The NEA, founded in 1942, reports its current membership encompasses over 40 denominations with about 45,000 churches and it claims a broader constituency numbering in the tens of millions. There Internet site does not list the churches that make up the NEAhttp://www.nae.net/membership The NAE headquarters is in Washington, D.C. The following information is found on its site:*
Mission Statement: We serve to make denominations strong and effective, influence society for justice and righteousness, and gather the many voices of evangelicals together to be more effective for Jesus Christ and his cause. See "For the Health of the Nation." They describe their work as:
Extending the Kingdom. The mission of the National Association of Evangelicals is to extend the kingdom of God through a fellowship of member denominations, churches, organizations and individuals, demonstrating the unity of the body of Christ by standing for biblical truth, speaking with a representative voice, and serving the evangelical community through united action, cooperative ministry and strategic planning.
Government Affairs. We work through our Office of Government Affairs to represent evangelical concerns to the government and to mobilize evangelicals to engage in the public sphere. Our landmark document “For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility” guides the government affairs work. Our Washington staff is instrumental in the formation and defense of key policies of concern to evangelicals.
Chaplains. We work through our Chaplains Commission to provide support and endorsement for evangelicals to minister as chaplains to three branches of the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Commission also champions free exercise and expression of faith in our nation’s military institutions.
World Relief. We work through World Relief in bringing humanitarian assistance to suffering people in the name of Christ in the United States and throughout the world. World Relief ministries focus on poverty, disease, hunger, persecution and the effects of war and disasters.
Its Story. This proudly evangelical association lists membership numbers similar to the National Council of Churches, and its founding was in opposition to the earlier Federal Council of Churches from which the NCC evolved. However the leading voice in its founding, J. Elwin Wright, and other of its early leaders, although they “shared serious reservations about the FCC, the participants did not feel that militant opposition and direct confrontation with the well-established Protestant council was the best strategy.” http://www.nae.net/about-us/history/62
Radio Evangelism. A detailed history describes important times that brought the NEA together: “The Federal Council of Churches had persuaded the CBS and NBC radio networks not to sell time to religious broadcasters, but to allot free time to "recognized" faith communities. Since evangelicals were unorganized--and therefore "unrecognized"--the new radio policy posed a serious threat to evangelical broadcasting.”
Another Trying Time. The NEA history describes: “The '60s were particularly difficult. NAE and most of its leadership were not at all encouraged with the prospect of the 1960 election of John Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, to the presidency - a first in American history. The mood digressed as civil rights, the Vietnam War and a new counterculture divided the nation. Assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King, Jr., leading political figures, shocked the populace. The state of the church was equally disturbing as liberal theologians proclaimed "God is dead" while some bishops experimented with psychedelic drugs. Young people were leaving churches seemingly as quickly as babies were being born in the 1950s.” This description conveys a general lament of the direction of the country and explains the future increasingly intense commitment of the NEA to involvement in government affairs.
Increasing Influence. The NEA history is particular pleased of its success from is early days to its stature as it entered the 90s: “Perhaps at the heart were several dramatic changes that had taken place between 1942 and 1992. First, in 1942 evangelicals united for action because they had a common cause, if not a clear common enemy. The Federal Council of Churches dominated the landscape and evangelicals struggled together to offer a Biblical alternative between the historic modernists and fundamentalists. Fifty years later the liberal mainline denominations were in rapid decline, and the National Council of Churches, discredited by its support of liberal causes such as the gay agenda, was on the verge of irrelevance if not extinction. Evangelicalism had eclipsed the mainline churches, and the cause that had united evangelicals to action no longer seemed significant.”
Mega Mega. The evangelical movement was led by Billy Graham from the 50s into the '80s. Big successful megachurches and parachurch leaders like James Dobson and Charles Colson emerged as the spokespersons for the evangelical movement.
More Recent Challenges. “An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility" is a clear and pointed summary of the larger volume that calls evangelicals to address seven spheres of social involvement from a biblical framework and also provides specific principles of engagement. The spheres of engagement range from religious freedom and the protection of the life of the unborn to care for God's creation.
”The document was presented publicly on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC in March 2005, where the signatures of one-hundred plus evangelical leaders were released. A remarkable variety of evangelicals affirmed the document including Rick Warren, James Dobson, Charles Colson and Richard Mouw.”
Over the past few years, the recent history of this organization is not exactly soap opera, but it does reveal its power struggle and confrontation with scandle: "For the Health of the Nation" gave the NAE a clear framework for civic responsibility as it moved ahead in its work. Nevertheless, not all evangelicals were happy with the way the NAE interpreted the document. As Cizik began to publicly call on evangelicals to care for creation and take action on climate change, the push-back from some evangelical circles was fierce. In May 2006 James Dobson publicly accused Cizik of "dividing evangelicals," and in March 2007 Dobson and other conservative leaders sent a letter to the NAE Board requesting that Cizik limit his speech on creation care or be asked to resign. The NAE Board stood behind Cizik, reaffirming the broad agenda of the "For the Health of the Nation" document at the March 2007 meeting. Cizik resigned his post with the NAE in December 2008.**
”Several months earlier in the late fall of 2006, the NAE faced a crisis that may have ruined a lesser organization. On November 2, Ted Haggard resigned suddenly from his position as NAE president amid allegations of sexual misconduct. The Executive Committee of the board acted quickly and decisively, inviting Leith Anderson to once again serve as Interim President. Anderson agreed to serve for an indefinite period to give stability while the NAE searched for a new president. While Anderson worked to stabilize association operations, the board launched a Presidential Search Task Force. The task force concluded that Leith Anderson best fit the needs of the association and asked him to consider assuming the presidency. Anderson agreed and was formally elected to a three-year term at the October 2007 board meeting.”
To me the most encouraging side of this extended look at the National Evangelical Association is its evolution to an awareness and commitment to environmental matters, while maintaining its loyalty to evangelism. This pretty much brings those of us who are on the outside of this movement up to date.
* http://www.nae.net/
**Laurie Goldstein New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/us/03evangelical.html?ei=5090&en=c4d105aa037f4837&ex=1330578000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
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