What's Happening in Boston?
April 16 (Day 2) 9:00 AM
Dr. Alvin Padilla
Friday, April 16, 2010
9:38 AM
[Dean, Center for Urban Ministerial Education]
"A New Kind of Learning"
The growth of Christianity is taking place in the cities among those seen as the undesirable rabble -- the same way it grew in the first century.
It is a necessity to recognize and learn to live and minister in a multi-ethnic environment. We have long assumed that our ways were the best for everyone (church, theological education, etc.). We have to reinvent ourselves, even if we are unwilling to do so.
In North America the theological seminaries are clinging to outmoded methods and ignore the ethnic Americans. The challenge of dealing well with the diversity of languages and cultures is a great one, but we must face it. Colleges strive to recruit students from other ethnicities but there is little attempt to similarly diversify the faculty and leadership.
Consider the growth of the Hispanic population in North America -- are our seminaries ready to meet the ministerial training needs of that population?
We must avoid the "looking down" attitude. And it's not just numbers that make something multi-cultural. The question is "Who leads?"
- Listen to what the others need
- Draft an anti-racist statement showing a proactive process of becoming multi-culural
- Must be intentional about the mission statement.
Gordon-Conwell CUME as a model
- In the city
- Of the city
- For the city
April 15 (Day 1) 6:00 PM
Regional Team members and volunteers and National Committee members gathered
at Jubilee Christian Church International (1500 Blue Hill Ave, Boston, MA).
Jubilee is one of the two venues for the 2010 Ethnic Ministries Summit.
The other is Morning Star Baptist Church, located just a half mile further north
on Blue Hill. We needed a large work crew this morning because there were tables
to set up in the downstairs exhibit area and in the specially-erected dining
tent. And there were the registration packets to stuff and the Communications
Center to be equipped and so much more.
We
are a happy crowd of workers -- delighted that after three years of praying and
planning the Summit is finally ready to put into action. This afternoon people
arrived from all over the local area and from across North America to register,
to select 4 out of the 56 possible seminars they could take over the next couple
of days, to scour the list of Affinity Group meetings to find any that might
interest them, and to prepare for tonight's meeting (at Morning Star).