Winkler picked to head National Council of Churches

As the National Council of Churches struggled year after year with growing deficits, a United Methodist official who headed the denomination’s social justice arm from a building on the edge of Capitol Hill kept urging the NCC to relocate from Manhattan to Washington, D.C.

Earlier this year, that’s exactly what the downsized NCC did. And when its governing board met in Chicago on November 18 to elect a new executive, it nominated and elected James E. Winkler, the one who suggested the move into the offices of the United Methodist Building.

Winkler will succeed Peg Birk, who has served as transitional general secretary of the NCC since July 2012. The previous general secretary was Michael Kinnamon, who resigned in 2011 for health reasons.