Click on any day in March to learn more about poverty:
Or choose a topic to explore in depth:
Return to: |
What happens when a congregation looks at all that it is and does through the lens of Micah 6:8, the Bible passage that asks us to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God? The 35 congregations around the country that have participated in an NCC pilot program on Micah 6 Congregations have found that the program revitalizes congregational life. Growth in membership, a deepening spiritual life, and burgeoning social outreach ministries all result when the integrated approach of this beloved Bible passage is put into action.
About a year after St. John's began to implement the Micah 6 program--through newsletters, bulletins, preaching and Bible study--changes became noticeable, says the Rev. Schmeling. "For example, the St. John 's Playgroup for parents and kids that meets once a month had been mostly a social thing," he says. "Now they have started doing projects and trips that involve the kids [in service activities]--such as collecting and wrapping Christmas gifts for distribution through Intown Community Assistance," a neighborhood social service agency also featured in the CBS special. Micah 6 also can make subtle but important changes in how parishioners approach service projects with Intown Community Assistance (ICA), including work to provide food for hungry neighbors. Because ICA depends on St. John's to fulfill the agency's monthly need for some 50 jars of peanut butter, the congregation is becoming known locally as "the peanut butter church." To meet the monthly goal, "parishioners are asked to think of this project whenever they go to the grocery store on regular shopping trips--to make it a part of everyday life," the Rev. Schmeling says. Though shopping for peanut butter may seem like a lowly vehicle, when done in the spirit of Micah 6, it can raise consciousness about the poor and about what the Christian faith has to say about poverty. The Rev. Schmeling says that he has worked to integrate Micah 6 themes throughout his preaching, noting "the way Jesus spoke of poverty and how often he talked of poverty," and how he embraced the poor and the marginalized. For more information, visit www.micah6.org |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Each
of these congregations has its own story. Among them is St. John's Lutheran Church,
Atlanta, Ga., where the Rev. Bradley Schmeling is pastor and where Micah's call elicits
responses at many levels in the congregation's life.