Greetings to you as we embark on this last year of the second millennium. Yes, I know. Perhaps there’s been too much made of the millennium. It’s spawned a commercial craze, as well as Y2K worries. And then came the news that Israel deported members of a Denver-based group thought to be a "doomsday sect" that wishes to hasten the second coming with acts of violence.

In fact, members of the ecumenical family, by and large, have been turned off by millennial hoopla, in spite of the fact that the world is observing a moment that is counted by the Christian calendar.

Recently, the National Council of Churches Communication Commission heard from a scholar of medieval times, including the Year 1000, who pointedly told us that our member communions "are downplaying the date." This scholar, Richard Landes, who has founded the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University, reminded us that while the millennial moment has its dangers, it also "mobilizes some of the most noble, generous and spiritual sentiments know to humankind" and kindles the human imagination in way that "offer some of the most extraordinary conditions for affecting broad-based social change." As a Jew, who was part of an interfaith panel that addressed the Communication Commission, Dr. Landes challenged us to "use the time between now and 2033 to help transform our world into a sustainable assembly of communities that can usher us through the next millennium of our life on this planet."

So, perhaps we are not enraptured by the millennium, so to speak, but we do have our passions, rooted in our faith. And I believe Dr. Landes has spoken to our deep commitment to serve and preserve the world that God so loved. I hear an echo of Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of the beloved community. One of the key ways that we work toward that community is through our public policy witness, seeking to affect the policies that shape our powerful nation and its role in the world.

What more fitting way then, for the ecumenical community to have begun its "countdown" toward the Year 2000 than to consider its public policy priorities at a National Religious Leadership conference on Public Policy Ministries in Washington, D.C., January 13-15. Eighty church leaders gathered at the conference, representing 20 communions and every unit of the Council. They included two heads of communion: The Rt. Rev. Dr. Zacharias Mar Theophilus of the Mar Thoma Church, one of our newest member communions, and Bishop Nathaniel Linsey of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

They wrestled with issues in the true spirit of ecumenism, seeking to discern priorities for our public policy witness to recommend to our officers and the February meeting of the NCC’s Executive Board, which in turn endorsed them. These issues can draw our member communions into a common public policy witness locally, regionally and nationally. They will focus the work of the NCC Washington Office in facilitating the ecumenical witness of our churches. Indeed, the six priorities rose to the top during our debate because they reflect important commitments long affirmed and shared by our member communions in their own lives.

At this millennial moment, it is fitting that our top priorities include the Jubilee 2000 campaign to eradicate unsustainable debt of impoverished countries by 2000. This has national implications as well as the obvious international ones; it is a priority both of the National and the World Council of churches; and it aims for momentous changes that, if enacted, could have a ripple effect touching almost every citizen of the planet in a positive way.

The other priorities are:

	Social Security issues. Among factors propelling Social Security to the top of our list is the fact that it is the most effective tool we have in preventing poverty. Also, given women’s longevity, the stability of this system greatly affects justice for women.
	Immigration and refugee advocacy. Extensive experience of the NCC and member communions in assisting uprooted people convinces us that only by combining service and advocacy can we truly "welcome the stranger." Provision for granting asylum is likely to be a top legislative issue this year.
	Environmental issues. We will build on strong interfaith programs on the environment of which we are a part. Advocacy efforts especially can benefit as we work with Catholic, Evangelical and Jewish partners.
	Poverty. While poverty is a dimension of all the issues named here, we mean to pursue a set of social welfare issues that traditionally have been strong concerns. These include food stamps, minimum wage, child card health card, housing, and the like.
	Public education. Discussion at the 1998 NCC General Assembly revitalized our public policy work on education, an historic ecumenical concern. We are more committed than ever to the goal of a quality education for every public school child in this nation.

Ecumenical bodies, by their very inclusive nature, have difficulty making firm priorities. Yet focus is necessary to make an impact in Washington. I would ask you to bear in mind that we will continue to work on religious liberty, affirmative action,, reduction in military spending and other important issues, even as we devote major efforts to our priority concerns.

The high level of energy and commitment demonstrated at this leadership conference generated some exciting ideas for advancing our agenda. For example, participants affirmed an approach geared to Campaign 2000 that would ask all political parties to engage these six issues as they write their platforms. With his ambassadorial skills and great knowledge of government, our President-Elect Andrew Young would make an excellent liaison to political leaders in our nonpartisan campaign on the issues.

While this leadership conference was the third we have convened, it is the first since we consolidated the public policy efforts of the Council into one office. Conference participants reaffirmed the wisdom of strengthening our presence in Washington in this way. We are now well prepared to make a strong public policy witness in this millennial moment and we invite your participation.

1999

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