Profile: Rev. John L. McCullough
Executive Director & CEO, Church World Service
The Rev. John L. McCullough is Executive Director and CEO of Church World Service, an international humanitarian agency providing emergency relief, advocacy, sustainable development, and refugee assistance around the world and in the United States.
Since joining Church World Service in June of 2000, Rev. McCullough has been at the forefront of agency efforts to press for human rights and the empowerment of civil society in developing countries and to expand the role of the church as a compassionate and prophetic voice for justice.
He sees empowering people as the very heart of the CWS contribution to humanitarian work. Says McCullough, “Whether the challenge is chronic--like long-term food shortage, bad water or lack of educational opportunities--or a crisis such as a natural or human-made disaster, or even a combination of the two, we must dedicate ourselves to working with affected people to identify their needs, access the resources necessary to address those needs, and build a foundation for the future.”
He is a strong advocate for increased ecumenical cooperation in global work and regularly leads or accompanies ecumenical delegations on fact-finding, solidarity, and peace-building missions to countries throughout the world.
He has led or been part of several delegations to trouble spots around the world, including a fact-finding mission to the Thailand-Burma border, site of a major humanitarian crisis for thousands of displaced people; a precedent-setting delegation of faith leaders representing the historic African American churches to Israel and Palestine; a delegation to North Korea in response to the growing political and humanitarian crisis there; a delegation to Colombia to investigate the plight of that country’s displaced and abused Afro-Colombian people; and a delegation to the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Gambia to support peace-building efforts by churches in West Africa’s Mano River Union.
Shortly before the invasion of Iraq by the United States, McCullough participated in a high level humanitarian mission to Iraq, sponsored by the Center for Social and Economic Rights to assess the status and probable impacts of war on a vulnerable Iraqi population already suffering from a decade of sanctions. Before the war, he was key spokesperson for Church World Service’s opposition to the U.S. pre-emptive strike against Iraq and against military control of humanitarian response within Iraq.
As architect of the agency’s multi-year Africa Initiative, he presented to members of the UN HABITAT community his vision for CWS to guide the establishment of School Safe Zones, secure, stimulating and nurturing environments for children to learn across the continent. As an outgrowth of the success of the program, the government of Kenya has collaborated with CWS on the publication and distribution of a School Safe Zones manual to extend the reach of the program to schools throughout the country.
McCullough is a graduate of the Boston University School of Theology, which has honored him with its Distinguished Alumni award. An ordained minister in The United Methodist Church, he has served pastorates in the United States and Kenya and has held leadership positions at the denomination’s global mission agency. Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, 212-870-2676, lcrosson@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526, jdragin@gis.net
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