ELCA Ordained Women of Color Envision a "New Community"

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Fifty-four of the 86 women of color serving as pastors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) or studying in ELCA seminaries spent "a very powerful weekend" envisioning a church and a society "that is no longer racist, sexist, classist or even ageist" and visualizing their roles in making that world a reality, said the Rev. Yvonne V. Delk, who helped facilitate the meeting here Jan. 9-11.
     When people hear that the Lutheran ordained women of color met, they may think it's just "a group of women sitting around complaining about whatever," said Delk, executive director of the Community Renewal Society in Chicago.  She countered that it was "a time of support, a time to affirm again the gifts they bring to ministry and to this church."
     It's easy to say "We are the ones who are trying to do the right thing, and they are the ones who are not doing anything," said Delk.  "The ideal is to see the whole resources there, to work within the context of the whole, to see ourselves as part of the whole, not necessarily over and against others."
     Delk used the example of Jesus Christ to describe all Christians and particularly this group of women as "wounded healers."  She said, "We sisters come wounded by racism, wounded by sexism, wounded by classism, but others also are wounded as they come out of their histories, out of their experiences."  So Christians tend to their own wounds while trying to treat the wounds of others.
     Since the Rev. Edmond Yee's roots are in China, he told the group, he is a "hyphenated Lutheran" and a "hyphenated Christian."  The professor of multicultural ministry studies at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif., said, "The left side of the hyphen is just as important as the right side."
     Yee asked the women to remember the resources that were available for their seminary educations and to look at the resource available to them now that they are responsible for teaching others.  He challenged them to hold the church responsible for providing culturally appropriate tools for ministry.
     The ELCA is just beginning to provide worship materials for African-American and for Spanish-speaking congregations, said the Rev. Wyvetta Bullock, executive director, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries.
     The demand for materials is coupled with a supply of clergy, said the Rev. Frederick E.N. Rajan, executive director, ELCA Commission for Multicultural Ministries.  About 12 percent of the ELCA's clergy of color are "on leave from call" or looking for a parish, he said.  That percentage is twice that of white clergy.
     The women discussed their isolation.  Many work in settings that rarely include other women of color, other ordained women or even other Lutherans.  "One of the things we are beginning to talk about is how to form networks," said Delk, "how we can stay connected across the geographical boundaries that separate us ... and how really to draw strength and resources from the places where we are."
     During Sunday worship together the women took up a collection of $1,020 to support the ongoing work of the network of Lutheran ordained women of color.  The meeting was sponsored by the ELCA Commissions for Multicultural Ministries and for Women, Division for Ministry and Department for Synodical Relations.
     Churches that formed the ELCA in 1988 began ordaining women in 1970. In 1997 about 11.7 percent or 2,027 of the church's 17,368 clergy were women, about 2.3 percent were people of color, and about 0.4 percent were women of color.
     Delk was the first African-American woman ordained by the United Church of Christ.  For 15 years she worked with the World Council of Churches' Program to Combat Racism.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html