Title: ELCA Council Affirms New Association, Antiracism, Multicultural Goals 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 Peña, 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 news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog