The Board of Church and Society administers the Jack and Kay Crum Award that celebrates prophetic ministry in our Conference.
History and Purpose
In 1990, Jack and Kay Crum established The Endowment for Prophetic Church. The purpose of the Endowment is to encourage churches and ordained ministers to be “on the cutting edge for incisive prophetic ministry” in order to aid NC Conference churches to become active in social action, not just social service.
About Jack Crum
John Hammond “Jack” Crum (1926-2008) served as an elder in the NC Conference for 37 years (1953-1989) and spent his life in ministry both engaging in and supporting Christian social action. Jack received his M.Div. from Duke University (1956) and his D.Min. from Boston University (1975). He served as the director of Christian Social Action for the N.C. Council of Churches from 1964 to 1969 and was given the award for Distinguished Service on the Care of Ecumenical Christianity from the N.C. Council of Churches in 1997. In addition to the Endowment for a Prophetic Church, Crum established a Scholarship Endowment Fund for Prophetic Ministries with Duke University Divinity School in 2000 to assist the education of students for an informed Christian activism that confronts both system and prejudices for constructive change.
Recent Recipients
In 2024, the Board of Church and Society gifted the Crum Award to the following organizations:
- Partners in Ministry, Laurinburg
- Benson Memorial United Methodist Church, Raleigh
- Duke Memorial United Methodist Church, Durham
Read more about these prophetic ministries.