wfn.org | ELCA Commission Endorses Multicultural Gatherings

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 23, 2002

ELCA COMMISSION ENDORSES MULTICULTURAL GATHERINGS
02-248-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The steering committee of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Commission for Multicultural
Ministries endorsed a proposal to combine an annual Multicultural
Mission Institute, a new Multicultural Music Festival and the biennial
assemblies of five ethnic associations of the ELCA into one biennial
Multicultural Gathering beginning in 2004.  The committee also adopted a
series of resolutions and discussed two churchwide plans when it met
here Oct. 18-19.
     The commission's executive director, the Rev. Frederick E.N.
Rajan, presented the proposal for an ELCA Multicultural Gathering.  He
said all the events are worthwhile, but planning seven or eight events
every two years could be simplified significantly by combining them.
Other "challenges" of separate events that Rajan addressed were cost,
scholarships, locations, timing participants' vacations and staff
schedules.
     The Multicultural Mission Institute has been held during the first
weekend of November every year since 1989, with the exception of 2001.
It is meant to equip ELCA pastors and lay leaders with specific tools to
build and nurture culturally diverse congregations.  The next institute
is Nov. 1-3 in Atlanta.
     The first Multicultural Music Festival was held June 27-30 in St.
Paul, Minn.  More than 250 people celebrated the musical traditions of
various ethnic communities and learned how Lutherans use those
traditions in worship.
     Five ethnic associations relate to the ELCA through the
commission: African American Lutheran Association in the ELCA; American
Indian/Alaska Native Association -- ELCA; Asociacion Luterana de
Ministerios Hispanos de la Iglesia Evangelica Luterana en America
(Association of Hispanic Ministries of the ELCA); Association of
Asians/Pacific Islanders -- ELCA; and Association of Lutherans of Arab
and Middle Eastern Heritage (ALAMEH).  Each conducts business, elections
and workshops during biennial assemblies.
     The commission's steering committee asked each association to
postpone any 2003 assemblies until 2004 and to extend the terms of
current officers another year, if necessary.  The committee established
a coordinating committee to plan the first ELCA Multicultural Gathering.
     "This is going to be a huge 'plus' for everyone," said Grace G.
El-Yateem, steering committee chair, ELCA Commission for Multicultural
Ministries.  El-Yateem is president of ALAMEH and a member of Salam
Arabic (Lutheran) Church, Brooklyn, N.Y.
     "The ethnic-specific groups will see each other and that they are
a part of a larger, multicultural church," said El-Yateem.  She noted
that the ELCA is a long way from achieving its goal of having people of
color make up 10 percent of its membership.  The gathering will be a
chance to "celebrate what we have now," she said.
     For 2001, 2.6 percent of ELCA baptized members were African
American, Black, Asian, Pacific Islander, Latino, American Indian,
Alaska Native, Arab and Middle Eastern people.	For 2000, the percentage
of total ELCA members identified as persons of color or whose primary
language is other than English was 2.47 percent.
     In other business, the steering committee:
     + asked the ELCA to develop a message on terrorism, called on
Lutherans prayerfully to consider alternatives to violence and war, and
affirmed positions ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson has taken
opposing military action against Iraq.	The committee based its
resolution on one the ELCA Commission for Women adopted Oct. 13.
     + extended the process for developing an African American ministry
strategy for the ELCA from 2003 to 2005.  The committee thanked those
who prepared the strategy's first draft, "A Vision: The Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America's Plan of Action for Ministry in the African,
African American, Black and Caribbean Community," and said the extension
would allow them to "expand the table" of people and organizations
participating in its progress.
     + authorized the development of an Arab and Middle Eastern
ministry strategy for the ELCA, and asked the ELCA Division for
Congregational Ministries, Division for Ministry and Division for
Outreach to support the program.  A task force will prepare the strategy
for presentation to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in 2005.
     + requested that those who identify themselves as American Indian
or Alaska Native on any ELCA application provide official tribal
documentation or Bureau of Indian Affairs certification.  The American
Indian/Alaska Native Association brought the request to the commission
with the concern that many church scholarships and grants are being
awarded to people who are ineligible for them.
     + adopted a 2003 "plan of action" that reflects a 4 percent
reduction in spending that each unit of the ELCA is to incorporate.
Combining various gatherings into an ELCA Multicultural Gathering
accounted for much of the $56,863 reduction.
     + accepted the resignation of the Rev. Jose David Rodriguez Jr.
from the steering committee.  Rodriguez, professor of theology at the
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and director of the seminary's
Hispanic Ministry Program, is the brother of Carmen Rodriguez Rivera,
who will become the commission's director for Latino ministries on Dec.
1.
     The ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries steering
committee also studied and discussed two planning processes the church
is conducting in advance of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August 2003
in Milwaukee -- a general strategic planning process for the whole
church and a specific strategy for evangelism.
     "It's important for us to give input from a multicultural point of
view, since we do have five ethnic communities represented here," said
El-Yateem.  Evangelism and strategic planning indicate "where the focus
of the church is going to go.  If we can have some input, that is
prime," she said.
-- -- --
     The Commission for Multicultural Ministries home page is at
http://www.elca.org/cmm/ on the ELCA Web site.
     At the steering committee meeting, the African American Lutheran
Association presented its site at http://www.aala-online.org/ on the
Web.

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