Center fosters minority multiculturalism - Multi-Ethnic Center of Ministry - News

Christian Century, Feb 24, 1993

At the Multi-Ethnic Center of Ministry, the top administrator has a dream: minorities around the globe in partnership for worship, economic development and community life. "As time has passed, the vision has been made clearer and the horizon is broadened for the Multi-Ethnic Center," said William James, whose center in Madison, New Jersey, grooms ethnic leadership for church and society. "My vision for the center - then and now - is to bring together minority groups so they can have some kind of power in community life," explained James, a retired parish pastor renowned for his work in Harlem. "The goal is also to reduce the tension among cultural groups to prove that groups can get along with one another. "

The center, an affiliate of the United Methodist Church, was founded in 1978 to help UMC ministers develop outreach ministries to Hispanics, Native Americans, African-Americans and Asians. Among other programs, the center develops scholarships for ethnic minorities and financial aid for schools and local churches. It educates school dropouts and promotes ethnic programs for churches in the Northeast. Situated on the campus of Drew University in Madison, the center works with other major theological institutions.

Primarily, the center aims to teach congregations how to work with "different people across intercultural and cross-cultural lines," James said. "It had been said of old that the ethnic minorities would not work together. We are proving this to be a false assumption. When you say you cannot worship together, you have not tried to worship together."

The center has sponsored multi-ethnic workshops for churches from a variety of denominations in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and other cities in the Northeast. The sessions teach ministers a bag of how-to skills: how to reach out to minorities, how to develop programs to attract ethnic groups, how to provide educational programs for minorities, how to understand cultural differences.

James, now retired, is widely known in the church and in the streets of Harlem, where he served as pastor of the Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in East Harlem for many years. Sometimes fondly referred to as "Black Jesus" by street people, he is renowned for rescuing more than 3,500 prostitutes, panhandlers, drug addicts and thieves from the streets of New York, sending them to college and turning them into doctors, lawyers, teachers, ministers and government officials. He has also served as a pastor in the Bronx, working with street gangs.

James believes that when religious leaders and churches from all ethnic backgrounds unite, monumental tasks are accomplished. For instance, he cites the efforts of the Harlem Urban Development Corporation, which has brought together ministers and laity from different ethnic backgrounds to rejuvenate dilapidated homes and businesses in Harlem. James serves as chairman of the corporation. "I don't see how any other agency could have done this but the church," James said.