wfn.org | Ethnic Concerns Committee Searches for Ways to Help Minorities

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Become 22-October-1996  
 
 
96420     Ethnic Concerns Committee Searches for Ways to 
         Help Minorities Become Part of the Larger Church 
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
LAKE TAHOE, Nev.--When the Ethnic Concerns Committee (ECC) of the Synod of 
the Pacific's Sierra Mission Area gathered here Oct. 11-13 to celebrate 
multicultural diversity and search for ways to help racial ethnic 
minorities become a more integral part of the Presbyterian church (U.S.A.), 
it continued its 20-year pattern of practicing what the General Assembly 
preaches. 
 
     The 208th General Assembly (1996) took some important steps toward 
addressing the multicultural challenge of the next millennium.  It approved 
creation of a Middle Eastern Caucus with status similar to the other four 
existing caucuses: Native American, African American, Hispanic American and 
Asian American. It also approved comprehensive strategies for Hispanic and 
Native American constituencies in the areas of new church development, 
redevelopment and revitalization. 
 
     And to further denominational evangelism efforts, the Assembly called 
for more intensive recruitment and training of racial ethnic leadership by 
the seminaries and the necessary increases in staff and budget resources 
essential for meeting all objectives. 
 
     But for more than 20 years the ECC of the Sierra Mission Area has 
worked to attain similar goals and objectives for racial ethnic persons 
within its relatively small geographic area. With the goal of enhancing its 
racial ethnic membership and ministries, the Sierra Mission Area (the 
presbyteries of Stockton, San Joaquin, Sacramento and Nevada) is now in the 
process of revising its vision and mission statement. 
 
      During the October conferenceof the ECC, more than 70 minority 
persons including Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, 
Korean Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Indonesian 
Americans, Vietnamese Americans and others, voiced their thoughts and 
concerns to Sierra Mission Area Office staff and council members. 
 
     Following two workshops, a list of more than 40 suggestions and ideas 
from conference participants was whittled down to five priorities for the 
Sierra Mission Area. They are: 
 
     *  provide education and leadership training for all 
     *  enhance communication 
     *  reorganize, share and celebrate multicultural diversity 
     *  attain a 20 percent goal of racial ethnic membership by the year 
        2010 
     *  emphasize mission outreach efforts. 
 
     The Rev. Henry J. DeGraaff, interim associate executive for the Synod 
of the Pacific, said the information collected will be forwarded to a 
special task group which, will finalize planning and vision statements and 
develop area-wide policy structures and systems. 
 
     DeGraaff told the Presbyterian News Service the process began with the 
work of a consultant who trained presbytery officials to identify issues, 
overcome common barriers and  develop an overall vision statement for the 
denomination. The procedure was then expanded to every congregation in the 
four presbyteries of the Sierra Mission Area, and required one year to 
complete. 
 
     Joyce  Uyeda, ECC moderator of Sacramento, Calif., said she believes 
ministering to racial ethnic people will become even more important during 
the next millennium, due partially to the General Assembly mandate to 
increase racial ethnic membership in the church by 10 percent by 2005 and 
20 percent by 2010. 
 
     "If the goal of the Presbyterian Church is to encourage people of 
color to join the Presbyterian Church, we certainly must have input into 
the new vision and mission statements of our presbyteries," Uyeda said. 
 
     "The disconnect is between the nesting [racial-ethnic] population and 
the host church, since we're not making that connection very well," 
DeGraaff said. "But I think that as events [like the ECC conference] become 
a priority, [the host churches will] start doing more to make that a 
ministry of the church rather than two separate groups meeting at the same 
facility."  
 
     According to Sierra Mission Area officials, the shift among racial 
ethnic populations in California has already begun. Many of the state's 
rural areas are predominantly Hispanic, with a minority Anglo population.  
 
     And multicultural diversity is not just a California issue.  A report 
released earlier this year by the U.S. Census Bureau predicts that within 
50 years Asians, Hispanics and African Americans, will comprise nearly half 
of the U.S. population. 
 
     The number of Hispanic Americans is expected to more than double -- 
from 10.2 percent to nearly 25 percent of the population. The Asian 
population, currently 3.3 percent of the total, will increase to 8.2 
percent. The number of African Americans will grow more slowly, from 12 
percent to 13.8 percent. 
 
     Stephen Yee, the ECC's Racial Justice Committee chair of Stockton, 
Calif., said the committee plans to approach presbyteries with ways to work 
on racial diversity and affirmative action programs.  He said the committee 
hopes to stage a week-long conference next summer at Zephyr Point 
Presbyterian Conference Center with leaders of the four Sierra Mission Area 
presbyteries. 
 
     "We must as Christians seek to learn, live and work together in an 
attitude of respect and love to restore harmony in all of God's world in 
reconciliation and healing," Yee said, echoing the theme of this year's 
conference, "Live in Harmony." 
 
     Next year the ECC will hold its 25th anniversary conference at Zephyr 
Point.  Plans are already underway, according to the Rev. Leslie L. Sauer, 
associate for justice and social concerns for the Sierra Mission Area. 

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