ELCA Cans Black Woman Chaplain

"Our pastor: The Rev. Christine Thompson is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Ordained in 1995, Rev. Thompson served as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Detroit, and as the Episcopal/Lutheran campus pastor at Wayne State University, also in Detroit, before accepting her current call as campus pastor at the Corner House. She has been serving at UW-Milwaukee since May 2007.

A native of Chicago, Rev. Thompson received her Master of Divinity degree from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

Rev. Thompson is a gifted preacher, teacher and vocalist. In 1997, she was a member of a delegation invited to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the National Choir of Cuba in Havana and Santiago, Cuba. The group conducted workshops on African American worship and sacred music. In June 2005, on Pr. Thompson’s second trip to Tanzania, East Africa, she was a presenter at “Women As the Eyes of the Church,” a consultation on women’s work in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania/Mbulu. She also served as spiritual advisor to the group of southeast Michigan women who attended the conference. Pr. Thompson preached at Haydom Lutheran Church/Tanzania in the summer of 2005 and at St. Paul Lutheran Cathedral/ Namibia in the summer of 2006. She is regularly invited to preach ecumenically. She has preached revivals at Calvary Baptist church and Calvary Presbyterian church in Detroit, Michigan. She has been well received in Episcopal pulpits including, All Saints/Detroit and (sic - the sentence broke off there).

Rev. Thompson has served on many strategy teams as a facilitator and a writer.

She is a member of the writing team that produced, “Following The Way: A Strategy for Mission by African Americans for African Americans in the Southeast Michigan synod.

She is certified by World Impact school for cross-cultural church planting. She was certified as a Peer minister trainer in June 2006, and certified as a Bridgebuilder consultant in September 2006.

Rev. Thompson loves singing, reading and analyzing movies. She is the mother of two adult sons."


Closing of Lutheran campus ministry at UWM raises questions
By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Mar. 27, 2009

The abrupt closing of a longtime Lutheran campus ministry at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee - while leaving its sister program intact at Marquette University - has opened a painful schism in its sponsoring synod over questions of race, class, gender and the future of campus ministry in Milwaukee.

The Corner House at 3074 N. Maryland Ave., operated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Milwaukee Synod, has been closed since mid-March after the board that oversees both campus ministries announced it was letting Corner House's pastor, the Rev. Christine Thompson, go.

Synod Bishop Paul Stumme-Diers said the decision by the Lutheran Campus Ministry-Greater Milwaukee board was strictly financial. He said the program would be insolvent by summer if it didn't make drastic cuts, and that a new ministry would emerge at the Corner House.

But critics say the less-than-transparent process and its outcome - UWM's urban ministry is shuttered midsemester and its African-American female pastor out of work, while its more-affluent counterpart remains open with a white male pastor - raise troubling questions.

The synod's decision to now consult anti-racism team members on the appointment of new campus ministry board members, they said, heightens their suspicions that biases might have played a role.

"We can't know what played into this, so we're left to make assumptions," said the Rev. Steve Jerbi, pastor at All Peoples Lutheran Church, which has worked with both campus ministries. "The process has left far more questions than it has answers."

The Synod Council's executive committee and the Lutheran Campus Ministry board will address those questions at a listening session from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday at Adoration Lutheran church, 3840 W. Edgerton Ave. in Greenfield.

Even the location is controversial for some, who see it as too far removed from those committed to and served by the UWM ministry.

Thompson, whose contract ends March 31, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

At least two board members have resigned after the controversy. Pastor Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld stepped down as vice president of the campus ministry board after voting against Thompson's dismissal. Lay representative Catherine Alexander resigned from the Synod Council, which oversees the campus ministry board, citing the "vague and secretive processes used in reaching this decision."

The ELCA's Milwaukee Synod has ministered to students and staff at the two universities for decades - from a former brick duplex near UWM, named for its location at N. Maryland Ave. and E. Kenwood Blvd., and from offices in Marquette's Alumni Memorial Union.

Marquette's serves about 150 students a semester, according to its pastor, the Rev. Brad Brown.

The Corner House's outreach has waned in recent years as it struggled with staff turnover and the demands of an aging building, said a former interim pastor and a former board member.

But supporters said Thompson was making progress on programming since her arrival in 2007. They said the Corner House holds much potential and that the synod would support it financially if it considered it a priority.

"There is a great opportunity to use that ministry and facility to help young adults develop their faith, identify their spiritual journey, at a time in their lives when that is critical," said Venice Williams, executive director of Seed Folks youth ministry, who had begun collaborating with Thompson.

The campus ministry board has struggled. Founded in 2005 to oversee and provide financial management, including fund raising, for the ministries, its membership had dwindled from nine in January to four after Thomas-Breitfeld's departure this month.

Stumme-Diers said its decisions on the Corner House and Thompson were based on the report of a task force. Critics say they've been unable to see the report or know the identities of its three authors. Stumme-Diers told the Journal Sentinel that it would be available at Monday's meeting.

The bishop said biases did not play into the decisions regarding Corner House or Thompson, but that input by anti-racism team members in the creation of a new board is essential for a synod that is primarily urban.

"As a synod that takes seriously our anti-racism work, we want to include an anti-racist commitment to this (campus ministry board) leadership as we plan for the future," he said.

Stumme-Diers said he would work to place Thompson in a different ministry in the synod.

WHAT'S NEXT
There will be a meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at Adoration Lutheran church, 3840 W. Edgerton Ave. in Greenfield, to address concerns about the closing of a Lutheran campus ministry operation at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

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GJ - One WELS member said, "Send them Kelm." Catholics would call that the ultimate sacrifice.

If she can copy and paste, I would refer her to Point of Grace WELS Lutheran Campus Ministry.