ELCA NEWS SERVICE
November 14, 2006
ELCA Council Affirms New Association, Antiracism, Multicultural Goals
06-171-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) affirmed the creation of a
European American Association in the ELCA to join the church's
five ethnic associations. The council also received a report
from the ELCA coordinator for antiracism education and training,
and it set in motion plans for its own antiracism education and
training.
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. 6-11,
2007.
"The European American Association would have the following
purposes: help ELCA European Americans identify with their own
heritages and cultures; assist this church to be an antiracist
multicultural church; and join in full and equal partnership with
the current five ethnic associations in journeying together toward
an antiracist multicultural church," said background material
prepared for the council meeting.
The European American Association in the ELCA would stand
alongside the African American Lutheran Association, American
Indian/Alaska Native Association-ELCA, Asociacion Luterana de
Ministerios Hispanos de la Iglesia Evangelica Luterana en America
(Association of Hispanic Ministries of the ELCA), Association of
Asians/Pacific Islanders-ELCA and Association of Lutherans of
Arab/Middle Eastern Heritage.
Background information on the proposal for the new
association said, after more than two decades of discussion, a
recent restructuring of the ELCA churchwide organization produced
the possibility "for this church to renew its commitment to being
a truly multicultural church by having the acknowledged and
active participation of all its members as equal partners at the
multicultural table. Prior to this opportunity, those in this
church's European American community have not had the structure
to journey together with the five ethnic associations."
"In a sense we are trying to create a new vision," the Rev.
Sherman G. Hicks, executive director, ELCA Multicultural
Ministries, told the council. "This church has looked at
'multicultural' as basically 'ethnic-specific,' and that is not
multicultural," he said. "It is time that we start giving the
vision that is truly representative of the words and what I
believe this church has been saying it wants to be and do."
Hicks said having a European American association would help
ELCA Multicultural Ministries be more multicultural. Even though
each association represents a different number of Lutherans and a
different percentage of the ELCA's membership, Multicultural
Ministries would work toward involving each community in making
the church multicultural.
ELCA Multicultural Ministries will have a line in its budget
for the new association with those of the other associations.
Like the other associations, the European American Association
will use the staff services of ELCA Multicultural Ministries.
Shenandoah Gale, in her position of coordinator for antiracism
education and training in the ELCA Office of the Presiding
Bishop, would also provide support.
Report on Antiracism Education
"As a 98 percent white church in an increasingly
multicultural world, God in God's grace calls the ELCA to
acknowledge and address systemic racism within this institution,"
Gale said in her written report to the council. "In our
individual and gathered leadership roles, we have the shared
opportunity and responsibility to become an antiracist,
multicultural church."
"The tentacles of racism in the United States and the ELCA
are centuries old and the negative impact on all communities is
soulfully deep. No one training method or educational event
eradicates racism," Gale wrote. "We must create a sustained and
accountable initiative of ongoing education, critical self-
examination, and changes to institutional policies and
practices," she said.
The council took action that Gale recommended in her report
to appoint an antiracism planning team that will bring a strategy
for the council's antiracism education and training to its next
meeting in April 2007. It also scheduled antiracism training
sessions to begin its November 2007 meeting.
Carlos Peņa, ELCA vice president and council chair,
Galveston, Texas, appointed four members of the Church Council to
serve on an antiracism planning committee: Judith A. Bunker,
Pinellas Park, Fla.; Dr. Lynette M. Reitz, Muncy, Pa.; Dr. Allan
E. Thomas, Yeadon, Pa.; and Judith Tutt-Starr, Los Angeles.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog
