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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 18, 2001

ELCA AND NCC HOST BLACK FAMILY MINISTRIES CONFERENCE
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     ROSEMONT, Ill.  (ELCA) -- Hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) and the National Council of Churches of Christ
in the U.S.A. (NCC) Black Family Ministry Project, "Strengthening Black
Families in the New Millennium" was the theme that gathered more than
200 participants here for three days of workshops, Bible study, plenary
sessions, keynote presentations and worship.
     The NCC Black Family Ministry Project is an ecumenical
collaboration of historically African American denominations and other
denominations with significant African American membership.  It is
designed to assist congregations in helping Black families "rediscover,
reclaim and live out their strengths, review their commitments to family
life, maintain supportive extended family systems and enhance a belief
system that has God as its center."
     "The ELCA is one of 10 denominations that participate as a part of
the Black Family Ministry planning team for the NCC," said Josselyn
Bennett, director for age-span ministries, ELCA Division for Church and
Society, and chair of the national and local planning teams.
     "In the African American community the church is such a critical
part of the community.  We [Lutherans] are just one of the many churches
on the corner.  When you look around the African American community, the
variety of churches on the next corner and at our back doors says to us
that we have to be collaborative in this effort" of Black family
ministry, said Bennett.
     Although a goal of the ELCA is to have at least 10 percent of its
membership be people of color or whose primary language is other than
English, it has not been realized.  Currently, people of color or whose
primary language is other than English membership is 2.69 percent of the
church.  The African American/Black membership is 1.02  percent of the
church.
     "We have to look at the African American community not from a
monolithic point of view.  If we are going to be a part of the African
American community and part of the church community, we are going to
have to work collaboratively," she said.
     "We continue to be very segregated at the 11 o'clock hour on
Sunday morning.  If we are going to survive as a community we have to
break down those walls.  We have to communicate the message that we are
all here in this society together.  What is it that the church can do to
help communities deal with drugs, gangs, domestic violence, family
values and other issues that are bombarding all of our families?"
Bennett said.
     "There are households where there are divisions in terms of where
people will attend church.  Some family members attend AME Zion,
Baptist, Apostolic or Lutheran churches.  We are saying that choice is
fine, but how can we come together as the family of God and really work
on the issues that affect us all as a community?" she asked.
     Participants heard keynote presentations from Delores S. Williams,
Paul Tillich Professor of Theology and Culture, Union Theological
Seminary, New York, and Bishop Horace E. Smith, M..D., pastor of the
Apostolic Faith Church, Chicago, and director of the comprehensive
Sickle Cell/Thalassemia Program at Children's Memorial Hospital.
     Workshops were offered on topics ranging from Christian education
to the potential impact of the federal government's faith-based
initiatives on the Black Family.
     The goals of the 2001 conference were to:
     + Expand the number of institutions (public and private, religious
and secular) and individuals who consciously participate in creating and
sustaining effective family ministries in a time of dwindling economic
and human resources; and
     + Encourage the design and implementation of a model that includes
the concept of a "roundtable" at which the voices of those who serve and
those who are served are given equal consideration.

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