New Mexico Conference of Churches

A Brief History of the New Mexico Conference of Churches

October 2005
Compiled by the Rev. Dr. Harold Nilsson

The year 2005 is being noted as the 40th anniversary year of the New Mexico Conference of Churches.  Although 1965 marks the first year that the predecessor body of the Conference had a full-time executive and is the year that the Archdiocese of Santa Fe joined the organization, making it the first Catholic diocese in the country to belong to a state ecumenical body, the beginnings of the Conference go back at least ten years earlier.

In the fall of 1955 the Synod of New Mexico of the Presbyterian Church USA appointed a committee to explore the possibility of creating a New Mexico Council of Churches.  Dr. Archer E. Anderson, Pastor of The United Church of Los Alamos, a congregation serving in the name of ten Protestant denominations, was chosen to chair the committee.  Dr. Anderson soon met with the state board of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to discuss the project.  The outcome was that the Disciples appointed a committee of three to work with the Presbyterian committee.  The leader of the Disciples group was the Rev. Roy Ford, Pastor of the Monte Vista Christian Church (and father of the Rev. Wallace Ford who more than two decades later would become Executive Secretary of the New Mexico Conference of Churches.)  The joint committee issued an invitation to several other denominations to meet with them on May 14, 1956, to consider forming a statewide ecumenical organization.  Episcopal, Congregational, and Evangelical United Brethren representatives as well as a leader of United Church Women (later Church Women United) joined the Presbyterians and Disciples for that session.  Dr. J. Quinter Miller, Assistant General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, was present as a resource person.

Discussion that day focused on areas in which churches could work together including prison and hospital chaplaincy, radio and television programming, pastors’ conferences, released-time religious education in public schools, leadership training, and social action.  New Mexico’s “poor marriage laws” were held up as an example of social action issues needing attention.  Conversation also considered the practical issues of organization, staffing and budgeting.  A Continuing Committee was formed to carry forward the planning.

When the Continuing Committee met for the first time in September 1956, United Lutheran and Methodist representatives also had been enlisted for the cause.  The Committee worked through 1957 and into 1958 developing a constitution and organizational plan for a New Mexico Council of Churches, and presented its work at the organizational meeting of the Council held at the First Congregational Church of Albuquerque on September 9, 1958.  The fifty-seven delegates in attendance representing eight denominations voted unanimously in favor of the motion made by Episcopal Bishop C. J. Kinsolving and seconded by the Rev. Paul Saunders that the New Mexico Council of Churches be constituted.  Among the names on the roster of delegates that day were those of the Rev. Harry Summers, who seven years later would become the first full-time Executive Secretary of the Council, and the Rev. Titus Scholl, who later would inaugurate and head both The Storehouse and the Roadrunner Food Bank.

The purpose of the Council was stipulated in the constitution adopted at the organizational meeting:

  • To manifest oneness in Jesus Christ as Divine Lord and Saviour;
  • To express through fellowship, cooperation and service the essential unity of the Christian Church;
  • To provide, without infringing upon jurisdictional autonomy, an inter-denominational agency for cooperation in Christian education, ecumenical planning, Christian social relations, worship, evangelism, Christian world fellowship, missions, and other Christian services which the member communions may desire and authorize.

The concern for public ministry that has characterized the organization throughout its history was evident at the first meeting of the Executive Board held at Trinity Methodist Church, Albuquerque, on September 30, 1958.  The Board resolved unanimously to support the principles and objectives of the United Nations, and urged churches to “pray for the family of nations that wars may be averted, peace be made permanent, and justice and freedom be established in all nations.”

Meager financial support, as little as $3000 a year, did not prevent the fledgling Council from taking significant actions.  At the 1960 Annual Assembly held in Roswell, the decision was made to incorporate the United Protestant Adoption Agency.  The agency finally got under way in 1963.  During its first five years it placed 171 babies with 146 families.  (Later, the agency’s name was changed to the United Adoption Agency and subsequently merged with the Chaparral Home and Adoption Services.)  A Press/Radio/Television Commission was one of the five original commissions formed in 1958.  As an associate member of the New Mexico Broadcaster’s Association this Commission encouraged the airing of programs produced by member denominations and the production of programs featuring New Mexico pastors and congregations.  The Commission reported that statewide spots and programs sponsored by the NMCC and its members totaled 854 in 1960-1961, and over 3,500 in 1961-1962.  Ministry to seasonal agricultural workers, initially termed “Migrant Ministry,” was carried out in 1959-1960 under Council auspices in seven locations, mostly in the southern part of the state.  The ministry took the form of visiting farm workers on site to serve their spiritual and basic human needs.  In the later 1960s this work would expand significantly through the HELP program.

