Pastors’ Gathering and Opening Worship, led by Dr. Margaret Aymer

Dr. Margaret Aymer is an assistant professor at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta where she teaches courses on the New Testament and has a special interest in biblical hermeneutics, particularly how African diasporic communities signify the Bible as “scripture.” Some of her most significant publications are “Teaching Christians to ‘Read’: Theological Education and the Church”; “Empire, Alter-empire and the Twenty-first Century”; “What Do the Gospels Say about Sex and the Church?”  Dr. Aymer’s degrees include a B.A., from Harvard-Radcliff College,  a M.Div., M.Phil., and a Ph.D. all from Union Theological Seminary.

The following predates the merger that formed the ICCC.  This is an excerpt from the minutes of The Twelfth Session of the Biennial Council of Community Churches, one of the predecessor bodies of the ICCC. This annual conference was held at People’s Independent Church of Christ in Los Angeles, California, August 18-23, 1937.  The Rev. Clayton D. Russell, was pastor of the church.

After appointing the committees the President relinquished the Chair to Vice President Wilbur Waters, who in turn, with oratory so characteristic of him, presented our President, Dr. Joseph A. Winters, stating that Dr. Winters would deliver his Annual Message.  This was a masterpiece, eloquently delivered.  Pregnant with good wholesome advice for the promotion of the principles of this religious effort and convincingly and conclusively put up to his hearers  as he held them spell-bound with the fervency of his delivery.  Rounds and rounds of applause followed this splendid address and after heated discussions full of appreciation for this matchless message and because it was thought far too inspiring and informative to have been delivered to the delegates alone and feeling that such an address should have been given at night, when a larger audience would have been in evidence, a motion was offered and prevailed that in the future, the Annual Address of the President be given on an evening program.  It was further decided that this splendid address be referred to the Committee on Recommendations.  Thus closed the afternoon’s session of the first day’s meeting. 

Editor’s note:  Alas, the records of the Committee on Recommendations are not available to us so that we could read “…good wholesome advice for the promotion of the principles of this religious effort…”

 ICCC at the General Assembly of NCC and CWS by Gary Batey

In more ways than one Minneapolis, Minnesota gave a warm welcome to the delegates of the 2009 General Assembly of the National Council of Churches and Church World Service.  Unseasonably warm weather for Minnesota in November greeted the arriving delegates from the General Assembly’s thirty-five member communions, representing a broad range of Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christian groups, including the International Council of Community Churches.   This assembly voted into membership a 36^th member communion, the Apostolic Catholic Church based in Tampa, FL. Five representatives of ICCC were in attendance:  delegates Gary Batey, Herman Harmelink, Leroy McCreary, and Lonnie Miller, plus ICCC Executive Director Michael Livingston, a Board Member and Immediate Past President of the NCC.   For more of Gary's article, click here.   

ANNUAL REPORT:  ENDOWMENT FUND, AN ICCC SUCCESS VENTURE
By Jim MacVicar & Bob Harris

        Since its inception in 2001, more than 160 individuals, churches and organizations have contributed over $127,000 to the Permanent Endowment Fund of the International Council of Community Churches (the Fund). Despite the worst recession in more than a half century, the Fund has grown in value to over $145,000. 

      The Fund is a perpetual fund separate from the ICCC General Fund and is financed entirely by gifts and bequests made specifically to the Fund. At the direction of the Fund Committee the Fund assets are invested by professional fund managers through socially responsible no-load mutual funds and bonds.

 Fund Performance:  Remarkably, our loss for the Fund’s Investment Year (7/1/08 thru 6/30/09) was only -2.5% versus nearly a 30% drop in the S&P 500 index.   What’s more, the Fund’s growth in assets for the first 3 months of this Investment Year is +11%.  We are very pleased with our portfolio return and management.  Our Fund Account Balance as of 9/30/09 was $149,922.

        The principal of the unrestricted endowed gifts to the Fund is not to be spent.  However, based on the financial performance of the Fund, the intent is to distribute earnings in excess of inflation to the Council’s General Fund annually.

        The Council depends on the ongoing, regular financial support of the member churches, individuals and organizations. Please continue to support and hopefully increase your giving to the ICCC General Fund.

        To help further promote and ensure the mission of the Council, please add financial support to the Permanent Endowment Fund to your gifting contributions. To date, most gifts to the Fund have been by familiar, time-honored cash donations.

 
New Giving Levels:  This year the Endowment Trustees have introduced the following new donor levels to encourage continued giving by Council member churches, organizations and individuals:

Acolyte            $1 - $999

Disciple           $1,000 - $2,499

Teacher           $2,500 - $4,999

Deacon           $5,000 - $9,999

Apostle            $10,000 - $24,999

Angel               $25,000 or more

 Bequests Appreciated:  Several individuals have made it known that they want to provide continued support to the Council’s worthwhile mission by including the Endowment Fund in their wills, trusts or life insurance. There are other gifting opportunities and plans to consider. Please contact the Council office (815-464-5690) or any of the Fund committee members for assistance.  

       Endowment Fund Trustees are Myrtis Brame, Chairperson, Carolyn Ford, Jan Irwin, Louis Joy, Jim Mac Vicar, Abraham Wright and Bob Harris, Past Chair.

