Its progressive social program along with support of conscientious objectors to World War II garnered stiff criticism from Christian fundamentalist circles.
Seeking greater unity, a dozen ecumenical bodies (including the FCC) gathered in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1950 to discuss how to more effectively organize their common work.
[6] The council's 38 member communions include mainline Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, African-American, evangelical, and historic peace churches.
Relying upon the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, the communions come together as the Council in common mission, serving in all creation to the glory of God.
The goal was to "offer a vision of a society that shares more and consumes less, seeks compassion over suspicion and equality over domination, and finds security in joined hands rather than massed arms."
NCC partners with dozens of other faith-based groups in DC and elsewhere, such as Bread for the World, Habitat for Humanity, and Children's Defense Fund, to press for broad policy initiatives that address poverty issues.
The NCC was an important link to mainline churches for the civil rights movement and it consistently condemned segregation during the Montgomery bus boycott and other actions.
In 1961, Andrew Young left his position with the National Council of Churches to join the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, eventually becoming that organization's executive director.
During World War II, the Federal Council of Churches formed a Committee on Conscientious Objectors to advocate for the right of people of faith to refuse military service.
In partnership with the World Council of Churches, it has traditionally sought to balance its approach, seeking safety and protection for both the Jewish and Palestinian communities.
However, the NCC's "witness to the need for vigilance in brokering peace extends to our concern for all people in the region, whether they be Christians, Jews, Muslims, Baháʼís or others, and whether they be Israelis, Palestinians, Syrians, Egyptians, or others.
[31] In addition, NCC has also broadened this work to include police reform, especially in the wake of much publicized shootings in places such as Baton Rouge, Minneapolis, and Dallas.
[34] The NCC also published until 2012 the annual Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, since 1916 a widely used reference work on trends, statistics and programmatic information on religious organizations in North America.
Dr. Angelique Walker Smith of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., a member church of the NCC, is the WCC's president from North America.
[39] Since 2004, the NCC aided in forming the "National Muslim-Christian Dialogue" with the Islamic Circle of North America, and the United States Council of Muslim Organizations.
[41] The NCC is in dialogue with the National Council of Synagogues, a partnership of Reformed, Conservative, and the Reconstructionist groups in Judaism for the purpose of interfaith affairs.
In addition to the NCC, participants include the Guibord Center, Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple, Claremont School of Theology, and the University of the West.
The council was the original anchor tenant in the 19-story Interchurch Center built in 1952 adjacent to Columbia University, Union Theological Seminary, and the Riverside Church in New York City.
It vacated these premises in 2013 when it consolidated its offices in the building long used by its public-policy staff at 110 Maryland Avenue, NE, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.[48]