RESOURCING THE CHURCH FOR ECUMENICAL MINISTRy A ...

R. H. Peoples became pastor of Second Christian
Church (now Light of the World Christian Church)
in Indianapolis after resigning his national staff
position in 1943. As president of the National
Convention in 1955, Peoples proposed a new
organizational plan. Basic to Peoples’ scheme was to
merge the services and work of the National
Convention with the services and work of the
International Convention and the UCMS. The
National Convention was to remain as a “fellowship-assembly”
to promote inspiration and education
and maintain a legal corporation which could
hold property. Its executive secretary was to be
employed by the office of the International
Convention and have the status of an associate
executive secretary. The executive secretary would
relate to both the National Convention and the
International Convention and ecumenical bodies.
Peoples’ proposal for a restructuring of the National
Convention was influenced by developments in the
1950s. Throughout the 1950’s National Convention
staff became increasingly interlocked with the
Anglo staff in the various UCMS departments and
other major agencies as they served the annual
sessions of the National Convention, held worker’s
conferences, led schools of mission, and worked
with children and youth. Moreover, in 1953 the
International Convention in Portland, Oregon,
adopted a resolution which committed the convention
to a policy of non-segregation in all sessions
of the convention, its constituent agencies, and in
hotel and meal facilities. This policy, drafted by a
committee appointed by the International Convention
consisting of five members from the
Executive Board and five members from the
National Convention, was formally approved the
following year in Miami, Florida. A National
Convention Social Action Commission formed in
1952 monitored this commitment and worked
closely with Louis Deer, director of the UCMS
Department of Social Welfare. The National Convention
Social Action Commission increasingly
encouraged the National Convention membership
to become full participants in the life and work of
the International Convention.
In 1959 a National Convention Commission on
Merger of Program and Services approved in
principle and spirit the Peoples’ plan and identified
the first step as transfer of the three program staff
from the direct supervision of the National
Convention to the staff of the UCMS with those
Williams • What it Means to be a “Multicultural and Inclusive Church”
20
persons maintaining the same professional status
and relationship as other staff members carrying
similar portfolios. The Commission also called for
(1) African American board members on the
policy-making boards of all agencies, (2) the UCMS
to maintain in its employ a minimum of four
African American staff on an executive level, (3)
visibility of African Americans in the public life of
the church, and (4) the formation of an Interracial
Commission to attend to employment of African
Americans at all levels.
This Commission’s proposals, approved by the
National Convention in 1960, led directly to the
1969 merger of the National Convention and the
International Convention and the formation of the
National Convocation of the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ). According to procedures
approved by the final meeting of the National
Convention in August 1969, the General Office, in
consultation with the executive committee of the
Convocation and the administration of the UCMS,
named John R. Compton to be the first administrative
secretary of the National Convocation.
Specific legal procedures for continuing the legal
integrity of the National Convention Corporation
were also developed.
What Impact does a Commitment to being
a Multicultural and Inclusive Church have
Upon our Practice of Unity?
The case study of African American and Anglo
Disciples also addresses the issue of the impact of a
commitment to being a multicultural and inclusive
church upon our practice of Christian unity. There
are African American Disciples of Christ who have
never been affiliated with the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ). These Disciples, initially
centered in Eastern North Carolina, have been
known since 1954 as the Church of Christ,
Disciples of Christ. By the early twentieth century
they had created a distinctive church order which
includes “feet washing” as an act of worship,
quarterly (rather than weekly) observance of the
Lord’s Supper, and “chief elders,” later called
bishops, who exercise oversight of congregations
organized in district assemblies. In the 1920s
Disciples who were affiliated with both the Eastern
North Carolina churches and the National
Convention sought to unite the two bodies.
Among those Disciples was Elder John F. Whitfield.
Through his efforts, the National Convention