cooperative agency of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations. Formed in 1950, with headquarters in New York City, the National Council of Churches is the chief instrument of the ecumenical movement in the United States with a combined membership of around 52 million. It is the national counterpart of the World Council of Churches. Not a governing body, it promotes through a number of activities general spiritual welfare and interchurch cooperation. It has four principal divisions: Education, Communication and Discipleship; Church World Service and Witness; Prophetic Justice; and Unity and Relationships. Under the sponsorship of the NCCC the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible was released in 1990 after 15 years of intense work.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright© 2004, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. All rights reserved.

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