VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 11/10/11)—Rev. A. Roy Medley, general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA), was elected president elect of the National Council of Churches on Wednesday, November 9, by the NCC Governing Board meeting at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America offices in Chicago.
As reported by the National Council of Churches, Medley will succeed Kathryn Mary Lohre, who has served as president elect since January 2010 and was installed Wednesday as the president of the National Council of Churches (NCC). Medley was installed on November 9 following his election by the NCC Governing Board. The NCC president elect automatically succeeds to the presidency under the NCC constitution.
Medley will begin serving as president elect on January 1, 2012 and will succeed to the presidency on January 1, 2014. He will serve as president through December 31, 2015.
“The National Council of Churches has honored Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley’s passion for ecumenical work with the news that he has been selected president elect of the National Council of Churches for 2012-2013 and will become president in the 2014-2015 biennium,” said Ruth Clark, president elect of American Baptist Churches USA. “Roy’s ongoing efforts to find ways for the American Baptist Churches to walk beside other groups in partnership for the Kingdom are a model for cooperation rather than competition. American Baptists have led in the Baptist-Muslim dialogue under his encouragement. Our congratulations to Dr. Medley and the NCC.”
Medley will be the third American Baptist to serve as National Council of Churches president. Rev. Dr. Edwin Dahlberg served from 1957 to 1960, and Rev. Dr. M. William Howard served from 1979 to 1981.
Don Ng, vice president elect of ABCUSA, said, “In our world of great religious and cultural diversities, Dr. Roy Medley’s reputation of gathering people for inter-faith dialogue, ecumenical cooperation, and Christian unity has prepared him well to lead as president of the NCC. His spirit of deep humility as a servant of Christ will model wholeness and deepening relationships to all the member communions. As an American Baptist, I am proud of Dr. Medley’s faithful leadership at this time of cooperative Christianity!”
Before he became American Baptist general secretary in 2002, Medley was executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey, one of 34 regions within the denomination. Under Medley’s leadership from 1992-2001 the region emphasized congregational renewal, new church development and racial reconciliation. Medley previously was an area minister and minister of Mission Support for the region.
He is a member of First Baptist Church, Freehold, N.J. Medley is married to Rev. Dr. Patricia Stauffer Medley, an ordained Lutheran pastor currently serving Hope Lutheran Church, Freehold, N.J.
Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness among Christians in the United States. The NCC’s 37 member communions — from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches — include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.
American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.