A first step – by John Woodcock, Church of the Loving Shepherd

      In January I received a call from Thomas Swain of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Society of Friends).  At the suggestion of Michael Livingston of the ICCC, our church network, he was calling to invite me to attend Heeding God’s Call: a Gathering on Peace as a representative of the ICCC.  I was happy to participate, because the ‘Gathering’ was bringing together representatives of many denominations and several faith traditions to focus on something hugely important to many of us.

      I soon discovered that the conference would involve more than talk; there would be an action component.  Attendees were asked to consider what role they might be willing to take in vigils and activities at Colosimo’s, a Philadelphia gunshop.  A number of activities, including sit-ins, were planned through the week, and the conference would end with a march from Holy Ghost Headquarters, a church on N Broad Street, to Colosimo’s on Spring Garden Street. 

     Through the years I have preferred to work ‘behind the scenes’ on social issues when I was in a position to do so, but in the context of the conference I was challenged to consider what role I should take in this project to limit handgun violence.  The words which moved me from cold to hot were spoken by Dr. Vincent Harding of the Iliff School of Theology, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement.  He spoke of a conversation between Dr. M. L. King and some young men responsible for many of the fires in Watts.  When Dr. King asked how they could cause destruction in their own community, they responded that ‘no one ever paid attention to them, but that now people were paying attention’.  Referring to children growing up in the middle of Philadelphia’s violence, Harding asked us to show them we were paying attention.

      Colosimo’s was chosen as a focus because so many handguns turning up in crimes, not only in Philadelphia but also across the river in New Jersey, had been sold there.  Before the Congress passed legislation to keep from the public the government’s records on sales of guns used in crimes, the Brady Center had ranked Colosimo’s as the 5^th most dangerous store in the United States.  And it was Colosimo’s  sale of guns to ‘straw buyers’ (individuals who could pass a records check, buy handguns and resell or pass them along to criminals) which ultimately led to charges being brought against the store.

My part from January to September was small but enlightening.  At the opening march and vigiI I heard mothers who had lost children and a survivor, a teen shot during an argument.  On a rainy Saturday I was one of the two people present.  The other was an ‘overseer’ in the Mennonite Church; he talked about the response one of the Mennonite pastors in Philadelphia got when he asked a class of 8-year olds in his Sunday school if they knew where to get a gun.  Almost every hand went up, and the children began to name names.  At Dilworth Plaza in May, during the trial of those arrested for ‘sitting in’ at Colosimo’s, I saw the T-shirts lining the railings, each bearing the name of one person killed by a handgun in Philadelphia or Chester during one recent year.  The count was nearly three hundred.

      Of course, I learned more about how so many guns wind up in the ‘wrong’ hands - contrary to popular belief, more come from gun shows and straw buyers than are stolen.  I discovered again the truth of Margaret Meade’s words regarding what a small group of committed people can accomplish.  And with many others I offered prayer – for Mr Colosimo, for those slain or injured, for those who suffered loss, and for the children.

      It would be good to know whether the investigation which led to Colosimo’s closing resulted from the vigils, the not guilty verdicts in May, or from something ongoing.  But what seems really important is that what has been so easily accepted as a part of urban life- handgun violence - has been challenged by a vision of what might be, and that in one neighborhood children may come to know that others are paying attention.

 Welcome Aboard!

Congratulations and welcome to the new leaders  installed at the 2009 Annual Conference.  They are: Victoria Wells (Chapel-By-The-Sea) as Youth President, Dale Hopely (Church at Litchfield Park) as Regional Trustee, Emma Smith (Commonwealth Community Church),  John Woodcock (Church of the Loving Shepherd) for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, Grace O’Neal (People’s Community Church) also for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, Dick Griffith (New Covenant Community Church) as moderator for the Faith, Justice and Mission Commission & as ICCC Secretary, Don Fair (Greendale People’s Church) as Regional Trustee, Brian Merritt (Palisades Community Church) as Regional Trustee, Cay Randall-May (Friendship House) as WCF President, Nick Brame (Seneca Community Church) as ICCC Treasurer, Bill Grossman as 2^nd vice-president, Paul Drake (Community Church of Little Neck) as 1^st vice-president and Saundra Nelson (Zion Temple Community Church) as president.

To my many friends in the ICCC,  

      I have been honored to serve as MMBB’s relationship manager to the ICCC since 2001. In that capacity, I have come to know many of you not only as clients but as dear friends. The ICCC family has been special to me and my relationship with you has truly been one of the best parts of my job.

    I have recently been appointed Director of Member Education at MMBB and have been elected Corporate Secretary by our Board of Managers.  Since my new roles take me in different directions, I will no longer be working with the ICCC as your relationship manager.

    The Rev. Dr. Sara Day will be taking on this role as of January 1.  You can read Sara’s bio on the MMBB website.  I know you will enjoy working with her and I will certainly tell her how lucky she is to have you in her portfolio!

     I wish for you all God’s many blessings in the New Year.  If you ever want to just call and say “Hello,” I will be delighted to hear from you.

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