ELCA Consults White Pastors Serving Multicultural Congregations

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Sitting upright at the first desk facing
the podium, the trio resembled students -- unmarked by a
collective decade of parish ministries.  Mentors, each with
decades of experience, leaned back from the desk near the
windows, each moment learning new things from speakers and from
their younger counterparts.
     Twenty-five pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) accepted an invitation to come together here for a
consultation.  They are white pastors serving congregations in
multicultural settings in Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland Heights
and Columbus, Ohio, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee,
Philadelphia, and Oakland and Riverside, Calif.
     White pastors serve 100 of the 246 ELCA congregations where
at least 20 percent of the members consider themselves to be of
African descent, said the Rev. Julius Carroll IV, director for
African American ministries, ELCA Multicultural Ministries.
     "I found the consultation to be a wonderful support for
white urban pastors in multicultural settings.  I appreciated the
give and take of leaders who face similar challenges and
opportunities," said the Rev. David A. Roschke, Salem Evangelical
Lutheran Church, Houston.
     One pastor said he's gone a long time feeling unappreciated
by the larger church.  "This is the first time in 11 years I have
felt and believed that my contributions to the life and ministry
of this Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and to its African
American expression have been honored," said the Rev. Jeffrey M.
Iacobazzi, First Trinity Lutheran Church, Indianapolis.
     "Speaker after speaker, executive after executive,
professional after professional in this organization thanked us
as white pastors," Iacobazzi said.  "I was really glad to be
thanked by wholly dedicated faith-filled ministers," he said.
"It was worth the price of admission."
     "The consultation provided valuable time to sit at the feet
of outstanding African descent theologians, lay leaders and
practitioners of ministry in this church.  We were affirmed in
our call to multicultural congregations and communities and
refreshed by the opportunity to network with others," said the
Rev. William J. Gohl Jr., Epiphany Lutheran Church, Baltimore.
     "I was encouraged by the experiences of seasoned pastors
serving in African descent congregations, as well as by the
resources our African descent sisters and brothers commended to
us for study and immersion," said the Rev. Arwyn A.P. Gohl,
Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church, Baltimore.  "As an urban
pastor fresh from our seminary at Gettysburg, I felt empowered
and revived for ministry," she said.
     Iacobazzi contrasted the help he received preparing for his
ministry to that of a missionary who would get months of
intensive training before being transplanted into an unfamiliar
culture.  "We got none of that.  We had to figure all of that out
on our own.  It was often an isolating and lonely experience," he
said.  "It felt to me like that was going unnoticed."
     "Multicultural ministry is difficult, and it was affirming
to know that the ELCA understands something of the difficulties
of multicultural ministry," Roschke said.  "The ELCA has a long
way to go in becoming more multicultural, but little by little we
move forward," he said.
     In 1987 the ELCA's constituting convention adopted the goal
"that within 10 years of its establishment its membership shall
include at least 10 percent people of color and/or primarily
language other than English."  At that point, about 2 percent of
the ELCA's members were people of color.  Twenty years later, the
church claims approximately 3.1 percent of its members are people
of color.

BALTIMORE
     The Rev. T. Gregory Knepp is the pastor of St. John Lutheran
Church in Baltimore.  St. John was founded the same day in 1908
as, and across town from, Epiphany Lutheran Church, where his
longtime friend Bill Gohl is pastor.
     In 2006, Arwyn married Bill Gohl and graduated from Lutheran
Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.  Knepp urged the Gohls to
"come back to the city," Bill Gohl said.  The Gohls had done
their seminary internships in the Baltimore area -- Bill's at
Epiphany.
     Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church is Arwyn Gohl's first
call out of seminary.  Epiphany is about two miles away.  "We
both love it here, and we intend to be here for a very long
time," she said.
     "Gregg is a model of commitment to community, longevity and
persistence," Bill Gohl said.  The three pastors are building on
their friendship to strengthen the three Baltimore congregations.
     Jerusalem is a 165-year-old congregation founded by and for
German immigrants.  Members are now "a healthy mix of Anglo,
African American and African immigrant Christians sharing blended
worship and substantial commitments to outreach, evangelism and
social ministry in its neighborhood," Bill Gohl said.
     The congregation at St. John, "like its surrounding
neighborhood, is 98 percent people of African descent, including
African American and African Caribbean members," Knepp said.
     Epiphany is the ELCA's second-largest worshiping community
in Baltimore.  It's an Anglo congregation in a community that is
attracting residents of African descent.
     Bill Gohl said Knepp and he are working to help Epiphany and
St. John support each other in mission.  "Epiphany can share
financial resources, and St. John's can help disciple us for
intentional multicultural ministry in an African descent
context," he said.
     "Considering the common history of the two congregations,
St. John's and Epiphany have established a 'sister congregation
relationship,' which we hope may help Epiphany make the
transition to become a more multicultural congregation," Knepp
said.
     The two congregations are planning to celebrate their
centennials together in 2008.  The Gohls and Knepp said the ELCA
consultation inspired them to make the celebration "a multi-
congregational revival for Lutheran churches in Baltimore."
     They've invited the Rev. Kathryn I. Love, assistant director
for evangelism and director for prayer and renewal, ELCA
Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission, to serve as
evangelist for the event.  She spoke about evangelism among
people of African descent at the consultation and led a
discussion of evangelism best practices.
     As a result of the consultation, Arwyn Gohl said she's taken
part in a multicultural worship project through the Calvin
Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Mich., and the ELCA
Delaware-Maryland Synod.  She said she's become more convinced
that multicultural worship "is necessary for Jerusalem to be
rooted in the community."
     The Rev. James M. Capers, Lamb of God Lutheran Church,
Indianapolis, and the Rev. Lamont Wells, Lutheran Church of the
Atonement, Atlanta, led a day of workshops on worship and
preaching in the African American context during the
consultation.

INDIANAPOLIS
     Iacobazzi describes First Trinity Lutheran Church as a
small, "borderline self-sufficient" congregation that is a 50-50
mix of people of African and European descent.  He's been its
pastor for 11 years.
     The congregation was founded in 1868.  In the 1970s African
Americans moved into the neighborhood around First Lutheran, and
the congregation gained a reputation of being a safe and
welcoming place for biracial married couples, Iacobazzi said.
     Many members of the congregation drive in from nearby
neighborhoods for worship.  Neighborhoods to the north are
integrated, he noted.
     Church membership "tilts toward older," Iacobazzi said.
"The neighborhood itself has a lot more young people than our
congregation does.  We've made longstanding overtures to do
ministerial programs with the parents for their children, and
that's been a good thi