By Linda Bloom*
June 25, 2007 | NEW YORK (UMNS)

The Rev. Bob Edgar wants the National Council of Churches "to own the issue of ending the poverty that kills."

Part of his mission as the council’s chief executive during the past seven and a half years has been to mobilize its 35 member communions to take action on all aspects of poverty.

The United Methodist pastor says he likes the word "mobilization" because it allows the council to set achievable goals, market those goals and measure results.

Edgar, 64, is leaving the NCC at the end of the summer, but he expects the campaign against poverty will continue without him. In May, he was named president and chief executive of Common Cause, a Washington-based national advocacy group promoting open, honest and accountable government.

Just before he was elected to lead the NCC in November 1999, Edgar told United Methodist News Service he believed he had four qualities—as a salvager, an optimist, a futurist and coalition-builder—that led to his nomination.

Today, he points to sustaining the council through a debt crisis, a separation from Church World Service, staff reductions and low morale as proof of his role as salvager.

More importantly, Edgar says, "I’ve salvaged the vision and mission of the council." His catchphrase for that mission is "peace, poverty and planet Earth."

The optimism just came naturally, whether he was serving as pastor of a Philadelphia church where he dealt with gang violence and civil rights (1968-71), chaplain at a university and co-founder of a homeless shelter for women and their families (1971-74), member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1975-87), director of a private "think tank" (1988-90) or president of the Claremont School of Theology (1990-99).

"My gift is being an optimist in all the positions I’ve taken," he declares.

Changing landscape

As a futurist, Edgar has tried to signal to NCC member communions "that ecumenism is changing, Christianity is changing, denominationalism is changing."

Such changes, however, do not mean that mainstream ecumenism is dead. "I think I’ve brought a different spirit to the council … that we can do together what we cannot do individually," he explains.

"My gift is being an optimist in all the positions I've taken."
-The Rev. Bob Edgar

Efforts at coalition-building have included involvement in new groups as diverse as Let Justice Roll, an alliance challenging public officials and political candidates to end poverty; Christian Churches Together, a movement to expand the ecumenical table; and FaithfulAmerica.org, an interfaith electronic advocacy community.

"Let Justice Roll: Faith and Community Voices Against Poverty" was launched in June 2004 by the NCC and the Center for Community Change and is an outgrowth of the council’s poverty mobilization campaign. The nonpartisan coalition of more than 90 faith, community, labor and business organizations works to educate and mobilize voters and supports issues such as raising the federal minimum wage, which finally was approved by Congress at the end of May.

Christian Churches Together, which was formally launched last February, aims to expand fellowship, unity and witness among today’s diverse U.S. Christian faiths. The fellowship includes evangelical/Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic, historic Protestant and racial/cthnic churches.

FaithfulAmerica.org offers community building and resources to help faith communities advance the cause of compassion and justice in public policy and connect with elected leaders and each other.

Disappointments and challenges

One of his disappointments, Edgar says, is that—for various reasons—NCC member communions have continued to reduce their financial contributions by approximately $1 to $1.5 million since 2000. But the ecumenical agency has managed to attract individual donations and other sources of revenue. "The miracle is we have a $7 million budget," he adds.

The next big challenge for the ecumenical community, Edgar believes, will be health care. "The day after the next president (of the United States) is elected, health care needs to be back on the agenda," he says.

In his recent book, Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral Values of the Faithful Majority from the Religious Right, published last fall by Simon & Schuster, Edgar notes that the "faithful majority must have the courage to confront their government when it makes bad decisions."

That is what he intends to do as the leader of Common Cause. "What I want to do is rekindle the vision of John Gardner (the founder) for a citizens' lobby to speak truth to power," Edgar says.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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