Title: ELCA Holds Forum to Highlight Multicultural Ministry Plans
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 13, 2000

ELCA HOLDS FORUM TO HIGHLIGHT MULTICULTURAL MINISTRY PLANS
00-09-MR

     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 [log in to unmask]
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html