CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on Nov. 11 elected the Rev.
Sherman G. Hicks to serve a four-year term as executive director
of ELCA Multicultural Ministries effective immediately. The Rev.
Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the church, nominated Hicks.
The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and
serves as the legislative authority of the church between
churchwide assemblies. The council met here Nov. 11-13.
Assemblies are held every other year; the next is here Aug. 6-12,
2007.
"Pastor Hicks comes to this position with exceptional
leadership experience, theological wisdom and a vision for the
ELCA's commitment to becoming an increasingly multicultural and
intentionally anti-racist church," said Hanson.
"Hicks' extensive relationships through the ELCA as synod
bishop, parish pastor and staff of the former ELCA Division for
Outreach prepared him well for his new call. Pastor Hicks is
highly respected for his collegial style of leadership and for
his ability to interpret with clarity God's call for us to be a
church in mission," said Hanson.
Hicks, 59, served as mission director for the ELCA Delaware-
Maryland Synod, Baltimore, and ELCA Metropolitan Washington,
D.C., Synod. He was senior pastor at First Trinity Lutheran
Church, Washington, D.C., from 1995 to 2003; bishop of the ELCA
Metropolitan Chicago Synod from 1988 to 1995; associate executive
director of the former ELCA Division for Outreach and ELCA
director of mission support from 1987 to 1988; and assistant to
the bishop of the Illinois Synod of the former Lutheran Church in
America from 1979 to 1987. Hicks served as co-pastor of Holy
Trinity Lutheran Church, East Orange, N.J., and pastor of
Concordia Lutheran Church, Buffalo, N.Y.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Hicks graduated from Wittenberg
University, Springfield, Ohio, and Hamma School of Theology,
Springfield, Ohio. Wittenberg is one of 28 colleges and
universities of the ELCA. Hamma merged with the Evangelical
Lutheran Theological Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, to form Trinity
Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, one of eight seminaries of
the ELCA.
Multicultural Ministries is a new unit in the churchwide
organization. It coordinates, educates and holds accountable
churchwide efforts and programs with synods, regions,
institutions and agencies of the church as they identify, develop
and strengthen the multicultural dimensions of their work. The
unit coordinates churchwide implementation of ethnic-specific
ministry strategies and reviews and monitors all churchwide
programs to maintain and enhance the ELCA's commitment to become
an antiracist, multicultural church.
- - -
Information about ELCA Multicultural Ministries is available
at http://www.ELCA.org/cmm on the Internet.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
- - -
About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
