wfn.org | Multi-cultural ministry topic of Mariner breakfast

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Note #6030 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

GA00082
June 27, 2000

Multi-cultural ministry topic of Mariner breakfast

	by Nancy D. Borst
LONG BEACH, June 26- Amid multi-colored paper dolls and animated table
discussions, those attending the Presbyterian Mariner luncheon Tuesday
learned about multi-cultural ministry.

	Their teachers were the Rev. Peter and Debby Vial, Louisville, Ky. Peter is
pastor of Beechmont Presbyterian Church there, a redeveloping and
intentionally multi-cultural congregation. Debby is the associate for
peacemaking partnerships in the Congregational Ministries Division,
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Vials are the authors of Mariners’ new program
book that bears the same title as the new program theme, “The World: Our
Neighborhood.”

	Peter noted that our neighborhoods no longer look the same, and using the
nearby ocean as an example, added, “We can’t all be starfish.”

	Multi-cultural ministry will fail if it is done with coercion or as a means
of survival. What does work is a no-strings approach that gently welcomes
immigrants and those of different races through the doors.

	Debby led attendees in using multi-“colored” paper dolls and multi-cultural
crayons and pencils to write their table mates’ different backgrounds,
favorite foods and what they recalled as the center of warmth in their home
as a child. They also passed around “stranger photos,” looking at faces of
people unknown and wondering what makes a person a stranger. And, what makes
them a friend.

	“When we share Christian love and welcome the stranger into the
neighborhood, we are being faithful followers of Christ,” Peter said. “If we
fail to receive newcomers, those whose origins are different than our own,
we become impoverished and unfaithful.”

	Presbyterian Mariners is a family ministry and covenant partner with the
Congregational Ministries Division of the PC(USA), with approximately 7,000
members in 200 congregations across the country.

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