Chilly Climate

A troubled group's new head

The National Council of Churches was born in Cleveland in 1950 with a blizzard raging outside the hall, but with sizzling enthusiasm coming from the 4,000 delegates inside. Last week the weather in Cleveland was warmer, but the social and religious climate had turned chilly as the N.C.C. celebrated a belated 30th anniver sary and mulled its many woes. The loudly trumpeted "Ecumenical Event" was supposed to draw 2,000-plus clergy and lay leaders. Instead, only 900 showed up.

For years the N.C.C. has appeared to be little more than the Americans for Democratic Action at prayer, parroting a liberal political line. Appropriately, its newest antagonist is the Institute on Religion and Democracy, an ecclesiastical clone of the secular neoconservative movement. The I.R.D.'s leader, a Meth odist minister, charged last week that the N.C.C. is "captive to a left-wing philosophy which is not compatible with what most members of local churches believe."

The N.C.C. is facing a constricted ecumenical base. Its 32 denominations boast 40 million members, which covers most Orthodox adherents but only 52% of U.S.

Protestants. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member. Nor is the moderate American Lutheran Church, which has invited heads of 89 denominations to consider forming a broader church council.

In need of fresh leadership, the N.C.C.

chose Methodist Bishop James Armstrong of Indiana for a three-year term as president. Strong-willed and outspoken, Armstrong, 57, is the sort of burly, smiling, old-fashioned doer who can wrangle with opponents while magically retaining their affection.

Armstrong surfaced nationally in 1958 as pastor of a 3,200-member, all-white In dianapolis church in a racially mixed area. Battling some of his own parishioners, he integrated blacks and whites. By 1968, attendance and Sunday school enrollment were at alltime highs. Becoming bishop in the Dakotas, he helped prevent a bloody massacre in 1973 by acting as a mediator when Indians took hostages at Wounded Knee. He also be friended Senator George McGovern, even campaigning for him.

In his inaugural speech to the N.C.C., Armstrong granted the critics a few points but lauded the council's past record and said it would be "irresponsible" to trim or scuttle social programs. "The ecumenical movement is not a lark any more," he later said. "It is hard, demanding business."

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