United Church Women was an integral part of the Council’s life from the outset.  Because UCW had units in over twenty New Mexico communities in the early 1960s, it could facilitate the ecumenical outreach of the NMCC.  UCW offerings provided a significant part of the NMCC budget.  Annual assemblies of the women’s organization nearly always were held in conjunction with the Council’s own assembly.  United Church Women reflected its global concerns for the status of women and children in its programs, liturgies and offerings.  Frequently it impressed these concerns on the entire Council through newsletters and presentations at Council board meetings.

Council News was the name of the Council’s newsletter during those early years.  Issues from 1964 highlight two major achievements in the latter part of that year.  At the opening service of the Seventh Annual Assembly held in September, the Rev. Harry Summers was installed as the first Executive Secretary of the Council.  Preacher at this service held in the Albuquerque Civic Auditorium was Dr. Louis H. Evans, a well-known clergyman then serving as a Minister-at-Large for the United Presbyterian Church in the USA.  The second noteworthy event happened at the very end of December 1964.  Archbishop James Peter Davis announced that the Archdiocese of Santa Fe would join the New Mexico Council of Churches, becoming the first Roman Catholic diocese in the country to become a member of a state council of churches.  Archbishop Davis appointed Monsignor Coggiola-Mower of Albuquerque’s Annunciation Parish as his official representative to the Council.  Roman Catholic participation was symbolized by holding the 1965 NMCC Annual Assembly at Assumption Church in Albuquerque.

The Council’s profile in the state was lifted significantly when Harry Summers accepted the call to be Executive Secretary.  The full-time position became possible when the Home Division of the National Council of Churches offered to subsidize it with $5,000 for the first year, gradually reducing the amount over ten years.  The Press, Radio and Television Division of the United Presbyterian Church also contributed $2,500 a year for three years.  The budget remained exceedingly tight, however, and the documents tell on several occasions of the Executive Secretary and Board members going hat-in-hand to judicatories and congregations for additional contributions in order to make payroll.  Early on, financial issues also led to tensions between the Executive Secretary and Executive Board.  The Board actually suspended Summers from his position for several weeks in the fall of 1965 in a dispute over spending authority and priorities.  That event prompted clarification of the Executive’s job description and led to the filing of Articles of Incorporation on April 27, 1966.

One of the most far-reaching programs carried out under the auspices of the NMCC was the Home Education Livelihood Program (HELP) for underemployed seasonal agricultural workers.  Funded by a $1.2 million grant from the federal Office of Economic Opportunity and nearly a half million dollars from the Ford Foundation, HELP operated 48 centers around the state in 1968.  At these centers farm workers were provided English language classes as well as vocational courses in welding, cabinet making and mechanics, enabling them to move into higher paying jobs.  The program also assisted farm-worker families in gaining their own homes.  HELP remains a vital organization in 2005, carrying on a $13 million program.

Other projects undertaken in the late 1960s include providing chaplains for sessions of the State Legislature, inaugurating a police chaplaincy in Albuquerque, providing a ministry to tourists at Cloudcroft and Taos, encouraging the teaching of the Bible in public schools in the wake of the Supreme Court decision on the matter, supporting ministries to juveniles and adults in detention facilities, sponsoring group dynamics education experiences for clergy, advocating before the Legislature on fair housing practices and capital punishment, and holding media workshops for congregations.  Indeed, Rev. Summers reported that he spent upwards of one-third of his time on the development and promotion of press, radio and television projects.  One is also impressed at the reception he received in congregations of all denominations across the state.  His preaching schedule took him from Hobbs, Carlsbad, Artesia, Portales, Las Cruces, and Santa Rosa, to Grants, Gallup, Farmington, Raton, and Clayton, as well as to churches in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

A major communication effort began in March 1968 with publication of the first issue of Voice and Vision.  The monthly newspaper was edited by Fred McCaffrey, an Albuquerque advertising executive, and its $39,000 annual budget was supported entirely by subscriptions and advertisers from across the state.  One year later circulation had reached 12,000.  Articles covered news of New Mexico churches and the Council as well as profiles of religious leaders and reports of national and international ecumenical activity.  The paper somewhat gingerly approached the issues of civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War that most churches struggled with at the time.

A governing principle of the ecumenical movement was articulated at the Lund Conference on Faith and Order in 1952.  Churches represented there agreed that they should do together all things save those save those which they must in conscience and obedience do separately.  That principle was symbolized in striking fashion at the Council’s 1969 Assembly held at the United Church in Los Alamos.  Holy Communion was celebrated simultaneously by Catholics and Protestants in adjoining rooms separated by a movable divider.  At the end of the services, the divider was pulled back and Archbishop James Peter Davis offered the concluding prayer and benediction over the combined congregation.  Delegates then joined in torchlight parade through downtown Los Alamos.

The Storehouse, one of the NMCC’s most enduring ministries, was formed in 1970 by the initiative of the Rev. Titus Scholl, a Lutheran pastor who had served St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church in Albuquerque since the 1950s.  Pastor Scholl believed fervently that faith in Christ caused one to care for neglected and impoverished people.  While still pastor of St. Timothy’s he began a food and clothing distribution program from his front porch and the trunk of his car.  In 1970 he secured a building for the project owned by his then employer, the Bernalillo County Department of Health and Social Services.  By 1971 the Storehouse had 50 volunteers from NMCC member churches.  The Storehouse’s present facility at 106 South Broadway was purchased in 1976 with contributions from churches and individuals including a sizeable donation from Scholl’s national denomination.  (After a period of non-involvement, direction of the Storehouse was resumed again by the New Mexico Conference of Churches in October 2003.)

Ecumenism in New Mexico underwent a structural change in 1971.  Since 1963 the Albuquerque Council of Churches, subsequently renamed the Greater Albuquerque Federation of Churches, had fostered ecumenical life in the state’s largest city.  Increasingly there was a sense that the GAFC duplicated the efforts of the New Mexico Council of Churches.  Conversations between the councils culminated in a merged organization called the New Mexico Inter-Church Agency.  The NMICA not only brought together the two groups but set itself up to be a trimmer, more responsive body.  The primary structure of NMICA was the task force that could respond quickly to a particular need and then dissolve if desired when the task was completed.  One of the members of the first Executive Committee of NMICA was former Governor David Cargo.  Harry Summers continued as Executive Secretary of the new agency.  Fourteen denominations were represented in the membership.  The particular interests of Albuquerque churches were carried forward in the new structure, however, in an Albuquerque Division of NMICA.

A project begun by the Greater Albuquerque Federation and continued by the NMICA was sponsorship of Encino House, the 152-apartment senior citizen high rise on Encino Place.  Six years of planning and overcoming roadblocks were needed before the first residents moved in on December 15, 1970.  Other ministries that became the concern of the NMICA following the merger included a day care program at Phillips Chapel; the Knowplace, a coffee house for high school age young persons; and Meals on Wheels of Albuquerque and Farmington.

A provocative feature of the 1972 NMICA Annual Assembly held in Mesilla Park was the appearance of William Stringfellow, the widely known attorney and peace activist.  Stringfellow’s address on “The Christian in Resistance” included this sentence: “America is a demonic principality, or a complex or constellation or conglomeration of principalities and powers in which death furnishes the meaning, in which death is the reigning idol, enshrined in multifarious forms and guises, enslaving human beings, exacting human sacrifices, capturing and captivating Presidents as well as intimidating and dehumanizing ordinary citizens.”

The turbulence of the late 1960s and early 1970s created the agenda for the 1974 Assembly.  Delegates divided into five groups for extended conversation around the question, “How can the ecumenical church identify with and respond to hurting people?”  Reports from the conversations noted how discriminatory practices have adversely affected Native Americans, African Americans, and immigrant agricultural workers, but revealed deep frustration about how churches might alleviate the hurts of these New Mexicans.  At that 1974 Assembly two judicatory leaders were elected NMICA President and Vice-President respectively: Episcopal Bishop Richard Trelease and Lutheran Bishop Frank Heglund.  Other judicatory heads who served as president during the NMICA days were Methodist Bishop Alsie Carleton, the Rev. Robert Stewart, Conference Minister of the Disciples of Christ, the Most Rev. Robert Sanchez, Archbishop of Santa Fe, the Rev. C. Richard Brown, Executive Presbyter of the Sierra Blanca Presbytery, the Rev. Robert Allen, Executive Presbyter of the Santa Fe Presbytery, and the Rev. Ted Hastings, UCC Conference Minister.

Upon the demise of Voice and Vision in the mid-1970s, the agency initiated The Channel, a much more compact newsletter.  Dr. Summers provided a rationale for the name: “We are going to try again because some of us believe that there needs to be a communication channel between the NMICA and the churches, education institutions, business groups, and minority groups that support it and look to it in turn for support of their endeavors.”  Although the first few issues were done in a print shop, the office mimeograph soon produced them.

The nature of membership in the organization was an item for debate from the very beginning in 1958.  Is it an agency of denominations and judicatories?  May individual congregations belong?  What should be the relationship to other agencies and organizations that wish to identify with the ecumenical body?  The NMICA constitution updated in 1976 defined the membership criterion as “any Christian denomination which encompasses one or more congregations within the State of New Mexico …”   The constitution also contained a provision allowing any city with an interchurch agency to have one vote for each 25,000 population, up to a total of four representatives.  The question of the status of other agencies was addressed during 1977 and 1978 by a task force headed by John Haaland (who later served as chair of the 1982 search committee for a new Executive Secretary and is now serving the NMCC once again in 2005 as a member of the Storehouse Board).  After reviewing the three existent relationships to the NMICA, endorsement, interim endorsement, and “an agency of,” the task force recommended that there be a single category of relationship with NMICA to be termed “In Affiliation With.”  The 1978 Annual Assembly accepted the recommendation.

