ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries Builds Windmills

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Eight "windmills" will produce "electricity" for = the ministry of the Commission for Multicultural Ministries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The commission's steering committee learned about the eight windmills at its meeting here Oct. 8-9.
"Today, about 50 miles inland from the southern coastal tip of India, windmills produce much needed electricity to meet the needs of my people," said the Rev. Frederick E.N. Rajan, executive director for the commission. Rajan offered eight "windmills" to serve the needs of people in the ELCA.
The eight windmills are "broad goals" for the commission in the next = two years, Rajan said. Four goals are to develop a full tuition reimbursement plan for people of color working in the ELCA's central offices who wish to seek a bachelor's degree, master's degree or a professional certificate; = to encourage the eight seminaries of the ELCA to help finance the tuition of students earning a doctorate degree in theology; to encourage the ELCA's = 28 colleges and universities to partner with ELCA seminaries to recruit = students of color to earn masters of divinity degrees; and to train men and women = for culture-specific ministries, Rajan said.
"The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago's scholar in residence program has a history of successfully recruiting and preparing men and = women of color to be teaching theologians," Rajan said. "All seminaries should establish a similar program."
"A total of 1,392 full-time students are enrolled in the master of divinity degree programs at our ELCA seminaries. Of these students, 45 = are persons of color," said Rajan. "The 28 colleges and universities of the = ELCA should develop a closer partnership with the church's seminaries to = recruit candidates for master of divinity degrees," he said.
The four other goals are to develop "ethnic ministry centers" = designed to serve ethnic-specific ministries of the church and communities; to establish internship programs supporting editors and writers for The = Lutheran, magazine of the ELCA, and Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, the publishing = house of the ELCA; to develop opportunities for welcoming immigrants from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America interested in the ELCA; and to increase participation in the annual ELCA Multicultural Mission Institute. This year's institute will take place Nov. 5-7 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The steering committee adopted the eight goals "in their general = form" and requested a progress report and plan for implementation at its = subsequent meetings.
"The windmills I have offered here are not grand ideas, and indeed = many will point out that they are not new ideas. They are a common-sense = approach to an uncommon task," said Rajan.
"These windmills are not an act of desperation but an act of hope. = Hope that despite all our struggles and failures in the past 12 years, I = believe in my heart that God has a purpose for us, and God will make our church a = truly multicultural church," Rajan told the steering committee.
With only a little more than 2 percent of its members people of color = or whose primary language is not English, the ELCA failed to reach its goal = to widen church membership to consist of 10 percent people of color between = 1987 and 1997.
"We must come to terms with the reality of our condition after 12 = years of existence," said Rajan. "Denial never has been a source of creativity, innovation or renewal. If the people of the southern tip of India lived = on denial, there would be no windmills today," he said.

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