Rev. Arie R. Brouwer; Leader in World Ecumenical Movement

The Rev. Arie R. Brouwer, a leader in world ecumenism who resigned in 1989 as head of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA when he fell out with other council leaders over the direction of the 49-million-member body, died Thursday at his home in Teaneck, N.J.

A council spokesman in New York City said Brouwer, who also was a top executive of the Reformed Church in America from 1977 to 1983 and deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches in Geneva from 1983 to 1984, was 58 and had been ill with cancer.

In 1987, two years after being elected to head the NCC, Brouwer led the first church delegation to North and South Korea since the country was divided at the end of World War II. Earlier, he had participated in the “Choose Life” conference in Geneva in which U.S. and Soviet church leaders formulated a call for disarmament.

He was a frequent visitor to the Soviet Union and was one of a handful of church leaders asked to address the 1,000th anniversary gathering of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1988. He also became one of the first church leaders to publicly disavow the apartheid policies of South Africa.

Although Brouwer was elected chief executive of the NCC in 1985 in a move aimed at broadening the council’s work with other religious groups around the world, he said at the time of his resignation four years later that many of his colleagues were unwilling to follow his recommendations. The final months of his tenure were marked by sharp personality conflicts, a mounting financial crisis and disillusionment with the council.

Afterward and until his health failed, he was involved with the Middle East Peace Makers, a Christian network seeking an end to Mideast conflicts.

Born in Iowa, Brouwer headed Reform churches in Michigan and New Jersey before joining the Reformed Church of America’s staff in 1968. He became executive secretary of the denomination and also served on the World Council of Churches’ Central Committee.

He is survived by his wife, Harriet, four children and one grandchild.