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MAY 2002 Return to NCC HomePage |
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MAY 2002 Return to NCC HomePage |
| PREACHING
ABOUT POVERTY 'The Cure for Poverty' A sermon by The Rev. Johnson K. Asibuo, Department of Overseas Missions, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Text: Acts 4:32, 34-35 Where does poverty come from? Does God create some people poor? Or is poverty the creation of human society?  Is there a cure for
poverty? . . . When humans forget God and social justice,
when righteousness is forsaken for self aggrandizement, and when the brotherhood and
sisterhood of humankind is superceded by megalomania, the result is poverty. . . Yes,
there is a cure for poverty. Jesus has established an egalitarian community
where everyone is their sister's keeper, and where the golden rule operates. It is a
community of faith where agape love rules to eradicate poverty.Click here for the rest of the sermon . . . NCC COMMUNIONS AT WORK: Presbyterians Extend 30-Year Success in Fighting Hunger For more than 30 years, the Presbyterian Hunger Program has provided a channel through which Presbyterians can be effectively engaged in the fight against hunger. The PHP's work is guided by the Common Affirmation on Global Hunger, adopted by the  General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church USA, an NCC member denomination. Through the annual One Great Hour of Sharing
offering and year-round support of the Hunger Fund,
Presbyterians provide the PHP with nearly four million dollars a year to support
ministries of direct food relief, development assistance, public policy advocacy, education and lifestyle integrity.
REGIONAL ECUMENICAL ACTION: Eyes of Texas Churches Fix on Children's Health The Texas Conference of Churches, with offices in Austin, has lamented the fact that 1.4 million of the state's children have no health insurance, and that the poverty rate for children remains extraordinarily high among Hispanics and African-Americans. The TCC has adopted a comprehensive statement, "Covering Childrens' Health Needs," as a basis for its advocacy and education program on the issue. INFORMATION EXCHANGE: Pew Research Confirms: Boom Bypasses Poor Reports of deprivation -- not having enough money to buy food, clothing or medical care -- are as widespread today as they have been in the past three decades. People on the bottom third of the income scale are only slightly more satisfied with their ability to afford the necessities of life than they were in the early 1990s. At the same time, middle-income and affluent people are much more satisfied than they were then. Unlike the poor, they now say it is easier to afford housing, appliances, vacations and going out. More details on this disparity among Americans, and the implications for society at large, see the full June 2001 report from the The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.  . . . appears each month on the NCC website, www.ncccusa.org. Please advise your colleagues and friends of this service, and if you have a website, please link to us. Suggestions for content are welcome: e-mail us at news@ncccusa.org. Here are links to Poverty Updates for: March 2002. . . April 2002 . . . May 2002 . . . June 2002 . . . July 2002 . . . August 2002 . . . September 2002 . . .October 2002 . . . November 2002 . . . December 2002 thru February 2003 |
 National Council of Churches is a partner with Children's Defense Fund and Good Schools Pennsylvania in organizing support for adequate public education, and for other programs that "ensure every child a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start and a moral start with the support of caring families and communities." The movement's centerpiece is the "Act to Leave No Child Behind" (S. 940 and H.R. 1990). The NCC Executive Board will participate in the next vigil in support of public education, May 14 in Harrisburg, Pa. For information contact Sheila Ballen - sheila@goodschoolspa.orgWHAT MINISTRY PARTNERS ARE DOING: 'Lighting the Way Out of Poverty' is May 20 Event As the date nears for congressional reathorization of TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), the NCC is working with its partner organizations to send a powerful message to Congress: "Don't just reduce the welfare rolls; reduce poverty." Along with Call to Renewal, the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, and others working to "light the way out of poverty," the NCC is supporting a candlelight vigil at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Monday, May 20, from 8:45 to 9:30 p.m. The vigil falls in the season of Pentecost (beginning May 19), the time when Christians celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. People of faith nationwide have been invited to add power to the Washington event by holding local candlelight vigils across America on May 20. If you are willing to help build participation for the vigil, email your response to Brenda Girton-Mitchell or Mary Cooper, or fax the NCC's Washington office at 202-543-1297. For a complete list of sponsors, state events and contact persons,and a list of principles for TANF legislation, click here. Other information is available from Wesley Woo at www.nationalcampaign.org. THIS MONTH'S DATES AND
DEADLINES: Monday, June 17: 'In a Global Economy, Who Profits?' This conference, at Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, IA, examines goals and values guiding globalization and its effects on rural communities in the Midwest and the Third World. It will also consider an alternative, biblically inspired model of globalization. Speakers include Dr. Dean Brackley, Roman Catholic priest at the Central American University in El Salvador who works in the Barrio near the campus; Pauline Tiffen, Senior Advisor to the World Bank's International Task Force on Commodity Risk Management for Developing Countries; Cornelia Flora, Professor of Agriculture and Sociology and the Director of the Center for Rural Development at Iowa State University, author of Sustainable Agriculture in Temperate Zones; and a variety of Christian farm leaders. For more info, contact Center for Theology and Land, a rural ministry program of the University of Dubuque and Wartburg Theological Seminaries. Phone 563-589-3117. E-mail ruralmin@wartburgseminary.edu or ruralmin@dbq.edu. Or contact Wisconsin Council of Churches, Sun Prairie, WI. MOBILIZATION FACTBOOK: Minimum-Wage Workers Can't Rent Two Bedrooms "The National Low-Income Housing Coalition has pointed out that in 2000, employees earning the minimum wage could not afford to rent even a 'modest' two-bedroom apartment in any county in the nation."-- As reported in Washington's New Poor Law: Welfare "Reform" and the Roads Not Taken--1935 to the Present, Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg and Sheila D. Collins, The Apex Press, New York, 2001. |
NCC MEMBER COMMUNIONS African Methodist Episcopal Church African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Alliance of Baptists American Baptist Churches in the USA The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America Diocese of the Armenian Church of America Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Church of the Brethren The Coptic Orthodox Church in North America The Episcopal Church Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Friends United Meeting Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Hungarian Reformed Church in America International Council of Community Churches Korean Presbyterian Church in America Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Mar Thoma Church Moravian Church in America Northern Province and Southern Province National Baptist Convention of America National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America Orthodox Church in America Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Polish National Catholic Church of America Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. Reformed Church in America Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada The Swedenborgian Church Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America United Church of Christ The United Methodist Church NCC MINISTRY PARTNERS REGIONAL ECUMENICAL AND INTERFAITH
ORGANIZATIONS INFORMATION EXCHANGE: |
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Copyright 2002 by National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA.