c. 1998 Religion News Service
ORLANDO, Fla. _ In a telling moment at the annual convention of the National Association of Evangelicals, men attending the meeting twice rose to inform the gathering that people nominated for office had died.
And at one panel discussion during the three-day meeting, participants jokingly referred to themselves as”old gray heads,”while a 46-year-old first-time attendee remarked,”There are very few people here younger than me.” The aging of both members and donors of the NAE _ the prestigious umbrella group of the nation’s evangelical Christians _ has become a serious challenge to the organization, which ended its annual meeting Wednesday (March 4), raising questions about the future of the organization founded in the 1940s by such prominent evangelicals as Harold Ockenga and J. Elwin Wright.
Beyond an aging constituency, the NAE is also beset with the issue of how to include more minorities and women in its life and work, and with an abrupt change in leadership.
The Rev. Don Argue, the first Pentecostal leader to run the NAE and whose tenure was marked by some of the highest public visibility the group has seen in years, has resigned and will soon return to the field of higher education. NAE officials announced at the conclusion of the meeting they hope to replace Argue at or before their next annual meeting.
In the interim, NAE vice president David Melvin, who works out of NAE offices in Carol Stream, Ill., will assume the role of director of operations.
Argue, quoted often as saying the organization was”too old, too white and too male,”offered another challenge as he bid farewell to his NAE presidency.”For 56 years, NAE has been a voice for American evangelicalism,”Argue told the meeting’s opening luncheon.”Established as a rational, biblical response to theological liberalism and fundamentalism, NAE has won a crusade that has brought about significant results. The challenge NAE now faces is that the paradigms have changed.” For example, he said, the average age of NAE’s direct-mail donors is now over 70.”It is my evaluation that if NAE moves into the new millennium as a crusade or a parachurch ministry, the days will be difficult,”he said.”But a new paradigm can emerge whereby NAE serves as a network and a data resource for all evangelical ministries and people.” Other NAE leaders, like the Rev. Lamar Vest, its new chairman, also expressed concern and anxiety about the organization’s future.”I honestly don’t know that anyone at this point but the Lord knows what the future of NAE is or what it should be,”Vest said at the closing banquet.”What I do know is that it would be an unforgivable tragedy for the strong voice of the NAE to be weakened or silenced in a day when our message is most needed.” NAE’s current membership includes 49 denominations _ ranging from the Assemblies of God in the Pentecostal tradition to the ethnically Dutch-rooted Christian Reformed Church in North America, in the Reformed tradition of John Calvin _ as well as congregations from 27 other denominations and a plethora of”parachurch”ministries, such as Campus Crusade for Christ and the International Bible Society.
Its meetings, however, are mostly male, mostly white, and the younger leaders of the evangelical movement’s megachurches are rarely seen.
In fact, when young people and minorities were spotted in the hallways during the meeting, it was soon discovered most were attending another convention in the hotel.
Don Duff, NAE’s new treasurer, said officials will be meeting with denominational representatives in the fall to discuss how the group can better meet the needs of younger people.”We must arrange NAE so it is appealing to people of a younger generation,”he said.”We have to find out what they need.” Independent churches _ those not affiliated with a denomination _ are another area”we’ve not been able to minister to,”said Duff, who has hopes that more megachurches might be interested in NAE in the future.
The Rev. Ed Gray, an individual member of NAE and director emeritus of Waterfront Rescue Mission in Pensacola, Fla., commented between sessions on the generational challenge the NAE faces.”We have not transitioned in the younger generation to this movement,”said Gray, 69.”This generation’s about over.” He noted his baby-boomer children are now running his ministry, which includes a network of homeless shelters and alcohol and drug recovery programs. But they’re not involved with NAE.”They are on a different wavelength,”he said.”They’re into high technology. They do things differently _ not that they’re knocking what we did.” Gray and others insisted there are benefits to being part of NAE, especially the link its Washington office gives to members concerning issues of interest in the political and legislative worlds. Younger people, they said, still need to learn this.
The Rev. Steve Land, dean of the Church of God Theological Seminary in Cleveland, Tenn., said NAE is in the midst of”growing pains”as it attempts to attract more women and minorities to”an old group of men.””NAE’s having to adjust to the new reality,”he said.”The good thing about NAE is you hear more and more about the poor, about issues of justice, race.”Several years ago, such discussions were considered radical, he said.”What’s happening is the structure of NAE is going to have to adjust to the new emphasis and purpose,”Land said.
The Rev. Billy Melvin, who served as NAE’s chief executive for 28 years prior to Argue’s appointment in 1995, said the age of NAE supporters does not concern him.”I think it’s an injustice to this organization to keep harping on that,”he said.
Although there may be some denominational leaders near retirement, there are others”in the pipeline,”Melvin said.”Denominations do not elect 30-year-old ministers to be their leaders,”said Melvin, who remains involved with NAE as a vice president at large.”We are a leadership body. We deal with the people that they send to us.” He said younger evangelicals don’t appear at NAE meetings simply because they can’t afford it.”As they get older and they get their bills paid, they’ll be here,”he said.
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NAE’s future may also rest on its ability to attract minorities and women to its ranks.
The Rev. Aaron Hamlin, the president and executive director of the National Black Evangelical Association, said change is beginning in the area of racial reconciliation. Hamlin, who also is a member of NAE’s executive board, hopes a joint summit on race with NAE and NBEA next January in Atlanta will lead to action by evangelicals”so it’s not just another conference.” But he said NBEA had made a concerted effort to bring in young people by appointing people under 40 as new members of its board while NAE is still considered to be an”old boy’s club.” The Rev. Leonard Hofman, NAE’s outgoing chairman, addressed the other sensitive issue _ women _ in his speech to the convention.”Although NAE must obviously be more gender inclusive, it does include the activities of women, not as a token designed to keep the peace, but as an important component of association activities,”he said.
Although several officials said NAE’s mission is to share their faith, some wonder if their vision needs to be more distinctive.”That’s the church’s purpose, too,”said Brian O’Connell, a former NAE staffer who now works at an international missions organization.”We need to know what makes us distinct. … How can it really represent the churches if it hasn’t made itself known as to who it is and what it’s about?”
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