More on the FLC gifts

Flipping through the pages of an early book on the first 30 years of the Asian Church Women’s Conference, I noted that the editor Eunice Kim¹ had been given permission to quote from the book Just Because written by Margaret Shannon².

Dr Margaret Shannon

Throughout the late 1950s, the 60s and 70s, Margaret wrote many first-hand accounts of the early relationship between the ACWC and the East Asian Christian Conference regarding the administration of the FLC fund, and the effects of the allocation of those FLC monies. One example she gave was of Madeline Barot's reaction, when she witnessed the tangible practice of the FLC fund. At the time, Madeline was the head of the Men and Women in the Church and Society department of the World Council of Churches.

Margaret recorded:

            ‘Unexpectedly in 1958 a number of worthy projects on five different continents each received a gift of $1,000 [USD] from the EACC through the courtesy of the Fellowship of the Least Coin. One recipient was a church in Harlem. The gift would be used for their summer youth program. Another grant went for the expense of a Cameroun pastor to work among African students in Paris. Other gifts were made to South America and Africa and several to Asia.

‘The gift to CIMADE, a French Aid Committee which sponsored the Cameroun pastor, came to the attention of Madeline Barot of the W.C.C. In 1961 she attended the meeting of the EACC (former name of CCA) in Madras and noted that the women (Asian Church Women) who were accumulating the money were not getting much credit. So when it came for her turn to speak, she started out by thanking “the women” of Asia for the gift to the Cameroun pastor in Paris. She then continued to point out what “the women” of Asia had done in other parts of the world through their prophetic way of financing ecumenical mission. The headline of the newspaper the next day read something like “WOMEN OF ASIA MAKE POSSIBLE WORLD SERVICE.” The leaders of the EACC read the newspaper and belatedly rejoiced in the fact that among them were certain amazing women.

‘At the second meeting of the Asian Church Women’s Conference in Petbury, Thailand in 1962, Madeline Barot, Dr. Niles and I (Margaret Shannon) were all present. Dr. Niles convened a consultative group to discuss the policy and practices which should assure continuity of the Fellowship of the Least Coin. This plenary body of ninety Asian Women agreed to the following recommendations:

…that the prayer aspect of the movement be emphasized and that a symbol and a brochure be developed to focus on this primary purpose. (Later the Circle of Prayer was published bi-annually and the symbol, a circle of praying hands forming a lotus flower, was adopted.)

…that all national groups send their funds designated for the Fellowship of the Least Coin through the EACC account of the WCC in Geneva;

…that a person on each continent be chosen to become a member by correspondence of the Committee which approved expenditure of funds;

…that all correspondence and acknowledgement of gifts should come from Asia;

…that grants continue to be made in all regions of the world;

…that the Asian Church Women’s Conference be authorized to save a portion each year toward its quadrennial meeting;

…that the accumulated funds be used primarily for ecumenical participation of women in world planning or objects of relief, reconciliation and evangelism;

…that individuals be urged to use no more than the least coin of their own country as a symbol of their prayer activity; that national or regional channels avoid publicizing the total gifts in order not to look or be competitive.”’

Just Because pages 334–335

As you can see, the ACWC and EACC worked closely with one another to promote and administer the FLC prayer movement. Many recipients of the FLC funds were surprised and grateful for the generous support they received for their projects.

In 1963, the members of the Interim Committee of Australian Church Women were also surprised when they were advised by the office of the Australian Council of Churches that a mystery gift of $1,000 had been received from the Fellowship of the Least Coin. See https://www.acw.org.au/post/australia-is-introduced-to-the-flc

More about the FLC in next month’s post.

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¹ Eunice (Yoo Sook) Kim was the ACWC Executive Secretary from October 1982 to 1994. Eunice was the first Executive Secretary to be solely responsible for just the ACWC, and the FLC continued to be administered by Shanti Solomon without responsibility for the ACWC. Eunice’s compilation of the first 30 years of the ACWC is mainly a collection of reflections from several of the early leaders because very few of the earlier records had been preserved by the ACWC officers. Eunice was also indebted to Margaret Shannon for access to her personal files and photos.

² Dr Margaret Shannon was the Secretary for Women's Work of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church USA when she organised and led the Presbyterian Women’s Pacific Fellowship Team in 1956. Mrs Shanti Solomon, the founder of the FLC, was a member of this team, and it was during her stay in the Philippines that the idea of the FLC emerged as a vision from God.

Later, Dr Shannon was the Executive Director of Church Women United in the USA from 1966 to 1975, and she wrote Just Because: The story of the national movement of Church Women United in the U.S.A., 1941 through 1975, ©1977 by Margaret Shannon, Omega Books, Corte Madera, California.

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