“Crisis Corridor Conferences” jointly sponsored by the NMICA and the National Council of Churches were held Clovis, Farmington, Mora, El Paso and Albuquerque in the late 1970s.  These ecumenical conferences brought church people together to consider social issues that impacted the region and formulate responses.  A conference on “The Use and Misuse of Energy,” for example, held at UNM early in 1979 considered such topics as nuclear development in the state, energy and Native American issues, water issues, and consumer issues for the poor.

In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, refugees from Southeast Asia came to the U.S., many to New Mexico.  This presented another opportunity for ecumenical ministry.  The Rev. Glen Mayhew, a Presbyterian minister, joined the NMICA staff in 1979 as the Coordinator for Refugee Placement.  His salary was funded by a grant from Church World Service.  Pastor Mayhew traveled the state encouraging congregations to sponsor refugees and working with immigrants themselves.  He found placements for Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians as well as for some Cubans.

The deadly prison riot at the State Prison in Santa Fe on February 6, 1980, caused the agency to become more proactive in the area of prison reform.  The NMICA Cabinet formed a task force to advise state officials on meeting the spiritual needs of prisoners, to advocate for prison reform legislation and to hold workshops in churches on the topic.

Harry Summers resigned at the end of 1981 in order to accept a call as pastor of the First United Presbyterian Church in Silver City.  He had served seventeen years as Executive Secretary of the Council of Churches and the Inter-Church Agency.  In his exit interview Summers expressed appreciation for the ministries with which he had been involved and the bridges that had been built, but also lamented the continuing duplication of efforts by the various denominations.

Already before Dr. Summers’ resignation conversation had begun among denominational executives about the need to change the structure and profile of the NMICA.  The vacancy in the executive’s office provided the impetus to move deliberately toward restructuring.  A Constitution and By-Laws Committee composed of the Revs. Paul Saunders, Ernest Falardeau and Francis Rath completed its work in April 1982.  They proposed that the NMICA become the New Mexico Conference of Churches to emphasize that the organization consists of churches working together rather than an agency working for churches.  They called for an enlarged Board of Directors of which judicatory heads would be full voting members, and for new task forces, including one on Faith and Order.  They encouraged continuance of regional divisions.  (Three existed in 1982, in Albuquerque, Farmington and Clovis.)  They advocated a new philosophy of operation that would seek to exercise more influence on the structures of society.  They also proposed that the primary staff person continue to be called the Executive Secretary to indicate that this person is a facilitator rather than administrator of the cooperative work of the churches.

The Rev. Shirley Greene, a retired minister of the United Church of Christ, was appointed interim administrator of the agency early in 1982.  He encouraged the ongoing program and gave support to a six-person Search Committee that set about the task of finding a new Executive Secretary.  On September 16, 1982, the Committee interviewed three candidates for the position from the more than thirty applications received and at the end of the day decided to recommend to the Cabinet the Rev. Dr. Wallace Ford, Pastor of the First Christian Church, Boulder, Colorado.  In addition to having served two congregations during his career, Dr. Ford had extensive experience in his national denomination, the Disciples of Christ, and in ecumenical work in Colorado.

The 1982 General Assembly held at First Congregational Church, Albuquerque, approved the recommendations for the name change and new program directions, and ratified the nomination of Wallace Ford as Executive Secretary.  An annual budget of $55,750 was adopted for 1983.  Publicity about the latter action noted that “there remains a gap of several thousand dollars between reasonably assured income and the needs of the expanded program envisioned by the Assembly.”  That fall the Conference office was relocated to the house at 124 Hermosa SE, adjacent to Trinity United Methodist Church, where it remained for the next two decades.

During the 1983 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity the inauguration of the New Mexico Conference of Churches and the installation of Dr. Ford were celebrated in a service at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, Albuquerque, presided over by Episcopal Bishop Richard Trelease and Roman Catholic Archbishop Robert Sanchez.

One of the first actions of the new organization was to form a Legislative Concerns Task Force that would advance the priorities of the churches at the state legislative level.  The Rev. Shirley Greene was appointed Chair of that task force and was urged to register as a lobbyist for the Conference.  Early in 1983 the Conference opposed legislation that would have exempted church-sponsored day care centers from state regulations.  During that year the Board of Directors also affirmed support of legislation on a nuclear freeze, community corrections, and in-home care for the elderly.  Board minutes report extensive debate on capital punishment, and a year later the Board adopted a position statement opposing the death penalty.

At the end of his first year in office, Wallace Ford could report that 215 persons were directly involved in the expanding work of the NMCC.  The task forces that reported to the Board early in 1984 included Communications, Correctional Ministry, Faith and Order, Family Life, Legislative Concerns, Peace with Justice, Religious Pluralism and Public Education, Undocumented Persons, and the Rio Puerco Coordinating Committee.  The latter group was concerned with the aftermath of the Church Rock disaster of July 1979 when a dam burst north of Gallup releasing tons of radioactive mill wastes into the river, affecting nearby Navajo residents and others miles downstream.

Evangelism and Proselytism was the topic of the first of several protocols produced by the Faith and Order Task Force chaired by Father Ernest Falardeau.  The study was suggested not only by an increased interest in the subject on the part of churches in the mid-1980s but also by the circulation of materials meant to discredit several denominations.  The resulting Faith and Order document maintained that “the most important concern of the Churches is communicating the Gospel to those who have never heard it, or to those who have ceased to walk in its way.  A great insight of our time is that this evangelization can be done far more effectively by the cooperation of Christians than by their division.”  The document also provided a mechanism by which misunderstanding between churches could be clarified and conflicts resolved.  Member denominations were asked to respond to the protocol “at the highest level,” marking the first time in the history of the Conference that each member judicatory was requested to make an official response to an ecumenical document at the state level.  Late in 1984 the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande became the first member to ratify the protocol.  The Faith and Order Task Force also produced documents in the 1980s on Capital Punishment, and The Churches and Responsible Citizenship.

One of the gifts that Dr. Ford brought to the Conference was theological reflection.  Month by month in the Channel, he called upon biblical and theological insights to comment upon issues in the life of New Mexico churches and the nation.  At the end of his first year in office, for example, he concluded his assessment of Conference life this way: “What new benchmark awaits us on this journey is not yet clear.  Yet, I am confident: the Spirit intends to heal the fractured fellowship of the church, the path towards that moment is no less healing itself, and that the ‘grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’ will be our guide.  This guidance I celebrate with you as we prepare to live 1984 not as the year of Orwellian hopelessness, but the journey of justice, peace and mercy.”

Another of Ford’s creative reflections appeared years later in his 1995 report to the General Assembly.  Reflecting on the whirlpools formed as the huge tides of Canada’s Bay of Fundy moved upstream he commented, “What I saw happening before me became a visual symbol of God’s Spirit moving the face of the deep, creating—in Marjorie Suchocki’s terms—the whirlpools between God announcing ‘Behold I make all things new’ and our glories ‘as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be…,’ between God’s creating grace and our cherishing what has been given.  Those whirlpools are also images of the ecumenical movement: God’s Spirit bringing forth the new and our cherishing the vessels in which we have held the treasures of the Gospel; God’s creating new possibilities which invite us out of our comfortable satisfactions.”

The emphasis on theological reflection was manifested in a Faith and Order Conference sponsored by the NMCC in February 1984.  Keynote presentations on Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, the Lima Document of the World Conference of Churches, were given by Dr. William Lazareth, head of the Faith and Order division of the WCC at the time the document was prepared.  Lazareth noted that from our baptisms onward, we represent in our lives the ministry of Jesus, especially the power of reconciliation and healing inherent in the resurrection.  Commenting on that insight, Ford noted that “It is within this context of the re-presenting nature of ministry that I understand the function of an ecumenical network.  It is our task to re-present to the churches both the liability of our divisions and the hope for our unity lived in full fellowship with one another, with all who name the name of Jesus.  Our faithfulness in ministry is judged by this criterion; the ecumenical authority rests solely in our doing this re-presenting ministry.”  Subsequent Faith and Order conferences held in Albuquerque over the next three years continued to pursue the implications of the Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry document.  Methodist theologian Dr. Geoffrey Wainwright explored the baptism topic in 1985, Episcopal theologian Dr. John Robert Wright dealt with eucharist in 1986, and prominent Catholic ecumenist Father George Tavard spoke on ministry at the 1987 conference.

What does the New Mexico Conference of Churches do?  This perennial question was answered in a bulletin insert prepared for congregations of member denominations in 1985. 
“Through its state task forces, the NMCC:

  • fosters theological discussion for better understanding among churches as they search for unity;
  • nurtures ministry to inmates of state correctional systems;
  • encourages peace networks among the churches;
  • offers practical assistance for churches to minister with and to persons with handicapping conditions;
  • provides material and training for public school teachers who are teaching about religion;
  • brings the ethical insights of the Gospel into the sphere of public policy through active advocacy and a statewide Impact information network.

Through its local structure and relationships the NMCC:

  • works with local churches in their ministry with and to the elderly, including intergenerational activities;
  • provides educational opportunities for churches in such areas as sexual abuse, Central America, alcoholism and drug abuse, singles ministries, interfaith dialogue, and hunger and justice issues.

Through its affiliate partnership with sixteen agencies, the NMCC:

  • offers a channel for individuals and local churches to engage in community outreach;
  • offers new organizations a linkage with church groups as they build their volunteer constituency.”

