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SEPTEMBER 2002 Return to NCC HomePage |
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SEPTEMBER 2002 Return to NCC HomePage |
| PREACHING
ABOUT POVERTY Christianity. . . According to Jesus A sermon by Gordon McClellan, founder of ChristianNetworks.org, an Internet-based ministry of teaching, motivation, development and mission in Oklahoma City, OK. As a minister, I hear many definitions of what it “means to be Christian”. Often, the definitions are varied and based on  particular needs or interests that one person or group of people
have. I began to wonder if there can be deciphered . . . an understanding of Christianity
according to Jesus? So I asked myself this simple question: What did Christ teach about
being Christian? Love. It is this simple. . . . There is to be no distinguishing in our love for humanity, Jesus taught. We are called to love those who we are most like and those who are most unlike us; those we agree with and those we disagree with; we are called to love the rich and the poor, especially those in desperate need. Click here to read the rest of this sermon. . . MOBILIZATION FACTBOOK:Studies Show Hunger Persists in America NCC partner Bread for the World cites research studies that show: Thirty-three million people—including 13 million children—live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger. This represents one in ten households in the United States (10 percent). 3.1 percent of U.S. households experience hunger: they frequently skip meals or eat too little, sometimes going without food for a whole day. Nearly 8.5 million people, including 2.9 million children, live in these homes. 7.3 percent of U.S. households are at risk of hunger: they have lower quality diets or must resort to seeking emergency food because they cannot always afford the food they need. 24.7 million people, including 9.9 million children, live in these homes. People facing hunger increasingly do not receive assistance from the Food Stamp Program. The number of people who received food stamps in 2001 decreased by over 10 million since 1994, a drop of over one-third in program participation. About 50 percent of the decline is due to problems implementing the 1996 welfare law, and as much as 8 percent is due to limits on eligibility established in the welfare law. Churches and charities are straining to serve rising requests for food from pantries and soup kitchens, especially from working people. The U.S. Conference of Mayors reports that in 2001 thirty-seven percent of the adults requesting food assistance were employed. Low-paying jobs, unemployment and high housing costs led the list of reasons people gave for requesting emergency food assistance. Catholic Charities USA reports that in 1999 the number of people receiving emergency food assistance surged an average of 38 percent. America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest network of food banks, reports that 23.3 million people turned to the agencies they serve in 2001, an increase of over 2 million since 1997. Forty percent were from working families. Source: Bread for the World.
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 |
REGIONAL ECUMENISM AT WORK: RESEARCH FINDINGS: The poll by Denver-based affordable housing developer Mercy Housing and St. John's University in New York found that housing was the number one concern among Americans (49.8 percent), whose annual incomes average $15,280. Healthcare (43.8 percent) and education (31.6 percent) were a close second and third, with terrorist attack (24.9 percent) ranking lower. Source: HandsNet MOBILIZATION FACTBOOK: The random sample of nearly 200 youth-serving agencies, reaching from the U.S. eastern seaboard to Alaska, Hawaii and Guam, finds 35% offer at least one religious activity. Source: New England Network. FOUNDATION INITIATIVES: |
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 |
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York, NY10115. Comments/ suggestions: 212-870-2227 or news@ncccusa.org. Copyright 2002 by National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA.
