wfn.org | ELCA Intensifies Effort to Fight Racism

[NEWS <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 26, 1999

ELCA INTENSIFIES EFFORT TO FIGHT RACISM
99-141-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- In an effort to educate its 5.2 million members
to be more aware of racism and equip them to fight it, the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has developed a one-and-a-half-day
program to bring anti-racism training to the entire church.
     With only a little more than 2 percent of its members people of
color or whose primary language is not English, the ELCA has failed to
reach its goal to widen church membership to consist of 10 percent
people of color between 1987 and 1997.
     "While the ELCA has not achieved this goal, we must remember that
the goal is not an end but a means to become a more multicultural
church.  This goal gives members of the ELCA purpose and direction,"
said the Rev. Frederick E.N. Rajan, executive director of the ELCA's
Commission for Multicultural Ministries.
     Staff, elected and volunteer leaders of the ELCA began
participation in the anti-racism sessions last fall.  New staff will
participate in the sessions as they are hired.  At the end of 1999, a
report will be prepared listing follow-up activities by individual
churchwide units.
     "As we approach the 21st century, we need a cadre of church
leaders who are skilled and equipped in effectively addressing racism so
that a transformed, anti-racist and multicultural ELCA can begin to
evolve," said Rajan.  "In this way the church can lead by example as an
active agent of God's healing within a racially-polarized society."
     Rajan describes racism as "the misuse of God's gift of diversity."
"Racism is a sin that permeates not only society but also the church.
This radical and pervasive manifestation of the misuse of God's gift of
diversity is an affront to the human race."  In the midst of oppression,
God's triumphant love in Jesus Christ calls and empowers us to resist
the demonic systems of racism.
     "God's people in our church over the last 10 years have asked the
ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries to lead the way," he said.
     The anti-racism training program is part of the ELCA Multicultural
Mission Strategy developed by the commission.  The churchwide
organization's staff team on diversity and the ELCA's 65 synods have
also called for a comprehensive anti-racism training program.  Most of
the 65 synods of the ELCA have passed assembly resolutions to dismantle
racism.  The 1989 ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted to "express clearly the
position of the ELCA that racism is a sin; and to express the commitment
of the ELCA in addressing in all aspects of its life and work the
destructive results of racism."
     The one-and-a-half-day, Scripture-based anti-racism sessions teach
members of the church how to identify, address and confront racism, and
create specific action plans to dismantle personal, cultural and
institutional racism.
     The ELCA hopes that educating its leaders is a good step toward
overcoming racial barriers, Rajan said.
     The anti-racism training program was developed by the Lutheran
Human Relations Association (LHRA), Milwaukee.  LHRA is a grass roots
Lutheran organization in the United States.  It strives to "bring people
together to do justice by breaking down hostilities and fears between
peoples; bridge racial, cultural, gender, class, age, ability and other
separations in society; and to build up human community."
     LHRA's mission is in response to the "growing separation between
people of different races in a society bombarded by stereotypes and
negative images, in a culture filled with fear, ignorance and
uncertainty in relating to persons who are different from oneself."
There is "need to unmask racism and build and model community in new
ways as God's people.  This model for breaking down racism and building
up human community is grounded in a theological understanding that,
through creation, everything is connected.  That is the way God created
us and all that exist."
     Since the fall of 1998 ELCA churchwide offices, divisions,
commissions, departments and their boards have completed the anti-racism
sessions.
     The Rev. Julius Carroll IV, board chair of the ELCA Division for
Outreach, said, "The anti-racism training reminded all of us, in all
races, that we still lie in two worlds and that it is not a level
playing field in education, vocation or residential location.
     "In order for systematic racism to change, it has to be done
individually with each of us challenging societal stereotypes and
breaking down barriers.  Corporate attention needs to be paid to the sin
of racism, and we need to be intentional about stamping it out," he
said.  Carroll is pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Oakland, Calif.
