ELCA Committee Pushes Ethnic-Specific Ministry Plans Forward

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The steering committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Commission for Multicultural Ministries (CMM) recommended that the ELCA Church Council endorse two ethnic-ministry strategies and asked the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop to commend the concept of a "European American anti-racism association" when it met here Feb. 25-26.
The committee forwarded "Many Voices Tell the Story, Create the Vision: Build the Future" -- an African Descent ministry strategy -- to the ELCA Church Council for review and consideration for placing the strategy on the agenda of the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The council will meet here April 8-11; the next assembly will be held in Orlando, Fla., Aug. 8-14.
African American, African Caribbean and African National communities in the ELCA developed the strategy.
"In 1990 there were 50,294 people of African descent in the ELCA. That's less than one percent of the church's total baptized membership. In 2003 there were 54,158 people of African descent in the church," said the Rev. Julius Carroll IV, CMM director for African American/Black ministries.
Carroll presented the plan and invited the committee's comments. Responses and questions from the committee will be given to the developers of the strategy.
Of the ELCA's 10,657 congregations, more than half of the members in 240 congregations are people of African descent. "Eight of the 240 churches have an average worship attendance of more than 200 people. Of the 240 congregations, 117 of them are served by pastors of African descent and 123 are served by White pastors," Carroll said.
"Time and time again, within our focus groups across the country, [pastoral] leadership was lifted up as the greatest need of African descent congregations in the ELCA," he said.
"The strategy's bottom line" is to help sustain "the strength of the 240 African descent congregations, so that they can model for the wider church how to engage in ministry among people of African descent," said Carroll.
The strategy features a theological statement, vision, and mission opportunities, goals and "mission actions" regarding pastoral leadership, worship, witness, discipleship, stewardship, family ministries, social justice, and unity and diversity. It also builds on the work of the African American Lutheran Association (AALA) of the ELCA. The strategy will be presented to the Tenth Assembly of AALA, July 14-17, 2005, in Atlanta.
In a separate action, the steering committee affirmed and supported the ministry goals outlined in the "Arab and Middle Eastern Ministry Strategy: Bridges Across History, Lands and Cultures." The committee forwarded the document to the Church Council for its review and consideration for placing the strategy on the agenda of the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
"The Arab and Middle Eastern community is the smallest and newest in the ELCA," said the Rev. Bassam J. Abdallah, CMM consultant for Arab and Middle Eastern ministries.
Three issues that face this community are "the assimilation and acculturation of Arabs into American society, the great division between the Christian majority and Muslim minority, and the societal stigma of being Arab in the United States particularly after Sept. 11, 2001," Abdallah told the committee.
"There are about 1,300 Arab and Middle Eastern members of the ELCA," Abdallah said. "We sometimes forget that Arab and Middle Eastern people are the gate-keepers of the faith. Through the strategy, we are trying to provide a history of our people to the wider church and [identify ways] of how we can get the entire church not to overlook our presence. This is a core issue that needs to be addressed in the church," he said.
The strategy includes "historical background" on the ELCA Arab and Middle Eastern community, theological and Biblical foundations, goals and strategies, and a resolution to the ELCA Church Council.
In another action, the committee asked the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop to "commend" the concept of forming a "European American anti-racist association" to help renew the church's commitment to becoming an anti-racist multicultural church.
The idea for the association was discussed "at a December 2004 meeting involving staff of CMM, the Lutheran Human Relations Association and others," said committee member Justin M. Oakman, St. Paul, Minn.
At the meeting, "we discussed how White people in the church can work to support people of color in fighting racism and organize in a formal way to fully and effectively support the work of the ELCA's five ethnic-specific organizations," Oakman told the committee.
The ELCA's five associations are AALA; Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage; Association of Asian and Pacific Islanders; American Indian and Alaska Native Association; and Asociacion Luterana de Ministerios Hispanos (Lutheran Association of Hispanic Ministries).
"European Americans, in conversation with the current five ethnic associations, take full responsibility for dismantling societal and ecclesiastical racism," Oakman said. "We will work to build more momentum and gather members of the church interested in supporting the association to determine next steps," he said.
"The restructuring of the churchwide organization provides a kairos moment in which the ELCA can renew its commitments to being an anti-racist multicultural church," said Oakman.
This year the ELCA churchwide organization is restructuring its ministries to align itself with the "Plan for Mission" endorsed by the 2003 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. The plan outlines the reorganization of the ELCA churchwide office and the church's governance and structure, which replaces the Commission for Multicultural Ministries with a multicultural ministry program unit. Proposed changes to the ELCA Constitution related to structure and governance will be considered at the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
The CMM steering committee "is asking the Office of the Presiding Bishop to commend the concept of the association because the steering committee and CMM [are proposed to] no longer exist," said the Rev. Beth Marie Warpmaeker, Minneapolis, committee member.
In other business, the committee:
+ received a report from the Rev. Frederick E.N. Rajan, CMM executive director. "At the birth of our church, we set a goal that within 10 years of our existence at least 10 percent of our membership will be people of color. Seventeen years later we have yet to accomplish this goal. Today the membership [of people of color or whose primary language is not English in the church] is around three percent. This worthy goal remains an unfinished business," Rajan told the committee. "I have not given up hope. Never have, never will. Baptized into Christ and fed by the sacred bread and wine, I march along with you knowing God is in charge."
+ reviewed a report and recommendations on homosexuality from the task force for the ELCA studies on sexuality. The report, made public on Jan. 13, is available at http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney on the Web. Dr. John Prabhakar, Rochelle, Ill., a member of the steering committee and of the task force, provided an overview of the report and recommendations. He told the CMM steering committee that the recommendations are "just recommendations, not policy. This is a historical document."
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The Commission for Multicultural Ministries has a home page at http://www.elca.org/cmm/ on the ELCA Web site.

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John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
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