(RNS) The Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, said Oct. 2 that he will not seek a third four-year term as the top administrator of the ecumenical organization.
His current term ends Dec. 31, 2007, and a third term would have been unprecedented in the NCC’s history.
Edgar, 63, informed the New York-based council’s governing board and staff of his decision, giving the organization a chance for “a seamless transition process,” the council said.
The former Democratic congressman and seminary president inherited a $6 million deficit when he arrived at the NCC in 2000 and, after cutting budgets and increasing revenues, has left the agency with nearly $8 million in reserve funds.
Edgar has also raised the NCC’s public profile on a host of progressive issues, especially opposition to the war in Iraq and the Bush administration’s policies on torture and domestic spying in the war on terror. He said he has tried to focus the NCC’s mission on “attainable goals” on fighting poverty, boosting the minimum wage and protecting the environment.
A search committee will be named this fall for the position that oversees the joint ministry of 35 Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, historically African-American and peace churches.
Edgar, an ordained United Methodist minister, served in the House from 1976 to 1987, representing a predominantly Republican district in the Philadelphia suburbs. He is the former president of Claremont School of Theology in Southern California and the recent author of Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral Values of the Faithful Majority From the Religious Right.
