wfn.org | Lutherans Seek Ethnically Diverse Leadership

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 28, 1997

LUTHERANS SEEK ETHNICALLY DIVERSE LEADERSHIP
97-07-017-FI

       CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "If we're serious about making the
church an inclusive place, we will have to begin to think
differently about how we invite people of color into this church,
how we prepare them for ministry and whether or not we, as a
larger church, are willing to recognize the ways those
communities of color affirm leaders," said the Rev. Kenneth W.
Wheeler after an ethnic leadership consultation here Jan. 21-23.
The ELCA Division for Ministry hosted the Multicultural
Leadership Consultation.
       The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is re-examining
the ways it identifies, recruits, educates and situates its
leaders to better reflect the ethnic diversity of the United
States and Caribbean.
       "Participants raised two primary obstacles to developing a
larger cadre of ethnic leadership," wrote Kenneth W. Inskeep,
director of the ELCA Department for Research and Evaluation, in a
summary report.
       "The first is that the system used in the ELCA for
identifying, preparing and placing its rostered leaders for
service is generally perceived as inflexible," said Inskeep.
"The second obstacle ... is the perception of a low level of
support for persons once the decision is made to engage the
process of becoming a rostered leader in the ELCA."
       About 98 percent of the ELCA's 5.2 million members are
white, and the church has a goal that 10 percent of its
membership will be "people of color or people whose primary
language is other than English" by the start of 1998.
       "We're very short of the mark.  Many have suggested that
one of the problems with that is the shortage of rostered leaders
who are persons of color and language," said Madelyn H. Busse,
ELCA director for candidacy.
       "Rostered leaders" of the ELCA are pastors, associates in
ministry, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.  About 97.5 percent
or 12,091 of the church's 12,397 active rostered leaders are
white.
       A purpose of the consultation was "to talk honestly about
the roadblocks ... from recruitment, through the theological
education processes and candidacy, and how we support people once
they're out there," said Busse.
       A master of divinity is the minimum degree required of
ELCA clergy.  Earning the degree usually requires a bachelor's
degree and four years of seminary education, including a parish
internship during the third year.  Busse said one question for
the consultation was whether or not that is the best model for
preparing all pastors.
       Inskeep wrote, "Many of the consultation participants
pointed out that the ELCA uses a relatively standardized and
uniform set of procedures for developing and deploying leaders
developed around the model of `academy' while the process in the
ethnic communities is often less formal."  He added that the
perception of inflexibility exists despite "alternative routes"
the church has developed to the academic model.
       "It was a time to test the possibility of dealing with
ethnic ministries using a new model," said the Rev. Joseph M.
Wagner, executive director of the ELCA Division for Ministry.
"The model is basically each community honoring the distinctive
characteristics of the other communities ... to recognize and
appreciate the differences in our ways of selecting and training
leaders."
       About 30 people took part in the consultation; most were
staff of the ELCA Divisions for Ministry and Outreach, Commission
for Multicultural Ministries and other units of the church.
Others represented the church's synods and seminaries, including
two bishops and a seminary president.
       The consultation recommended that ELCA Presiding Bishop H.
George Anderson assemble key staff people from various church
units to oversee several "project teams that will focus on
providing additional support for persons from the ethnic
communities throughout the course of their service in the ELCA" -
- from recruitment to retirement.
       Project teams would develop "no more than two specific
five-year goals with an associated strategy for achieving those
goals."
       Wagner said the reason for any change would not be to
create separate systems for each ethnic group but "to appreciate
the distinctiveness of various communities and to build a new
strength for the future."
       "One of the tasks of this group is to help create the will
that will bring a very different climate in this church ... a
church that, as an African American pastor, I've been a part of
for 15 years," said Wheeler, assistant to the bishop of the
ELCA's Greater Milwaukee Synod.  "I don't think the work is yet
complete."
       The first variation may be in who the church turns to for
naming its leaders.  "We need to listen to the elders in those
communities of color, identify mentors and simply walk into
congregations and hear what the lay people say about who the
leaders are in the church," said Wheeler.
       "Once we have identified those bright lights, we've got to
take care to make sure that we don't dim those lights ... that
the lights don't burn out," he said.  "Once they enter our
colleges and beyond our colleges to our seminaries, make sure
they have a community that's going to walk with them every step
of the way, so they don't feel we've brought them into a church
just to leave them."
       "We've got to make sure there is enough financial
commitment," Wheeler said.  "If we are serious about them and if
they are serious about serving in the church, the financial piece
ought not to become a barrier."
       The church's support must follow new leaders into their
first assignments, he said.  "It's important that bishops and
bishops' staffs begin to become proactive in their care for
pastors of color in particular."
       "So often those individuals end up in places where there
may not be any other pastors of color," said Wheeler.  "They end
up feeling frustrated and, in some cases, even angry, because
they sense there is no one there who understands their situation
nor is there anyone there who cares about them."

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html