wfn.org | ELCA Commission Concerned about Funds for Ethnic Ministries

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 2, 2000

ELCA COMMISSION CONCERNED ABOUT FUNDS FOR ETHNIC MINISTRIES
00-258-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Leaders of ethnic-specific ministries of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are concerned about funds
provided them to bring new missions into self-supporting congregations.
The steering committee of the ELCA Commission for Multicultural
Ministries addressed this concern and other items at its meeting here
Oct. 13-14.
     In a resolution developed and approved by members of the steering
committee, staff of the commission will ask staff of the ELCA Division
for Outreach to review the division's "current funding policies"
designed to support ethnic-specific missions and newly-organized
congregations.  The commission will ask the executive director of the
Division for Outreach to respond to the request by the steering
committee's next meeting here Feb. 23-24, 2001.
     As we heard reports from the committee's five ethnic-specific
subcommittees, "all had the same complaint -- three to five years is not
enough time for new missions to become financially self-sufficient,"
said the Rev. W. Arthur Lewis, director, Lutheran Theological Center at
Atlanta, and chair of the steering committee.
     The ELCA's ethnic-specific ministries are African American and
Black, American Indian and Alaska Native, Arab and Middle Eastern, Asian
and Pacific Islanders and Hispanic/Latino.
     "Funding policies developed by the Division for Outreach do not
recognize the unique challenges faced by ethnic-specific ministries and
new missions," said Lewis in an interview.
     "Many of our mission leaders are trying to put a church together
with people who are unchurched and whose traditions are not Lutheran,"
said Lewis.  "Most of the time, funding from the church used to support
new ethnic-specific ministries is cut off before the ministry gets off
the ground," he said.
     In other business, two strategies designed to enhance the
ministries of Latinos and Asian and Pacific Islanders were distributed
to the steering committee.  The two strategies are scheduled to be
considered by the 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Indianapolis.
     Introducing the plan to the steering committee, the Rev. Pongsak
Limthongviratn, ELCA director for Asian and Pacific Islander ministry,
said, "There are approximately 12 million Asians in the United States.
About 40 percent of Asians live in Hawaii, while the rest live
throughout the United States.  A goal [stated in the strategy] is to
increase Asian membership [in the church] from 23,000 to 32,000, or 40
percent in the next eight years."
     The plan articulates the relationship with the ELCA envisioned by
Asian and Pacific Islanders.  Specific areas of the strategy include
congregation development, leadership development, resource development,
social ministry, stewardship and Asian homeland mission work.
     "Statistics show that the Hispanic/Latino community is the fastest
growing group in the United States and in the ELCA," the Rev. Maria del
Rosario Valenzuela, ELCA director for Hispanic and leadership
ministries, told the steering committee.  "This growth demonstrates a
need for a national strategy," she said.
     "The strategy was developed by the Latino community of the church,
and it is designed to guide the ministries of the church for the
future," Valenzuela said.
     Specific areas of the strategy include insight on the identity of
Lutheran Latino people, resource development, mission congregations,
leadership development and social ministry.
     The steering committee endorsed a recommendation to change the
church's use of the name "Hispanic" to "Latino."  The committee
forwarded the recommendation to the ELCA Church Council for
consideration at its meeting here Nov. 11-13.  The recommendation was
developed by the 1998 ELCA Caribbean Synod Assembly.
     "Each ethnic community in the church is growing in population,"
the Rev. Frederick E.N. Rajan, executive director for the commission,
told the committee.
     "More people with diverse languages, cultures and religions are
immigrating each day to this nation transforming and challenging us to
deal with not only race, ethnicity and culture, but with multilingualism
and religious pluralism, and a demand for equal rights and respect for
all communities," Rajan said.  "We must always explore ways to reach new
people," he said.
     The ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries gives advice and
assistance to the ELCA's 10,851 congregations -- organized into 65
synods throughout the United States and Caribbean    on ministry among
people of color and whose primary language is not English.  It develops
workshops and resources, print and video, to help the church dismantle
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 2000 Multicultural Mission Institute took place
Nov. 3-5 at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel, Los Angeles.  The Rev.
Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan,
discussed the present situation of Christians living in the Middle
East in a keynote presentation.

     Information about the ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries
and the 2000 Multicultural Mission Institute is available at
http://www.elca.org/cmm on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html