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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