Arab and Middle Eastern Lutherans Reach Out

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "You are the anointed, do not ever forget that.  You are the gifted, do not ever forget that," the Rev. Richard A. Magnus, director for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Division for Outreach, told members of the Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage (ALAMEH), ELCA.  Thirty members of ALAMEH met here Aug. 8-9 for the association's third biennial assembly.  ALAMEH is "a group of Arab and Middle Eastern people who trace their origin to the apostolic era in Palestine and the Middle Mediterranean region."
    "ALAMEH is important to the growth of the church," said Magnus.  "Lead a life worthy of your calling in humility, gentleness, patience, bearing one another in love and unity.  Please recognize your giftedness.  Accept the gifts you have been given at baptism, help yourself and help one another further recognize those gifts so that you can be nurtured in them for the building up of the body of Christ."  Magnus was the keynote speaker.
     "ALAMEH's vision is threefold," said Fuad B. Nijim, Santa Clara, Calif.  "The first is that we seek to reach out to our community and the unchurched Arab and Middle Eastern people through our established churches and missions," said Nijim.  "I value the importance of our community to connect ourselves under the umbrella of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Our members and their children grow in spirit within this environment," he said.
     "There is a misunderstanding of who we are as Middle Eastern and Arab Christian Americans by other Christian communities in the United States," Nijim said.  "Our mission as children of God is to teach other American Christians about who we are, to alleviate any stereotypes and misunderstandings, in an attempt to bring both communities closer together.  This is the second part of ALAMEH's vision," he said.
     The third part of ALAMEH's vision, Nijim said, "is to be the bridge between our brothers and sisters in the Middle East to those living in this country.  We, as an ethnic group living in the United States, have a connection to those living in the regions of the Middle East.  We have a unique understanding of the dynamics that are shaping that region."
     Nijim was elected president of ALAMEH.  He is a full-time graduate student at the University of California, Davis, where he is studying community development.  Nijim succeeds Dr. Ryan A. LaHurd, Hickory, N.C., president of ALAMEH since his election in July 1993 at its constituting assembly.  LaHurd is president of Lenoir-Rhyne College, one of 28 colleges and universities associated with the ELCA.
     The Rev. Rimon R. Sai'd, St. Elias Arabic Lutheran Church, Chicago, was elected vice president for ALAMEH;  Dora Johnson, Community of Christ Lutheran Church, Washington, D.C., secretary; Muna Taraz, Lutheran Church of the Master, Troy, Mich., treasurer; Dr. Ryan A. Lahurd and Grace el-Yateem, Salaam Arabic (Lutheran) Church,  Brooklyn, members-at-large; and the Rev. Sai'd R. Ailabouni, Lutheran Church of Atonement, Barrington, Ill., advisor.
     "Four gifts that ALAMEH brings to the life of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the in-born practice of hospitality, the importance of family as a source of love and care, experience with suffering and the immediate sense of the presence of God," said Susan A. Thompson, executive for "maturing congregations" in the ELCA's Division for Outreach.
    "We invite individuals to our churches that have an active, personal relationship with God and share Christ with others freely," said the Rev. Michael N. Batarseh, Arabic (Lutheran) Community Christian Church, Glendale, Calif.  "Our developing ministries are committed to our Lord's great commission of making disciples," he said.  There are three Arabic churches in the ELCA.

    Members of ALAMEH voted to call upon the ELCA's Division for Outreach to develop five more Arab and Middle Eastern mission congregations by the end of the decade. ALAMEH asked the ELCA's Division for Ministry to "actively seek and recruit potential candidates" with Arab and Middle Eastern backgrounds for ordained ministry.   Participants set a goal to have 10 persons enrolled in ELCA seminaries by the year 2005.
     In a separate resolution, participants voted to recommend that the ELCA's Commission for Multicultural Ministries hire a full-time "designated director" for Arab and Middle Eastern ministries by the year 2000.  In a similar vote, participants asked all ELCA executive directors to recruit members of Arab and Middle Eastern background to occupy full-time executive staff positions.
     "There are no full-time staff members of Arab and Middle Eastern Lutheran heritage working in the ELCA churchwide office," said the Rev. Bassam J. Abdallah, First United Lutheran Church, Hammond, Ind.  Abdallah serves as a "contract" consultant for the ELCA's Commission for Multicultural Ministries.
     ALAMEH called for a "time of prayer for peace and justice in the Middle East" by the ELCA during the last week of March.  "We hope to continue bringing awareness of Arab and Middle Eastern affairs to the Lutheran church," said Batarseh.
     In other business, a discussion on Arab youth living in the United States took place.  "There is a feeling of adaptation to a new culture when Arab and Middle Eastern children come to live in the United States," said  Joseph A. Husary, San Leandro, Calif.
    "Will our youth choose to learn more about their culture? What activities will they choose to participate in at school and elsewhere?  How do parents remain fair to their kids when teaching heritage, traditions and family?" asked Husary.   "For me, these questions depend on individual families and how much parents choose to contribute knowledge about heritage when raising their children in the United States.  We also think about how we address our new friends in this country, their understanding of us, and ask them not to judge us on what the media portray," he said.
    "Part of the reason ALAMEH exists is to share with the rest of this church what it means to be a person from the Middle East in this country," said Thompson.

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