Lutherans Seek Ethnically Diverse Leadership

       CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "If we're serious about making the church an inclusive place, we will have to begin to think differently about how we invite people of color into this church, how we prepare them for ministry and whether or not we, as a larger church, are willing to recognize the ways those communities of color affirm leaders," said the Rev. Kenneth W. Wheeler after an ethnic leadership consultation here Jan. 21-23. The ELCA Division for Ministry hosted the Multicultural Leadership Consultation.
       The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is re-examining the ways it identifies, recruits, educates and situates its leaders to better reflect the ethnic diversity of the United States and Caribbean.
       "Participants raised two primary obstacles to developing a larger cadre of ethnic leadership," wrote Kenneth W. Inskeep, director of the ELCA Department for Research and Evaluation, in a summary report.
       "The first is that the system used in the ELCA for identifying, preparing and placing its rostered leaders for service is generally perceived as inflexible," said Inskeep. "The second obstacle ... is the perception of a low level of support for persons once the decision is made to engage the process of becoming a rostered leader in the ELCA."
       About 98 percent of the ELCA's 5.2 million members are white, and the church has a goal that 10 percent of its membership will be "people of color or people whose primary language is other than English" by the start of 1998.
       "We're very short of the mark.  Many have suggested that one of the problems with that is the shortage of rostered leaders who are persons of color and language," said Madelyn H. Busse, ELCA director for candidacy.
       "Rostered leaders" of the ELCA are pastors, associates in ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.  About 97.5 percent or 12,091 of the church's 12,397 active rostered leaders are white.
       A purpose of the consultation was "to talk honestly about the roadblocks ... from recruitment, through the theological education processes and candidacy, and how we support people once they're out there," said Busse.
       A master of divinity is the minimum degree required of ELCA clergy.  Earning the degree usually requires a bachelor's degree and four years of seminary education, including a parish internship during the third year.  Busse said one question for the consultation was whether or not that is the best model for preparing all pastors.
       Inskeep wrote, "Many of the consultation participants pointed out that the ELCA uses a relatively standardized and uniform set of procedures for developing and deploying leaders developed around the model of `academy' while the process in the ethnic communities is often less formal."  He added that the perception of inflexibility exists despite "alternative routes" the church has developed to the academic model.
       "It was a time to test the possibility of dealing with ethnic ministries using a new model," said the Rev. Joseph M. Wagner, executive director of the ELCA Division for Ministry. "The model is basically each community honoring the distinctive characteristics of the other communities ... to recognize and appreciate the differences in our ways of selecting and training leaders."
       About 30 people took part in the consultation; most were staff of the ELCA Divisions for Ministry and Outreach, Commission for Multicultural Ministries and other units of the church. Others represented the church's synods and seminaries, including two bishops and a seminary president.
       The consultation recommended that ELCA Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson assemble key staff people from various church units to oversee several "project teams that will focus on providing additional support for persons from the ethnic communities throughout the course of their service in the ELCA" - - from recruitment to retirement.
       Project teams would develop "no more than two specific five-year goals with an associated strategy for achieving those goals."
       Wagner said the reason for any change would not be to create separate systems for each ethnic group but "to appreciate the distinctiveness of various communities and to build a new strength for the future."
       "One of the tasks of this group is to help create the will that will bring a very different climate in this church ... a church that, as an African American pastor, I've been a part of for 15 years," said Wheeler, assistant to the bishop of the ELCA's Greater Milwaukee Synod.  "I don't think the work is yet complete."
       The first variation may be in who the church turns to for naming its leaders.  "We need to listen to the elders in those communities of color, identify mentors and simply walk into congregations and hear what the lay people say about who the leaders are in the church," said Wheeler.
       "Once we have identified those bright lights, we've got to take care to make sure that we don't dim those lights ... that the lights don't burn out," he said.  "Once they enter our colleges and beyond our colleges to our seminaries, make sure they have a community that's going to walk with them every step of the way, so they don't feel we've brought them into a church just to leave them."
       "We've got to make sure there is enough financial commitment," Wheeler said.  "If we are serious about them and if they are serious about serving in the church, the financial piece ought not to become a barrier."
       The church's support must follow new leaders into their first assignments, he said.  "It's important that bishops and bishops' staffs begin to become proactive in their care for pastors of color in particular."
       "So often those individuals end up in places where there may not be any other pastors of color," said Wheeler.  "They end up feeling frustrated and, in some cases, even angry, because they sense there is no one there who understands their situation nor is there anyone there who cares about them."

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Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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