One of the growth edges of mainline Protestantism is the predominance of our racial homogeneity. The PCUSA describes a multicultural church as one in which 20% of the members in the congregation are of a different racial ethnic background from the majority. Acts 2, the Pentecost account, calls us to be “together in one place”. That call is what makes the multicultural movement in the church so compelling. Marcia is engaged in this movement on the local, regional and national levels. She is the former Moderator of the National Board of the Presbyterian Multicultural Network (PMN) as well as the current Moderator of the Multicultural Committee of New Hope Presbytery which spans much of Central and Eastern North Carolina. She also serves as the Dean of the Multicultural Institute at Montreat, an annual training and teaching event during November.
About the Multicultural Committee of New Hope Presbytery
In New Hope Presbytery our multicultural committee and network are reaching out all over the Presbytery to support multicultural ministries and to encourage mono-cultural churches to catch the multicultural vision. One of our most exciting initiatives is our work with churches hosting Presbytery meetings to plan and implement multicultural worship services at every Presbytery meeting.
About the Presbyterian Multicultural Network
The Presbyterian Multicultural Network is a grassroots partnership of congregations, individuals, and groups across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who embody, celebrate, cultivate, and support multicultural ministries all over the country. The PMN partners in planning both national and regional multicultural conferences that provide opportunities for training, networking and continuing education for people engaged in multicultural ministries of all kinds. The PMN is engaged in new initiatives to reach out to Presbyterian seminaries and every Presbytery in order to develop connections with all of these entities of the church. The PMN also has multicultural institutes you can read about below and we have established an endowment fund to enhance our ability to support multicultural ministries with funding as other sources of funding continue to dwindle.
The PMN Connects, Nurtures, and Imagines
CONNECT: The Multicultural Network helps you connect to your brothers and sisters in Christ doing multicultural ministry.
NURTURE: The Multicultural Network can nurture and support your ministry through conferences, consultations and courses.
IMAGINE: An endowment fund is built through annual congregation membership feels. The fund will support grants for participating congregations to support and enhance the congregation’s ministry and witness in a variety of areas.
Upcoming Events
Montreat Multicultural Institute
The third annual Montreat Multicultural Institute will be November 5-9, 2012
(I am the Dean and am teaching a class on embodying faith along with a singer songwriter and professional storyteller)
For more information visit www.pcusa.org/multicultural.
