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ELCA Adopts Strategies for African, Arab Descent Ministry

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the 7th largest denomination, but less than three percent of church-goers are non-European.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the seventh largest North American denomination with 4.9 million members, but less than three percent – about 140,000 - of their church-goers are of non-European descent. Delegates to the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly nearly unanimously passed two resolutions Thursday that strive to change those figures.

The first resolution adopted was an African Descent ministry strategy, which “provides a framework for people of African heritage to continue their faith journey with the Lutheran Church,” according to Cecelia Travick-Jackson, voting member from the ELCA Southwest California Synod.

The resolution docket explained that people of African descent represent 13 percent of the U.S. population but only 1 percent of ELCA membership. The Rev. Julius Carroll IV, director for African American ministry, brought those staggering statistics to the forefront as he urged voting members to act on their desires to grow.

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"Our denomination has said we want to grow. The African Descent Ministry Strategy is the engine,” said Carroll IV.

African Descent refers to African American, African Caribbean and African national communities, according to the strategy, and represents the “connection of the North American continent to its roots in the African diaspora.” The history of Lutheranism is rooted among people of African descent, and three of the oldest ELCA congregations are in the Virgin Islands.

Under the strategy, the ELCA will strive to bring greater mission and leadership opportunities for people of African descent to serve the church.

The same day, ELCA voting members passed 858 to 6, a recommendation that the church support “Lutheran Christians of Arab and Middle Eastern ancestry” and in that way develop ministry within the ethnic community as well as other faiths.

The Arab strategy, which began with a consultation in 1992, noted that there are now 4 million people of Arab and Middle Eastern heritage in the U.S., and that “opportunity abounds” in this field of ministry.

The strategy recommends specific actions to "identify, equip, and nurture a new generation of clergy and lay leaders for Arab and Middle Eastern ministries." Such strategies include monetary support since most Middle Eastern congregations are built by new immigrant populations struggling financially.

Through such ministry, the ELCA hopes to “neutralize mistrust and negative attitudes toward Middle Eastern people in particular” and “provide safe haven and function as community service centers,” according to the strategy.

"I hope the assembly understands the gifts we're receiving by doing this," said the Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod. The Salam Arabic Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, "is one of the only places in the world where Christians and Jews and Muslims were talking together on the grass roots level," he said, according to the ELCA news service.

The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting in Orlando, Fla. from Aug. 8-14 at the World Center Marriott and Convention Center. About 2,300 people are participating, including 1,018 ELCA voting members.

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