toledoblade.com --

The Toledo Area Council of Churches has seen some tough times in its nearly 120 years of existence, including two world wars, the Great Depression, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

But the economic squeeze of the 21st century has put the TACC on the ropes, with its executive director voluntarily stepping down and the organization turning over its operations to the Toledo Metropolitan Ministries.

"We just couldn't afford to go on. It just didn't make sense to go on this way," said the Rev. Al Otto Baumann II, executive director.

The nonprofit ecumenical organization had an annual budget of $55,000 in 2004 but was operating at a deficit of nearly $20,000. With donations down 33 percent this year, Reverend Baumann agreed to resign his part-time position effective Jan. 1 to help the agency cope with the economic crisis.

TACC's ministries, including the successful Feed Your Neighbor and House My People projects, will continue uninterrupted, officials stressed, and TACC will remain in existence, at least on paper.

Both TACC and TMM are overseen by the same umbrella organization, the Toledo Ecumenical Area Ministries, or TEAM, and both have their headquarters in Collingwood Presbyterian Church.

"The programs will continue," said Reverend Baumann, who had served at St. Mark Lutheran Church in East Toledo for 27 years before taking the TACC job.

"Feed Your Neighbor is a very, very viable and important program," he said. "We're serving close to 40,000 families this year and we served 33,000 individuals and families last year."

House My People will continue to provide emergency loans of up to $200 to help people pay rent or mortgage or to make essential home repairs, Reverend Baumann said.

TACC was founded in 1886 with the goal of bringing "unity, reconciliation, and justice to our community, nation, and world."

The organization, which changed its name to Metro- Toledo Churches United in the 1970s and then back to the Toledo Area Council of Churches last year, has about 130 member churches in northwest Ohio.

With Reverend Baumann working part-time, assisted by one part-time staff member who serves as his assistant, TACC has worked to promote ecumenism through a variety of programs including banquets with keynote speakers each spring and fall, educational programs, and a popular series of free church tours each summer that draw hundreds of visitors annually.

The Rev. Larry Clark, executive director of TMM, said he concerned about the increased workload of running TACC.

"All I know is at the first of the year I've got more work. And I'm pretty overwhelmed right now."

He added that "the finances on the TMM side are not the best, either."

Reverend Baumann said he thinks TACC's ministries help Christians look beyond their denominational differences.

"If we can't always be united on doctrine - as we know there are many differences there - at least we can be united on social issues," he said. "There are needs that are imperative in this world and the churches need to address them."

He said TACC provided an important role in times of crisis, such as organizing religious gatherings and articulating statements for the mainline Protestant community in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Reverend Baumann, who has been head of the TACC for nearly four years, said his work with the agency gave him a broader perspective on Christianity than he had known as a Lutheran pastor.

"It was a lot of fun, a privilege, and an eye-opener in many ways, seeing so many different views and meeting so many new people in the Toledo area," he said. "I'm sad that we haven't been able to accomplish more in the way of Christian unity and that there's still such wide differences among denominations.

"God is working through all the churches and not just one denomination or one church or one view," Reverend Baumann said. "We come from different historical traditions and perspectives of faith and life experiences, and all together that makes it possible for us to see the reality of God. But alone, we're impoverished. We don't see all God wants us to see."

Reverend Clark said the board members of TEAM have applied for a grant to fund a study to look into restructuring TMM, TACC, and their programs.

"We have to look for ways to be more cost-efficient," Reverend Clark said.

Ironically, at a time when TACC's programs to help the needy are in great demand, he said, the same financial pressures that are boosting the need are also making it tougher for faith groups to raise funds and are forcing the government to cut back on social-service programs.

"Churches are the last stop," he said. "Churches pick up the pieces when government can't do it."

- David Yonke

Permanent Link