About NCLCI
NCLCI MISSION STATEMENT
The National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel (NCLCI) was founded in 1978 to develop, encourage and strengthen understanding and support for the people, land and State of Israel within the North American Christian community.
HISTORY OF NCLCI
The National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel (NCLCI) was formally established in 1978 when some 400 Christians, reflecting a broad spectrum of backgrounds, met in Washington, D.C. on the 30th anniversary of the founding of the modern State of Israel.
This diverse gathering registered its opposition to bills before the U.S. Congress authorizing the sale of sophisticated weapons to Arab countries.
Many of these church leaders had been associated with NCLCIʼs forerunners, including the Christian Council on Palestine, which labored on behalf of European Jewry during World War II, and the American Palestine Committee, which supported a national homeland in Palestine for displaced and exiled Jews.
But it was the Rev. Dr. Franklin H. Littell, a distinguished United Methodist church historian, who organized NCLCIʼs immediate predecessor, Christians Concerned for Israel (CCI), after the Six-Day War. CCI sought to foster dialogue between Jews and Christians regarding Israel. Out of this continuing concern, NCLCI was born.
Throughout its history, NCLCI has continued to be a broad-based network of Christian leaders—Catholic, mainline Protestant, evangelical and independent—whose mutual goal is advocacy for Israel.
EDUCATION
From its inception, NCLCI has attracted distinguished scholars who seek to acquaint Christians with their indebtedness to Jews and Judaism, build Jewish-Christian cooperation in relation to Israel, and strengthen Christian support for the Jewish State.
ADVOCACY
NCLCI recognizes that the Land of Israel and the City of Jerusalem have been at the heart of Jewish hope and identity for more than 3,000 years.
NCLCI does not involve itself in Israel’s internal politics.
NCLCI values its relationship to various Jewish and Christian individuals and organizations while remaining an independent Christian organization.
No NCLCI officer or member may use its platform to proselytize Jews.
In its role as an advocate, NCLCI encourages the following:
• To be aware of the current issues affecting Israel and Jewish peoplehood
• To inform local and national leaders of your support for Israel
• To support the local Jewish community in combating antisemitism and anti-Israel propaganda.
NCLCI believes that its tours to Israel are unique. By traveling with NCLCI one has an opportunity to be updated on the complex and currently unfolding situation.
A fact-finding trip with NCLCI offers participants an opportunity to meet with members of the Knesset and other top Israeli officials as well as a cross-section of leading members of the Jewish and Palestinian communities.
Participants have also met with such church dignitaries as the Papal Nuncio, the Latin and Greek Orthodox Patriarchs, the Coptic Archbishop, and other important Protestant, ecumenical and interfaith leaders in Israel.
PAST and PRESENT NCLCI LEADERS
• Dr. Rose Thering, a Dominican sister and Professor Emerita of Jewish-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University. Sister Roseʼs research played a key role in excising antisemitic bias from Catholic educational materials following Vatican II.
• Rev. Edward Flannery, author of the seminal book, The Anguish of the Jews
• Rev. Dr. David A. Lewis, Assembly of God minister, author of many books on biblical prophecy and its relationship to Israel.
• Rev. Dr. James R. Lyons, a United Church of Christ minister who pioneered community and regional education as founder of the Ecumenical Institute for Jewish-Christian Studies in Michigan.
• Rev. Dr. Franklin H. Littell, author of more than thirty books including The Crucifixion of the Jews: The Failure of Christians to Understand the Jewish Experience.
• Dr. Richard C. Lux, Professor Emeritus of Scripture Studies at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Milwaukee, author of The Jewish People, the Holy Land, and the State of Israel: A Catholic View, and President Emeritus of NCLCI.
•Rev. Dr. Tricia Miller, current President of NCLCI, Christian Media Analyst at CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), and author of Jews and Anti-Judaism in Esther and the Church