ELCA Holds Forum to Highlight Multicultural Ministry Plans

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) held a forum Jan. 6-8 to highlight the church's activities, plans and aspirations for multicultural ministry in preparation for a new millennium. About 80 lay leaders, clergy and staff of the ELCA's churchwide offices and 65 synods met here for the Multicultural Ministry Synod Network Gathering at the Sheraton Gateway Suites Hotel.
"After 12 years of multicultural ministry efforts in our church, significant programs and activities continue to emerge," said the Rev. Frederick E.N. Rajan, executive director, ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries.
Objectives of the gathering included developing a deeper understanding of ELCA resources available to support multicultural ministries in synods and other churchwide expressions.
Participants received reports from the commission's racial justice ministry and multicultural education, and from five ethnic communities: African American and Black, American Indian and Alaska Native, Arab and Middle Eastern, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Hispanic/Latino.
Rajan offered four areas of special focus for participants to consider in strengthening the work of the commission, synods and other churchwide expressions:
+ greater involvement of leaders from the community in the life of the whole
church by identifying candidates for ministry and offering lay leadership training;
+ address the need to have more people of color on staff at the eight seminaries
of the ELCA and 28 colleges and universities associated with the church;
+ offer candidates in ministry training opportunities in congregations respective
of their culture; and
+ ministry among the growing immigrant population.
"Since 1965 the United States has gone through tremendous demographic changes in part due to the liberalization of immigration laws. We are exploring various strategies to reach the growing immigrant population," said Rajan.
"Multicultural ministries must not be the least funded ministry in synods and other expressions of the church," said Sylvia Pate, Dayton, Ohio, president of the African American Lutheran Association. "We must invest in resources that train to build strong leaders," Pate told participants.
The gathering also offered opportunities for participants to learn from each other's experiences in multicultural ministries, and to share new and innovative ways of engaging in ministry. Participants shared their ideas and thoughts during "stories to tell" time.
"The ELCA has forgotten to be a missionary church -- to plant the seed of the gospel in people. Mission should be at the heart of the church," said the Rev. Carlos E. Paiva, Iglesia Luterana Angelica, Los Angeles. "The Hispanic people are passionate about mission. We have our own missionaries doing mission within our own communities," Paiva said.
The Rev. Bassam J. Abdallah, Hammond, Ind., ELCA consultant on Arab and Middle Eastern ministries, said, "Many people assume that our community is mostly Muslim. There are Christian and Lutheran Arab and Middle Easterners. We are the forefathers of this faith. Jesus is from us."
"Racism, the misuse of God's gift of diversity, is a sin that not only permeates society but the church as well," said D. Christine May, ELCA director for racial justice ministries. "The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America continues to be confronted by the challenge to dismantle racism," May told participants.
"One manifestation of this sin is that while our nation is 28 percent persons of color, the church membership is just a little over 2 percent people of color. This remains true despite a well-intentioned goal set in 1987 to raise membership of people of color or whose primary language is other than English in our church to 10 percent. Twelve years later racism remains one of the prominent barriers to our church becoming more multicultural," May said.
"We need to help congregations think multiculturally and not so much ethnic-specifically," said the Rev. Arden G. Dorn, Christ the King Lutheran Church, Phoenix.
"Many pastors are caring and thoughtful but do not receive support from their congregation to carry out all the multicultural things pastors would like to do," said Bonita Evans, Olympia, Wash., a member of the commission's steering committee. "We have people share stories in congregations. We must work together, and we need to join hands as one church community," Evans said.
"The ELCA and its synods need to move from forming multicultural ministries to developing a multicultural conscience," said the Rev. Peter K. Shen, Terrace Heights Lutheran Church, Yakima, Wash.
On the last day of the gathering, participants discussed the need for multicultural education and anti-racism training in the 65 synods of the ELCA; developed communication and support networks among synods involved in multicultural ministries; recognized the need for Bible study; and emphasized the need to continue support for the ELCA Multicultural Writers' Workshop designed to introduce experienced writers to the range of writing opportunities for ELCA publications and resources.
The commission holds an annual Multicultural Mission Institute to help congregations and individuals of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds "reach out to others and experience a multicultural community." The 2000 Multicultural Mission Institute will take place Nov. 3-5 in Los Angeles, Calif.
The Multicultural Ministry Synod Network Gathering was funded in part by Aid Association for Lutherans, a fraternal benefits organization based in Appleton, Wis.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html