2021: A Year in Review
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

NC Council of Churches

Strength in Unity, Peace through Justice

  • Voices
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Members
    • Covenant Partners
    • Issue Statements
    • Governing Board
  • Programs
    • NC Interfaith Power & Light
      • NCIPL Overview
      • Faith in Action NCIPL
      • NCIPL Articles
      • NCIPL Resources
      • Upcoming Events for NCIPL
      • Contact NCIPL
    • Partners in Health & Wholeness
      • PHW Staff
      • Mini-Grants
      • PHW Collaborative Pledge
      • The Overdose Crisis: The Faith Community Responds
      • Mental Health Advocacy
      • BIPOC Mental Health Grant
      • Growing Communities of Inclusion: A Faithful Response to HIV
      • Citizen Science
      • PHW Articles
      • FAQs
  • Priorities
    • Racial Justice
    • The Overdose Crisis: The Faith Community Responds
    • Gun Violence Prevention
    • Criminal Justice
    • Immigrant Rights
    • Public Education
    • Farmworkers
    • Legislative Advocacy
    • Christian Unity
    • Peace
  • Events
  • Resources
    • COVID-19 Resources
    • Publications & Reports
    • Raleigh Report
    • Lectionary
    • Sermons
  • Donate
  • Council Store
  • Show Search

Search NC Council of Churches

Hide Search

75 years later, unity keeps council going

Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate · May 27, 2010 · Leave a Comment

By Yonat Shimron, Raleigh News & Observer

By the time H. Shelton Smith was hired to teach at Duke University in 1931, the movement to unite Christians of different denominations was under way in New York and other places.

But four years later when Smith founded the N.C. Council of Churches, the idea that Christians of various stripes could work together, especially in overcoming racial segregation, was still largely unheard of in the South.

Today, the N.C. Council of Churches is marking 75 years of activism on a broad range of issues, including racial equality, women’s empowerment, children’s health care, prison reform, farmworker rights and environmental conservation.

“Starting an ecumenical organization in the Southern United States was a pioneering thing,” said the Rev. Collins Kilburn, a retired director of the council. “The sectarian spirit was strong in the South.”

Then as now, not all churches were part of the effort. The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina briefly signed on in 1935, but Baptists, the state’s largest religious group, quickly backed out and were never again part of the council. Neither were most Pentecostal groups.

But Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics and some black Baptist and Methodist groups formed the backbone of the council and continue to work on “social justice” issues.

At an anniversary celebration last week at Duke, those active with the council heard about its signal achievements as well as its failures. (Remember the Equal Rights Amendment, which would have enshrined the rights of women in the U.S. Constitution? The council fought for the amendment only to see it fail to gain ratification.)

“The Council of Churches wasn’t interested in giving comfort – it was more of a prophet, a sharp tool in the bag, prying and calling for change,” said the Rev. Vernon Tyson of Raleigh, a retired Methodist minister and leader in the fight against segregation, and the protagonist in the book “Blood Done Sign My Name.”

But the council’s moment of fame came on a much less predictable issue. In 1982,with famine raging in Ethiopia, the council’s hunger task group came up with the idea of studying the possibility of converting tobacco farmland in North Carolina for food cultivation.

The Tobacco Study Committee called on farm, manufacturing and medical experts to investigate the issue and in November 1983, held a public hearing in Raleigh.

“We were totally unprepared for the media coverage we got,” said the Rev. Rufus Stark, a retired Methodist minister who led the committee. “All of a sudden, it was national news.”

Reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio and the three major TV networks were eager to tell the story of a church coalition ready to take on tobacco.

It wasn’t as though the council’s tobacco committee was calling for the wholesale uprooting of a way of life.

“We weren’t interested in being judgmental,” Stark said. “We recognized that all of us in Eastern North Carolina are beholden to tobacco culture. We all benefited from it.”

Still, the willingness to investigate alternative solutions to what was becoming a well-known public health hazard was big news.

That willingness has been the council’s chief strength. While other religious groups such as the Christian Action League were focused on a narrow set of issues such as alcohol or gambling, the council showed it was willing to tackle larger public concerns methodically and thoughtfully.

“I think it continues to have the same presence at the legislature,” said the Rev. Jimmy Creech of Raleigh, a former Methodist minister who worked for the council from 1991 to 1996. “The Council of Churches has always focused on public policy issues rather than a particular religious or theological point of view, and it continues to be respected for that.”

The council has lost some of its clout with the decline among mainline Protestant denominations and younger Christians flocking to nondenominational congregations and megachurches. But the council – which gave birth to advocacy groups such as People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, the Triangle AIDS Interfaith Network and the Covenant with North Carolina’s Children – sees a continued place for its work.

And its leaders are unwilling to cede the mantle on important issues. Recently, it published an eight-week study guide on immigration titled “For You Were Once a Stranger” that attempts to offer a biblical understanding of the role of immigrants. It created N.C. Interfaith Power and Light, one of 31 state initiatives intended to help people of faith take up environmental concerns. And it has taken on the obesity epidemic with its health and wholeness program targeted to African-American churches, where obesity and diabetes are more prevalent.

Council members also know they cannot win every battle. “Often the best cause in the world is a lost cause,” Tyson said. “The N.C Council of Churches knows about lost causes.”

