ELCA Commitment to Ethnic Diversity

Strategies for becoming a multicultural church

The ELCA recommitted itself to “becoming more diverse, multicultural and multigenerational in an ever-changing and increasingly pluralistic context” in
2005 (  ). This included an increased focus on people of color and people
whose primary language is other than English.

At the same time, this church recommitted itself to addressing related issues of social justice by “confront[ing] the scandalous realities of racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, age, gender, familial, sexual, physical, personal and class barriers that often manifest themselves in exclusion, poverty, hunger and violence.”

To help fulfill these commitments specifically regarding race, ethnicity, and culture, the ELCA has ethnic strategies for the following groups:

• African descent
• American Indians and Alaska Natives
• Arabs and Middle Easterners 
• Asians and Pacific Islanders
• Latinos