ELCA Commission Endorses Multicultural Gatherings

October 23, 2002

CHICAGO – 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.

ELCA News Service