Mission in a Multicultural Context January Inter-term Course, 2006
First year students spend January term studying the history, culture and contemporary realities of Hispanics, to develop skills in intercultural dialogue and ministry that can be utilized in other cultural settings. This year the course was directed by associate faculty member Jaime Case '94, assisted by ETSS M.Div. students Winifred Mitchell '07 and Gary Cox '06. Dr. Mitchell is a retired professor of anthropology and Mr. Cox holds master's degrees in linguistics and bilingual/bicultural education. The program was centered on the seminary campus, with excursions from the campus, and for the first year it was entirely run by seminary personnel. The program included several days of class time with lectures, readings, films, and role-playing designed to prepare students to be aware and intentional about the issues of culture and to understand their own responses to cultural differences. The four days at the Mexican border at Piedra Negras and Coahuila, across from Eagle Pass, Texas, were intense and meaningful. The students worked with the Rev. Angel Cisterna, vicar of an Anglican Church, El Buen Pastor, with a feeding ministry to migrants and homeless people. Students participated in the feeding ministry and visited other ministries, working with former prisoners in a half-way house, praying with juveniles in a detention facility, talking with seminarians at a Roman Catholic seminary, and attending and participating in church services. After several days of reflection and further preparation on campus, the students dispersed in pairs to Hispanic Episcopal parishes and missions in Texas and Oklahoma for the next weekend, staying with host families and experiencing the community ministries of the church. They also took a day trip to San Antonio to visit several missions. Back on campus, the students shared experiences and analyzed what they had learned.
The students discussed how to extend their learning in cross-cultural ministry for the follow-up course in Missiology taught by Jaime Case this spring. In the animated discussion, the group decided they would like to apply what they learned to other minority groups, including women, African-Americans, Anglos in Hispanic ministry and to explore issues of diversity currently dividing the Episcopal church. The students presented Jaime with an award of appreciation at the end of the January term experience, indicating their enthusiasm and appreciation for the program. | 
