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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 3, 1999

ELCA BLACK ROSTERED LEADERS ENGAGE THE FUTURE
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     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Two hundred and fifty African American and Black
leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met here
June 21-23 for the first Black Rostered Leadership Summit.  Under the
theme "Remembering the Past ... Engaging the Future," the goal of the
gathering was to strengthen the ministry of Black Lutheran congregations
for the 21st century.
     "We, the rostered Black leaders of this Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America must define ourselves among ourselves," said the Rev.
Callon W. Holloway, bishop of the ELCA's Southern Ohio Synod, at the
summit's opening worship.  "We ministers must know what we and our
ministries are about, if we serve God and minister among his people.
     Rostered leaders of the ELCA are pastors, associates in ministry,
deaconesses, diaconal ministers.
     Others should know what we're doing and have input too.  They are
a part of this, but we are the ones who are accountable and bear
responsibility for our ministry and our works of faith today," he said.
     "We Lutherans of the Black church have gathered many times to meet
the needs of the predecessor church bodies and now the ELCA.  Can we
come together to meet the needs of our people?  We are marvelous
wordsmiths and planners.  If we do nothing else in the next few days I
want to discuss an action plan and, more important, implementation --
converting our words into action," said Holloway.
     "We cannot be afraid to lead this church.  God has a mission for
us.  We will follow Him by leading the church from within or from
without," he said.
     "God has put us in this place at this time to lead this church.
There is a huge amount of talent and power and love in this room and
among our people beyond this room.  We can make the church better and
even more faithful than it is.  We dare not withhold from the church the
gifts given to us by God," Holloway said.
     "As Black rostered leaders we are justified to serve God by
speaking and meeting and leading in every aspect of life, including home
and culture, politics, diplomacy, medicine, technology, economics,
education and even in the institutional church.  Others have credentials
to speak as specialists; so do we," he said.
     Only the church has the credentials to speak as the church, and it
is the Black church that contains the seed of religious rebirth in
American culture for our next generation, said Holloway.  "Our
credentials to lead this church are undeniable and are justified by
grace, and they are pure in heart.  We are not Nordic or Anglo-Saxon.
That may be where this church came from but it's not where God is
leading this denomination, he said.
     "One of the greatest needs of our church is to strengthen our
leaders by giving them opportunities to share experiences and to join
hands," said the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA.
     "This is particularly true of Black rostered leaders who are
spread coast to coast.  Scripture says -- it is good for brothers and
sisters to dwell together in unity.  It's good for you and it's good for
the whole church.  Together we are going to be able to explore the
special challenges of doing ministry in the Black community and identify
ways to strengthen that ministry and to foster a sense of collegiality
among one another.  It will be good," said Anderson.  Anderson's
greetings were brought to the summit via video.
     The Rev. Kenneth R. Olsen,  bishop of the ELCA's Metropolitan
Chicago Synod, the Rev. James Kenneth Echols, Lutheran School of
Theology at Chicago, Dr. Addie J. Butler, Vice President of the ELCA and
Will Williamson, Lutheran Brotherhood, offered greetings to the summit.
     "Black Americans continue to believe that there must be a God
somewhere," Dr.  Leah Gaskin Fitchue, Eastern Baptist Theological
Seminary, Atlanta.
     Black Americans are in many ways the most religious people in
America.  Eighty-two percent of Black Americans versus 67 percent of
White Americans are church members.   Ninety-two percent of Blacks
versus 55 percent of Whites say that religion is important in their
lives.  Eighty-six percent of Blacks versus 60 percent of Whites believe
that religion can answer their day-to-day problems, said Fitchue.
     "As Black leaders of religious institutions you have a waiting
audience," she said.  When asked of the institutions that were the most
important in facilitating a better quality of life, almost 50 percent of
Black Americans said that the Black church had been the most significant
institution."
     "You should be the risk takers.  You should be bold, radical,
impossible, and outrageous about the role of the church in addressing
the needs of Black people," she said.
     "We are not called to be careful theologians.  We are not called
to be safe theologians.  We are not called to be polite theologians.  We
are called to be as impossible as the task requires.  It is an
impossible task, and we are called to respond accordingly," she told the
gathering.
     "The public theologians have to be anointed spiritual guides.  The
spiritual guides are leaders who understand their roles in helping to
lead people into a deeper experience of God," Fitchue said.
     "It is that deeper experience of God that has made it possible for
you and me to stand here, educated, refined and  articulate, but we are
still in need of daily prayer.  The need for the daily prayers of Black
people has not changed since we reached these shores, and it appears
that it is not going to change anytime soon," she said.
     "We look at the intellectual processing that is going on -- faith
based -- good to the degree that it addresses an issue, acceptable to
the degree that it provide solutions, but it is not the same as the Word
of God.  It must be considered in its proper position," said Fitchue.
     Public theologians should be grassroots intellectuals, those who
initiate and encourage public discussion of the issues, she said.
     "For many of us if there are enough White people in the room we
will not mention race.  We think it is unacceptable to talk about racism
...  as grass-root intellectuals we are charged to keep the issues
before the people.  Our people know that racism is alive and well.  If
we as religious leaders fail to lift it up, what do they think of us?
They cannot look at us  in the fullness of our being if we do not take
the risk to use our intellect, not just for that which is palatable, but
for that which is the truth is required," Fitchue said.
     "We must refuse to give up the God that is in us.  In the midst of
evil and horrendeous chaos and confusion, we have a faith that pulls us
back from sin.  We must insist upon being obedient to the God spirit
within us.  That is what the our ancestors knew when they left Africa
and it is the one thing they refused to give up and it is the one thing
they passed on to us.  Why do we have difficultly passing it on?" she
asked.  Fitchue was a keynote presenter for the summit.
     The summit's objectives were to explore the challenges associated
with doing ministry in the Black community in the 21st century, to
identify ways of strengthening Lutheran ministry in the Black community,
and to foster collegial relationships among ELCA Black rostered leaders.
     The summit was made possible by grants from Aid Association for
Lutherans, Appleton, Wis., and Lutheran Brotherhood, Minneapolis, both
fraternal benefits societies.
     Other sponsors of the summit were ELCA Commissions for
Multicultural Ministries and for Women, the Divisions for Congregational
Ministries, Ministry and Outreach, eight seminaries of the ELCA, and 20
of the ELCA's 65 synods.

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