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Title: Arab Lutherans to Affiliate With ELCA ELCA NEWS SERVICE April 15, 1996 ARAB LUTHERANS TO AFFILIATE WITH ELCA The Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage (ALAMEH) was approved for affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at the March 2-3 meeting of the Commission for multicultural Ministries (CMM). The steering committee recommended to the ELCA Church Council that CMM "be given the necessary additional funding to assist and support ALAMEH by 1997." ALAMEH's constituting assembly was in July 1993. This is a matter of justice, said Audrey T. Russell, Philadelphia. "This decision should not be based on money." In other business, the steering committee directed its chair, the Rev. W. Arthur Lewis, to write to Augsburg Fortress, the ELCA's publishing house, in response to a letter the committee received about the lack of resources available from Augsburg during Black History Month. The committee voted down a recommendation that would have had each of the ethnic associations -- African American, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American -- nominate four people from their community to serve on the commission's steering committee. Currently, steering committee members are nominated by division boards, ELCA Church Council and the ethnic associations. The steering committee nominated the Rev. Frederick E.J. Rajan for re-election as the commission#s executive director at the ELCA Church Council's April meeting. For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service, (312) 380-2958; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312) 380-2955; Lia Christiansen, Asst. Dir., (312) 380-2956