Denomination Moving Headquarters to Cleveland : 3rd Protestant Church Will Leave N.Y.

The United Church of Christ has decided to relocate its national headquarters from New York to Cleveland, becoming the third Protestant denomination to leave New York in recent years for less expensive environs.

At the church’s 17th General Synod here, more than 700 delegates representing the 1.7-million-member denomination approved the move by a margin of 448 to 294. The relocation became a subject of much debate from the opening days of the gathering.

Supporters of the move claimed that church money will be saved in the long run because the costs of doing business in Cleveland are substantially less than in New York. But opponents raised doubts about savings and contended that the church would abandon ecumenical leadership by leaving New York, an acknowledged interdenominational center, for a city which has no other national or state church headquarters.

Effect on Staff Unclear

Almost all of the United Church’s 310-person national staff work at three New York City sites, but it is unclear how many staff positions will be affected by the move. Several church bodies--including some of the largest, such as the Board for World Ministries--had said they would keep large portions of their staffs in New York, even if the move were approved.

One resolution proposed but rejected by the General Synod called for church headquarters to be located at the Interchurch Center at 475 Riverside Drive in New York, where the National Council of Churches has its offices. The resolution said new information showed that relocation estimates of the Cleveland move were incorrect.

The General Synod first considered leaving New York at its 1979 session, when it authorized a search for a more economical location. In 1987, a committee recommended St. Louis, but the General Synod that year, meeting in Cleveland, called for a reappraisal of relocation data from three cities--Cleveland, St. Louis and New York.

The new relocation committee ended up recommending the move to Cleveland.

Two Other Groups Move

The United Church’s decision comes on the heels of moves out of New York by two other major denominations in the last several years: the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which is now in Louisville, Ky., and the Lutheran Church in America, which merged with two other Lutheran denominations to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, headquartered in Chicago.

The Rev. Paul Sherry, who was elected president of the church Monday, pledged to work to reconcile any hurt feelings that might result from the headquarters move.

“We must not let the decision of the relocation of our national headquarters paralyze and divide us,” he said prior to the vote. “Whether it is in Cleveland or in New York, I intend to be the president of the whole church in faith, in action and in witness.”

Sherry, 55, was elected after turning back a late challenge from a black woman minister, the Rev. Yvonne Delk of New York, who heads the denomination’s social action and public policy agency.

First Contest Since 1969

The contest marked the first time since 1969 that there has been a contested election for the denomination’s top leadership post.

Delegates voted overwhelmingly not to release the secret-ballot election figures, according to a church spokesman, making it impossible to determine how close the election was.

Sherry has been executive director since 1983 of the United Church-related Community Renewal Society in Chicago, which works in support of congregations and community organizations on issues of racial and social justice.

He succeeds the Rev. Avery D. Post, who is retiring after completing three four-year terms beginning in 1977.