     Robert A. Sandoval, Cross Hope Lutheran Church, Albuquerque, N.M.,
board member of the ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, said
one item heard "over and over at anti-racism training events is that we
only need to fix the ones that are racist; then we will all live better
together.
     "This sin called racism is not going to go away by making a few
people aware of it," said Sandoval.  "Racism exists in the whole
institution of the church, and it is keeping us from being who God
intended us to be.
     "There is a thing called 'privilege' that most people have, yet
they are unaware of having it.  When they realize that this privilege is
tearing down the very foundations of our relationships, they want to
deny having it or blame others for giving it to them.  This behavior is
encouraged and helped by the institution.  It is only by changing the
institution that we are ever going to realize that God wanted us all to
live together."
     Sandoval said through the death of Jesus Christ "we are free from
sin.  We need to make people aware of the sin of racism.  It is a sin
most people do not want to recognize, yet it is one sin that keeps us
separated from each other and from God."
     Sylvia Pate, president for the African American Lutheran
Association of the ELCA, said, "The way in which we talk about racism
has significant impact on our lives and the life choices we make.  I
believe it is time for us to stop lamenting about the pathologies of
others, because it really is not our responsibility to persuade them to
believe we are worthy.
     "What we need to do is get on with the business of laying the
groundwork for our own future.  We need to spend our energies on working
on our dreams.  We need to spend more time focusing on our own
spirituality and discover ways to lead lives of fulfillment.  We need to
grab onto our moments of happiness and joy in spite of the pathologies
of others.  We need constantly to remind ourselves that we are a
creation of a God who loves us."  Pate is a member of New Hope Lutheran
Church, Dayton, Ohio.
     Robert S. Schroeder, Redeemer Lutheran Church, Shawnee Mission,
Kan., a member of the ELCA Church Council, said, "Evangelism and
outreach in a multicultural mission field like the United States is not
a matter of setting our table and asking others to come and eat, but it
is making our meal a potluck and asking others to come and share."
     President of Oak Grove Lutheran High School, Fargo, N.D., and
board chair of the ELCA Division for Higher Education and Schools, the
Rev. John Andreasen said the most exciting discovery he made during the
anti-racism training was that "it's not just about recognizing people of
color but people of culture.  It's not just about granting visibility
but participation.
     "Within the ELCA, education institutions have greater exposure to
cultural diversity than most of our congregations.  Education
institutions tend to be cross-cultural.  Many of our schools have
international components and more community diversity than in our
congregations.  But we still have a long way to go about our intentions
to create a racial mosaic.  There is a sense of excitement in
discovering one another in living the fullness of life," said Andreasen.
     In a Jan. 12 report prepared by the ELCA Department for Research
and Evaluation, the "vast majority of persons taking the training
believed that it was a valuable experience and important use of their
time."  About 60 percent of the participants agreed (and 9 percent
strongly agreed) that "they learned new possibilities for thinking and
acting as a result of the training."  More than 53 percent agreed (and
10 percent strongly agreed) that "they learned things that will impact
how they interact with others at work."
     In addition to the one-and-a-half-day anti-racism training
program, the ELCA also provides a five-day facilitator program to train
volunteers nationwide how to teach the anti-racism course in the ELCA's
synods, seminaries, colleges and universities, schools and
congregations.  This training includes an analysis of individual and
group facilitation skills and leadership development skills.  A group of
22 people received the first training in 1998.
     The ELCA established the Commission for Multicultural Ministries
for "bringing about the full partnership and participation" of African
American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Arab and Middle Eastern,
Asian and Latino Lutherans in the life of the church and society.
     The commission gives advice and assistance to the ELCA's 11,000
congregations and other expressions of the church across the United
States and Caribbean on ministry among people of color and primary
language other than English.  It develops workshops and resources, print
and video, to help synods and congregations combat racism.
     The commission holds an annual Multicultural Mission Institute to
help congregations and individuals of various ethnic and cultural
backgrounds "reach out to others and experience a multicultural
community."  The 1999 Multicultural Mission Institute will take place
Nov. 5-7 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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