A Pentecost church

In this issue of The Lutheran, you will read about how the ELCA seeks to become a more racially and ethnically diverse church (page 12). In many ways, our church is already quite diverse with congregations in the open country, urban neighborhoods and burgeoning suburbs. ELCA members are blessed with different gifts of the Spirit, living them out in varied callings each day. We also hold richly diverse political perspectives and views on questions before this church.

From the beginning, the ELCA has been committed to becoming more multicultural. The road has been difficult. We set a 10-year goal to become a church body of at least 10 percent people of color and/or people whose primary language is other than English. Eighteen years later, we're only at 3 percent.

Such slow growth is understandable but not acceptable.