Filed Under: In the Media Tagged With: Christian Unity

About Chris Liu-Beers, Former Program Associate

Chris worked on immigrant rights, farmworker justice, sustainability, worship resources, and the Council's website. He left the Council in 2014 to run Tomatillo Design, a company that builds affordable websites for nonprofits.

Reader Interactions

More Like This

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
On Not Going to Church
Thanksgiving Notes

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Anonymous comments or comments that target individuals will not be posted (please include your first and last name). All comments must be on topic and respectful. Comments will not be posted until they have been reviewed by a moderator. Comments do not reflect the positions of the NC Council of Churches.

Footer

Contact

NC Council of Churches
27 Horne St.
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 828-6501
info@ncchurches.org

Facebook

Partners in Health and Wholeness

Featured

75 years later, unity keeps council going

Latest Tweets

Your Vote is Your Voice! Learn more this morning with Blueprint NC’s Executive Director, Serena Sebring. We will hear about the political movement and how we can take action. Register for our #2022CriticalIssues at the link! bit.ly/3KZgi7z pic.twitter.com/OUND…

About 2 days ago

This morning! Join us with speakers @MarcusLFairley and @MarcusBassNC from @NCBlackAlliance at the #2022CriticalIssues where they will discuss the challenges of voter suppression and access to the polls. Register and join! google.com/url?q=htt… pic.twitter.com/qNcl…

About 3 days ago

RT @DanBlueNC We’re in crisis. Our kids are in crisis. Banning books isn’t the answer. We need to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong hands. We need to hire enough mental health providers to support students. We need to act #nced #ncpol

About 4 days ago

Happening all this week! There is still time to register for the event and attend every day at noon! #2022CriticalIssues ncchurches.ourpowerb… pic.twitter.com/gOCi…

About 4 days ago

We continue to work on various issues in NC and we want to share with you even more information about the accomplishments you helped us achieve in 2021! We hope you will look for places you can join us on this faith-filled journey. ncchurches.org/resou…

About 5 days ago

Follow @ncchurches

Latest Tweets

Join us for Sacred Conversations: Older Adults - Fraud & Scams on Friday, June 24th from 11 AM to 12 PM and learn to recognize common scams targeted towards older adults and how to protect yourself and those in your faith communities. ncchurches.ourpowerb…

About 4 days ago

RT @FaithCompassWFU Consider becoming an HIV & Faith Ambassador! To learn more, plan to join us for a virtual information session on 05/18 at 2 PM, 06/30 at 2 PM, or on 07/20 at 11 AM, all EST. Register now: bit.ly/FaithAmbInfo #faithandHIV #faithcompassWFU #transformthestory pic.twitter.com/oZo7…

About 2 weeks ago

Join us now Attorney General Josh Stein for a virtual conversation, “A Faith-Based harm Reduction Approach to the Opioid Crisis.” youtube.com/watch?v=…

Last month

RT @NCAGO Join Attorney General @JoshStein_ today at 1 p.m. for a discussion on a faith-based harm reduction approach to the opioid crisis with representatives of Olive Branch Ministries. Register here: us06web.zoom.us/webi… pic.twitter.com/XB05…

Last month

Register here! #phw #MentalHealthAwareness ncchurches.ourpowerb… pic.twitter.com/VTN7…

Last month

Follow @healthandfaith

Latest Tweets

RT @interfaithpower We believe elections are a referendum on the values that will shape our future. Join us June 9 for a conversation about our multi-issue Faithful Voter Reflection Guide. Register: ow.ly/PnPg50Jjz6h #FaithClimateJusticeVoter #Vote2022 #VoteReady

About 2 days ago

RT @ncchurches Happening all this week! There is still time to register for the event and attend every day at noon! #2022CriticalIssues ncchurches.ourpowerb… pic.twitter.com/gOCi…

About 4 days ago

RT @mocleanair Read our editorial in @GeorgiaRecorder. georgiarecorder.com/… @EnergyFdn @GCVoters @cleanenergyorg @GeorgiaIPL @gasierraclub @CleanAirMoms_GA @PSEquityMatters @SouthfaceInst @GAChapterAAP @CEHN @docsforclimate @enviRN @schoolnurses @uwomenfaith @eldersclimate @NCIPL @AlabamaPJC

Last week

RT @mocleanair Comments due in 3 days - if you haven't submitted one yet, do it today! For tips, read our blog about the different kinds of air pollution heavy duty vehicles make. #HealthyAirIsHealthCare #CleanAir @CEHN @TheOxygenProj @eldersclimate @uwomenfaith @GeorgiaIPL @AlabamaPJC @NCIPL twitter.com/mocleana…

Last week

RT @WECAN_INTL 📢Today, Indigenous women leaders & 200+ groups sent a letter calling on @USACEHQ to deny the permits for Line 5, conduct a federal EIS & respect Indigenous rights! To protect communities, water & our climate we must #StopLine5. Learn more👉bit.ly/3MBazW4 pic.twitter.com/FqeQ…

Last week

Follow @ncipl

Latest Tweets

Copyright © 2022 NC Council of Churches · All Rights Reserved · Website by Tomatillo Design · Hosted by WP Engine