cameron, are from earlier assemblies.
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The
theme of the 2008 General Assembly focuses on the words of Jesus, a
response to his disciple's complaints about a man they didn't know
who was casting our demons in Jesus' name. The words invoke the
brokenness of a world in which suspicion and distrust govern our
relationships and create obstacles to church unity. Topics planned
for discussion at the General Assembly raise questions about our
obligation to be good neighbors: immigration reform, the
meaning of Christian unity in a pluralistic era and the "phobias"
that stand in the way of ecumenical unity, racial justice, and
interfaith dialogue. 
