Revision, Reform, Reconcile

What is the Cross Cultural Alliance of Ministries?

CCAM's purpose is to provide a forum where Presbyterians may address critical issues facing the local and national church through a multicultural lens. The time has come for ethnic minority leaders to link arms, dreaming new dreams and casting new visions for the church together.

Why is CCAM needed?

The PCUSA has urgent challenges to confront:

  • Our denomination is 92% white in a nation that is 2/3 white and shrinking. We are grossly ill-prepared for the multiethnic reality that is upon us now.
  • The average age of a PCUSA member approaches 60, and younger generations feel increasingly alienated from the institutional church.
  • The PCUSA loses over 40,000 members a year. We have gone from 4.2 million to 2.4 million members in the last 40 years.
  • The PCUSA has practically ground to a halt as it endlessly debates human sexuality and ordination standards while evangelism, justice, reconciliation and reform receive scant attention.

Therefore, CCAM's hope is to:

1. Gather ethnic minority leaders from across the Presbyterian Church (USA) to discuss ways in which our unique gifts, perspectives, theology and culture may positively impact the current life and future of the church.

2. Help shape the presenting issues of the day beyond ordination debates to dealing with the massive demographic shifts changing the church and society, harnessing the gifts of all God's people, restoring balance between Word and Spirit, addressing the continuing impact of historic racism, and preparing the church for a cross cultural future.

3. Promote the ministry of reconciliation by cultivating existing and emerging networks of ethnic-specific and multicultural ministries.

4. Empower, equip and encourage all God's people to serve faithfully in increasingly complex cultural, geographical and eccelesiastical contexts.

5. Transition the church from a preoccupation with institutional preservation to being refocused for missional purpose.

6. Communicate our vision for a more vital, evangelical, peaceful, just, global, ecumenical and multicultural church, impacting not only the outcome of debates but shaping the very agenda of the national church.