This post is my opinion and does not claim to speak for the < .1% of Japanese-American LCMS members ;-)
I just got an email from LCMS news with an article entitled Non-white Lutherans share concerns, ask for voice and I’m mad because I’m a non-white Lutheran and nobody asked me to share my concerns or asked for my voice. The synod has the Board for Black Ministry Services, the Black Clergy Caucus, and the Center for Hispanic Studies. Where’s the Japanese Clergy Caucus (I know there are a few of you) and don’t try to placate me with any of that “Asian” stuff. For anyone who actually knows anything about Asians, there is a vast difference culturally between Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, et al and if you think an “Asian caucus” would be able to address those differences then you probably deserve the guilt you’re feeling. Nothing a few Ablaze! dollars couldn’t overcome though.
From the article and the accompanying Multi-ethnic symposium statement, “The problem is sin and that has expressed itself historically in our church so that non-Anglo-Saxon minorities are marginalized and seemingly voiceless in our structures.” And even in this, the multi-ethnic symposium has sinned by marginalizing and not giving voice to non-Anglo-Saxon, non-Black, non-Hispanic, non-Hmong, non-non-Japanese minorities. That’s the real sin! Where’s my Ablaze! funds.
Let’s get down to brass tacks:
Even though “race doesn’t exist” as a biological category, Nunes said, people often make it “the defining category of who and what we are,” creating stumbling blocks to mission efforts.
See, you guys aren’t Japanese and you never will be. Your best option is to give us some Ablaze! dollars so we can start our own district like you did for the English and the Slovaks, or how about our own affiliated synod!!!
For those who couldn’t tell, this post was largely tongue-in-cheek with a few actual points. If you need a map, I can lay it out in the comments. My real point is that the LCMS needs to abandon it’s direct concern for diversity and address it indirectly by focusing on pure doctrine. Just as “The Mission” flows from “The Message” so will diversity. It is not up to some man-made program as to how the Holy Spirit will address diversity. And if the marks of the church are the Gospel purely preached and the sacraments properly administered, I’m at a loss to understand where the need for a minority voice comes into that picture of the church.
Finally, the one thing I know that the LCMS news article got right is ‘Even though “race doesn’t exist” … people often make it “the defining category of who and what we are.”‘ Sinful humans have strongly rooted cultural/denominational ties (African-Americans/Baptist, Hispanic-Americans/Catholic, Japanese-Americans/Methodist and Presbyterian) which often outweigh the pure doctrine of confessional Lutheranism. My honest opinion is that a separate body (church, district, or affiliate synod) would be better at addressing these cultural issues from an insiders perspective. Any attempts by typical LCMS structures to come into these cultures will be perceived as the “Great White Hope” trying to save the “Underserved Minority,” not the best way to do outreach.
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Excellent post!
What I find obnoxious about the news release is that someone asked a group of 100 “non-white” how many were delegates to the 2010 convention. Only one person stood up, and the presenter said something like “This is proof that non-whites do not have a voice in the church”.
This is not a valid statistical method of checking this — if I ask a random group of LCMS church members I may get the same results — 1 or 2 at the most. The real method is to look at the delegates and find out how many there are, then compare that to the proportion of that grouping who are LCMS church members.
Of course, as you point out, the LCMS needs to put doctrine first and not try to give each particular minority a voice!
Our congregation after 80years of existence is dealing with and dying with the concerns of diversity. A once thriving congregation with a Lutheran Grade School, was one of many who supported secondary Christian education in our Lutheran High Schools. As time went on and the community became more diverse, the membership declined and the age of the congregants meant less children, the Academia decided that a new concept had to be adopted. First, a new Hymal. “This Far by Faith”, with a prayer for “A Mother with a son on drugs”, a Wedding Liturgy, “Jumping the Broom”, Then came “School Choice”. whereby a school could get tax dollars by enrolling minority students regardless of their religious background. Now 13 years later, we have gone from 3000 members to 300, we have 56 giving units supporting the budget, yet we get $6400.00 for every student in the school. That is a million dollars, and that can only be used for salaries and supplies. End result, a school with 244 kids, mostly minority, with backgrounds in the COGIC and Baptist, and little chance of becoming Lutheran. Our High Schools are dying in this economy, because the feeder schools are dysfunctional or out of business.
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