[Episcopal News Service]
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is in a 'financially unsustainable position' and its central committee, meeting in Geneva until September 3, will have to take decisions to restore 'financial stability,' the committee was told.
Anders Gadegaard, on behalf of the WCC's finance committee, said the council's audited financial results for 2001 showed an operating deficit of $3.91 million. The WCC is the world's biggest church grouping, with a staff of about 180 at its Geneva headquarters.
The preliminary report of the finance committee placed the blame for poor financial results in 2001 on a shortfall in investment results, a decrease in contributions and on a one-time cost of an early retirement program for departing staff. The report said the Geneva meeting would have to make decisions that would reshape the council in terms of its organizational setup and activities. 'Management has exhausted possibilities to decrease costs within the current structure,' the report stated.
Michiel Hardon, the WCC's income monitoring and development manager, said many WCC-member churches were facing financial difficulties, including cuts in budgets and staff, and that competition from other ecumenical agencies for funding had increased. The fall in stock markets had affected the WCC both directly and indirectly through its effects on the finances of member churches.
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