The list reflects both the presenting issues of the mid-1980s and the historic and enduring missional concerns of the ecumenical movement.  Many of the issues were addressed during these years by statewide conferences sponsored by various NMCC task forces.  The task forces approved for continuation at the 1989 General Assembly also demonstrate the diversity of concerns that occupied the organization: AIDS Ministries, Correctional Ministries, Faith and Order, Caring and Inclusive Congregations, Legislative Action, Marriage and Family Life, Religious Pluralism and Public Education, Eco-Justice, Solidarity with Women, and Ecumenical Continuing Education.

Because the churches’ desire to speak with one voice on moral and ethical issues often comes into conflict with differences of opinion among the churches, the 1987 General Assembly adopted a “Protocol for Mediating Ethical/Moral Differences within the Ecumenical Covenant of the New Mexico Conference of Churches.”  Using the model of the Jerusalem council recorded in Acts 15, the protocol calls upon member churches to respect each other’s integrity and to affirm their unity even as they come to different conclusions on issues.  Requests for copies of this protocol reportedly continue to come to the NMCC office.  The Faith and Order Task Force applied the protocol in developing its 1991 statement, “Finding Common Ground on the Issue of Abortion.”  By 1996 the Conference had developed 23 issue positions for use in public policy advocacy, and five reflection and study documents for use by member churches and others.

The World Council of Churches instituted the “Decade of the Churches in Solidarity with Women, 1988-1998.”  The NMCC responded by forming a Task Force to support this program emphasis.  The group was led for most of the ten years by Joanne Parker.  Among the activities the Task Force sponsored were meetings of WomenSpirit Groups to explore faith journeys and spirituality, and a seminar in March 1992, “How Then Shall We Live?” led by Dr. Johanna Bos, Professor of Preaching at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary.  Several members of the Task Force attended the Re-Imagining Conference in Minneapolis in 1993, and continued to interpret the meaning of that event at their subsequent gatherings.

The pattern of having judicatory leaders serve as president of the Conference persisted through the 1980s into the early 1990s.  Bishop Trelease served again in 1983 and Bishop Heglund in 1984.  United Methodist Bishop Louis Schowengerdt was chosen to lead in 1985.  The Rev. William Aber, Executive Presbyter of the Santa Fe Presbytery served in 1986 and again in 1991.  Archbishop Sanchez filled a second term in 1987 and the Rev. C. Richard Brown in 1988.  Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of the Diocese of Las Cruces led the Conference in 1989, and the Rev. Jim Smith, Area Minister of the Tres Rios Area of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1990.  The pattern was altered in 1992 with the selection of the Rev. Minerva Carcaño, then a United Methodist parish pastor in Albuquerque.  She became the first woman to lead the NMCC.

The New Mexico Community Development Loan Fund was formed in response to work done by a NMCC Poverty Task Force and the Community Empowerment Program.  (The Poverty Task Force, assisted by a grant from Hands Across America, had conducted a number of regional hearings and a statewide strategy conference.)  The Fund provided an opportunity for churches and individuals to participate in a socially responsible investment program that assisted persons in poverty by offering small business loans.  Initial capital came from foundation grants, urban development funds, and an order of Catholic sisters in Michigan.  The Fund remained an affiliated agency of the Conference for several years after it received its own 501(c)3 status.

Since 1992 the Conference has co-sponsored the Dorothy Turner Memorial Seminar, an event held each August at the Monte Vista Christian Church in Albuquerque to explore social, ethical and healthcare issues.  The seminars were established five years earlier by Robert Turner, M.D., in memory of his wife, a registered nurse, who died of breast cancer.  Dr. Turner continues to serve on the NMCC Board in 2005.

It was reported to the 1990 General Assembly that in the wake of the collapse of savings and loan institutions, the federal Resolution Trust Corporation was making certain low-income housing projects available to non-profit corporations.  The Assembly voted to consider entering into such projects, thus moving the Conference into a significant new area of ministry.  The Board approved the purchase of the Ortiz Apartments at its February 1991 meeting.  Closing on the property finally took place in November of that year.  In 1994 the Conference acquired an additional low-income apartment complex on Candelaria NW, which was named for Nancy Jennings, chairperson of the Conference’s Task Force on Caring and Inclusive Congregations who died in 1995.  Both apartment complexes were sold in 2004 with the proviso that they remain affordable housing.  Proceeds from the sales have been invested and will provide a source of financial stability for the Conference in the years ahead.

Leaders of the NMCC had long been interested in continuing education opportunities for lay persons and clergy.  This interest was structured into the life of the Conference in 1988 with the formation of a Continuing Education Task Force headed by Dr. Betsy Alden, who for a time also worked as unpaid staff for the Conference in this area.  The Task Force sought to arrange for academic programs, including those that would grant degrees, as well as to develop non-degree programs utilizing regional and local resources.  By 1992 the Task Force could report that it was co-sponsoring events with the UNM Religious Studies Department, Ghost Ranch, Plaza Rezolana, the Southwest Pastoral Institute, the Women’s Spirituality Center in Santa Fe, the Religious Educators Association, and the Pastoral Care Departments of St. Joseph and Presbyterian Hospitals in Albuquerque.

Continuing education took additional strides in 1994 as the NMCC gathered representatives of member denominations for conversations about an “Ecumenical Consortium for Theological Education” in New Mexico.  The participants listed their theological training needs both for certified lay ministries and for ordination.  Contacts were made with several out-of-state universities and seminaries about their interest in supporting such needs.  The program got underway in the fall as the “Ecumenical Institute for Ministry.”  Courses on Bible, theology and church history were offered in Albuquerque, Gallup and Las Cruces.  Subsequently EIM established a partnership with St. Norbert College of De Pere, Wisconsin, that enabled students to earn a Master of Theological Studies degree from that institution.

The 1995 National Workshop on Christian Unity, an annual gathering of hundreds of ecumenical leaders from across the country, was held in Albuquerque May 1-5.  Local arrangements and hosting were provided by NMCC participants.  The Most Rev. Ricardo Ramirez, Roman Catholic Bishop of Las Cruces, was keynote speaker.  The Rev. Minerva Carcaño was Bible study leader.  The event was headquartered at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Albuquerque, with a festive opening worship service held at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Church.  Critiques received from out-of-state participants rated the workshop as one of the best ever held.

On rare occasions the Conference became directly involved in new church development, especially when several denominations were involved.  Dr. Ford facilitated discussions in Angel Fire which resulted in the formation of the United Church of Angel Fire, a congregation with United Methodist, Presbyterian and Disciples of Christ affiliations.  That congregation is now an Associate Member of the Conference.

Prominent speakers often were invited to address the Conference’s General Assemblies.  Among those who appeared were Tex Sample of the Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City; James Wall, editor of the Christian Century; Dr. Arie Brouwer, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches; and William Stringfellow, noted previously.  A special feature of the 1995 Assembly in Santa Fe was the presentation by the Rev. Al Staggs of his renowned play, “A View From the Underside: The Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.”

The Conference established two awards in the mid-1980s, the Humanitarian Service Award and the Ecumenical Pioneer Award, to recognize those who had made significant contributions to ecumenical life in New Mexico.  Those so honored over the years include:

Year

Humanitarian Service Award

Ecumenical Pioneer Award

1986

Ms. Dorie Bunting

The Rev. Dr. Shirley Greene

1987

Sr. Rose Kidd

John and Chris Haaland

1988

Titus and Charlotte Scholl

The Rev. Paul Saunders

1989

Mother Magda

The Rev. Ernest Falardeau

1990

Ms. Dorrine Wolf

The Rev. Gerald Fahrenholz

1991

Roswell Literacy Council

The Rev. Art Roberts

1992

The Rev. Judd Wagg

Taylor and June McConnell

1993

St. Andrew Episcopal Church, Las Cruces

Mr. David Sallee

1994

Ms. Nima Ward

The Rev. Dr. Rodney Roberts

1995

Ms. Camy Condon

The Santa Fe Religious Leaders Association (Christian-Jewish Dialogue)

1996

El Pueblito United Methodist Church, Taos

Ms. Ellen Bacigalupa

1997

Ms. Karen Colburn

The Rev. Dr. Lewis Wilkins

1998

New Mexico Community Development Loan Fund

The Rev. Dr. Günter Wagner

1999

Road Runner Food Bank

Los Alamos United Church
Roy, NM, Disciples and United Methodist Churches
United Church of Angel Fire
United Church of Farmington

2000

The Churches of Los Alamos

Ms. Shirley Nilsson
The Rev. Dr. Wallace Ford

The Apostolic Visitors Program, a creative way to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January 18-25, was begun in 1989 by the Albuquerque Ecumenical Conference, a division of the NMCC.  Participating congregation selected individuals, a couple or a family to be their church’s Visitors.  The NMCC office paired the visitors with a host church.  During the worship services of the host church, the Visitors brought greetings from their home church and commented briefly on the Week of Prayer theme.  The Mesilla Valley Conference of Churches, another NMCC division, also adopted the program some years later.

Intergenerational Ministry was another service that the Conference established during the 1980s and 90s.  Under the leadership of Camy Condon, the ministry carried out such projects as the Early Childhood Health education program, the Children’s Peace Statue, and Wild Life Friends, all of which brought together children, youth, adults and seniors.

Motivated in part by the impending retirement of Dr. Ford, the 1998 Annual Assembly authorized a comprehensive reassessment of the Conference.  Five questions were addressed to judicatory leaders, Board members and other groups:

  1. What contextual trends can be observed that affect the work of the NMCC?
  2. Who are the sponsors and proponents of the NMCC, and who benefits from its existence?
  3. What do these sponsors and beneficiaries value?
  4. What should be the mission of the NMCC?
  5. What structures and plans should be put into place to fulfill the mission and values?

