The National Council of Churches

Since 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) has served as a leading voice of witness to the living Christ.  NCC unifies a diverse covenant community of 37 member communions and over 30 million individuals –100,000 congregations from Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African-American, and Living Peace traditions – in a common commitment to advocate and represent God’s love and promise of unity in our public square.  NCC partners with secular and interfaith partners to advance a shared agenda of peace, progress, and positive change.

Mission:

The mission of the NCC is to live as a community of communions called by Christ to visible unity and sent forth in the Spirit to promote God’s justice, peace and the healing of the world.

This purpose is served as the communions, striving to express unity by living together as the Council:

1. Further their vocation to proclaim Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord;
2. Engage in ecumenical worship and in biblical and theological study;
3. Challenge and counsel one another in mutual accountability as a witness to the unity of the Church;
4. Share resources for unity and mission;
5. Strive for peace and justice in the social, political and economic order;
6. Practice and advocate careful stewardship of God’s creation;
7. Act as responsible servants to people in need;
8. Foster education about and for ecumenism and engage in all educational efforts from an ecumenical perspective;
9. Nurture ecumenical life through relationships with: local, regional, national and world ecumenical bodies, and groups and movements of Christians seeking renewal and unity;
10. Cultivate relationships and dialogue with people of other faiths and ideologies;
11. Evidence their commitment to racial, gender and economic justice as well as in disability and generational concerns.

Statement of Faith

“The National Council of Churches is a community of Christian communions, which, in response to the gospel as revealed in the Scriptures, confess Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, as Savior and Lord.

These communions covenant with one another to manifest ever more fully the unity of the Church.

Relying upon the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, the communions come together as the Council in common mission, serving in all creation to the glory of God.”

This statement is accepted by the NCC member communions (also called churches, conventions, meetings, or denominations). As Christian bodies, they hold these and many other beliefs in common. Each member also has a unique heritage, including teachings and practices that differ from those of other members.

Through their covenant as the NCC, the member communions grow in understanding of each other’s traditions. They work to identify and fully claim those areas of belief they hold in common; they celebrate the diverse and unique gifts that each church brings to ecumenical life; together they study issues that divide the churches. And they cooperate in many joint programs of education, advocacy, and service that address critically important needs and witness to our common faith in Jesus Christ.