The eight-page final report of the assessment submitted to the Board at the end of 1999 indicated that the churches value the Conference highly and believe it continues to have a significant mission to carry out.  The Reassessment Committee recommended that the current Mission Statement of the NMCC continue to guide it: “The mission of the New Mexico Conference of Churches is the reconciliation of the churches in New Mexico through: sharing in prayer, worship and mission; witnessing to God’s justice and peace; serving as stewards of God’s creation.”

Wallace Ford’s retirement was celebrated on April 1, 2000, with an ecumenical prayer service of thanksgiving and a reception at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Albuquerque.  Friends of Wally’s from across the country joined hundreds of New Mexicans to celebrate his 17 years of ecumenical leadership.

A Search Committee chaired by the Rev. Gail Joralemon was appointed by the Board in the fall of 1999 to secure a new executive for the Conference.  The position was advertised widely, including the Christian Century.  The Rev. Barbara Dua, serving on the national staff of the Presbyterian Church USA in Louisville, Kentucky, was recommended to the Board.  Barbara accepted the call extended by the Board and was installed in her position at the Annual Assembly held on December 2, 2000, at the Church of the Risen Savior, Albuquerque, although she had begun her work the preceding May.

Lee Maynard, an independent consultant, was contracted in 2001 to assist the Conference in developing a multi-year strategic plan.  He began with an assessment to answer the question, does this organization continue to have a mission?  He concluded that the NMCC is unique.  If it did not exist, it would have to be invented.  A Conference task force then worked with Maynard to develop a six-point plan that was adopted by the Board at its April 2002 meeting.  The strategic objectives were to (1) focus on the ecumenical mission, (2) bring the Board of Directors to the forefront, (3) use programs as the primary mission vehicles, (4) broaden the impact of the Conference, (5) create maximum efficiency and effectiveness within NMCC operations, and (6) develop financial stability.  Plans are to begin a new strategic planning process in 2006.

The Safe 2000 Program works with youth at risk of making poor choices and entering the criminal justice system.  Formed originally in partnership with the City of Albuquerque and the Second Judicial Court, the program employs two Outreach Ministers, Daniel Erdman and Mel Solis, who collaborate with social workers and the police and sheriff’s departments.  The Outreach Ministers relate directly to youth and also recruit adult volunteers from congregations to be mentors.  Federal faith-based monies received in a 2005 grant from the State of New Mexico are enabling partnerships with Wings Ministries, a ministry to families of incarcerated persons, and the Baptist Ministers Union.  The latter is coalition of thirteen African-American Churches in metropolitan Albuquerque.  The grant also extends the Safe 2000 Program to Las Cruces and Roswell.

Environmental issues, especially climate change and sustainable energy sources, have been the concern the Sustainable Future Task Force.  Supported by a grant from the National Council of Churches and several foundations, the Task Force sponsored several conferences and worked with the Governor’s staff on environmental policies.  Stan Euston served as NMCC staff for this program through mid-2005.

After September 11, 2001, the NMCC began to work more closely with the Arab-Jewish Peace Alliance to promote communication, reconciliation and healing among the faith communities.  This collaboration is consistent with and an extension of the Conference’s long-time co-sponsorship of the Santa Fe Christian-Jewish Dialogue and the Albuquerque-based Catholic-Jewish Dialogue.

The members of the NMCC in 2005 are:

  • Archdiocese of Santa Fe (Roman Catholic)
  • Diocese of Las Cruces (Roman Catholic)
  • Diocese of Gallup (Roman Catholic)
  • Tres Rios Area of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
  • Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
  • Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande
  • Episcopal Diocese of Navajoland
  • Rocky Mountain Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
  • Presbytery of Santa Fe (Presbyterian Church USA)
  • Presbytery of Sierra Blanca (Presbyterian Church USA)
  • Presbytery de Cristo (Presbyterian Church USA)
  • Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ
  • New Mexico Conference of the United Methodist Church
  • Rio Grande Conference of the United Methodist Church

For nearly half a century the New Mexico Conference of Churches has sought to be an instrument of reconciliation and unity among the Christian churches of New Mexico, and to give witness to Jesus’ compassion, justice and peace in the larger society.  The distinct gifts of its member denominations and their representatives have enabled it to respond faithfully and creatively to the changing needs of the church and the world.  The two primary strands of the twentieth century ecumenical movement, Faith and Order, and Life and Work, have shaped its work.  Dedicated staff and thousands of volunteers have served its mission.  The prayers, money, commitment to ecumenism of many believers—and the grace of God—have brought it to this point.  May God continue to bless the New Mexico Conference of Churches.