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ONE Sabbath at Hope Presbyterian
Recently, Hope Presbyterian Church in Richfield, MN held 3 ONE Sabbath services. The services were attended by more than 800 people and it was an exciting morning of worship. Pastor Bruce Hillyer challenged the congregation to help those in need and bring compassion to those who are hurting.
During the service we focused on three ministry organizations in Africa. The first ministry was Daystar University, a Christian university located in Kenya. We were joined by Frank Msambya, a Daystar graduate who now works in Daystar’s U.S. office. Frank shared with the congregation about the great work happening at Daystar and how they could become involved. Specifically Frank talked about a new mentorship program that is training Daystar students to go into the Kibra slums and work with children. One of Daystar’s goals is to educate students so that they may disperse throughout Africa with an education that can make a difference.
The second ministry that we highlighted was the Kenya Children’s Fund. This is another education based ministry. Since 1987 Kenya Children’s Fund (KCF) has sought to transform the lives of Kenya’s impoverished children by providing life’s basic necessities, principally education, nutrition, and medical care. KCF’s biggest project is in Kinyago-Dandora, one of the poorest areas of Nairobi, Kenya. KCF’s mission is to lift children from a place of hopelessness to personal achievement. Armed with an education, these young men and women will return to their communities to serve as change agents in every sector of society.
The final ministry that we highlighted was Water for Life. Water for Life’s mission is to help communities in need develop safe and sustainable water sources. By combining formal instruction with hands-on training they teach people how to supply and maintain their own local water resources. Water for Life’s focus is not simply to provide safe drinking water to those in need. The ultimate goal is to help people gain the knowledge and experience they need to help themselves and their communities. We specifically focused on Water for Life’s project in Rwanda, a 4 year project that began in December of 2008. When complete all primary-school students in Kigali will have access to safe drinking water. By December of 2012 this project will improve the lives of over 80,000 children and their families in Kigali.
In between services all three of the ministries had tables set up for members of the congregation to come and visit with them and learn more. We also had a ONE table to get information out to the congregation about the campaign, many people stopped and signed up!
It was a great morning and many of the ministries and church members have already talked about doing another ONE Sabbath service next year.
-Ben Hayle, ONE Member
ONE Sermon Challenge
We’re inviting you to lift up your voice and inspire others to join and act with ONE in the fight against extreme poverty.
The ONE Sermon Challenge, part of ONE Sabbath, invites leaders and members of congregations across the country to create and submit sermons connecting their own faith to these vital issues and lift up the important role of advocacy as an act of faith.
Today we are faced with a global financial crisis in which the world’s poor are the first and most adversely affected. Yet we have proven solutions: Two million people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa receiving lifesaving medicines. Millions of families protected from malaria thanks to simple bed nets. Tens of millions of African children going to school for the first time. and YOU.
Continuing through May, the ONE Sermon Challenge will accept original and inspirational sermons, d’ivrei torah, and khutbas related to global poverty and collect them online at ONE.org. Through the ONE Sermon Challenge, pastors, rabbis, imams and other faith leaders have the chance to share their message to ONE’s millions of members and congregations nationwide, inspiring advocacy and action. At the ONE Sermon Challenge you’ll find inspirational preaching from many traditions, including original Christian, Jewish, and Muslim messages all lifting up a call for action against extreme poverty and treatable, preventable disease.
At the ONE Sermon Challenge you can read Rev. Abby King Kaiser’s inspiring word on the “Work to Do,” download and listen to Rabbi Eric Solomon’s reflections on the role of prophetic leaders like Martin Luther King and Abraham Joshua Heschel, or watch Imam Johari Abdul-Malik’s inspiring Friday khutba on the vital role advocacy plays in fighting global poverty and treatable, preventable disease.
Participants that send us their inspired message will receive a ONE Sabbath Action Pack, resourcing them and their local congregations with next steps to act with ONE.
Last week I caught up with Pastor Eugene Cho, of Quest Church in Seattle, at the Sojourners Mobilization to End Poverty here in Washington DC – he shares his challenge to you to do your part and join the ONE Sermon Challenge:
-Adam Phillips
ONE Meets Reformation in FL
Yesterday I left my flip flops behind and headed west to check out the Thursday night worship service held by Reformation, the high school student ministry at the Calvary Chapel Worship Center in New Port Richey, Florida. During the month of March, Reformation dedicates each Thursday evening service to a different social justice cause.
In the past they have featured organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Compassion International and yesterday, Youth Pastor John David Harris invited me to speak with the group about ONE and our efforts here in Florida to press government leaders to fight extreme poverty and preventable diseases.
After the worship service Pastor Harris asked me to come up on the stage where I fielded questions about how to get involved with ONE locally and what keeps me personally inspired to fight for better and increased assistance for poor countries. Pastor Harris then spoke about the importance of giving back to the community and becoming informed about poverty and preventable diseases in developing countries. He encouraged and reminded the group that “anybody committed to their community, dedicated to justice, driven to worship, with a passion for devotion is not only a part of Reformation, but is the living and breathing Reformation.”
I also had the opportunity to speak about ONE Sabbath, ONE’s initiative to help provide opportunities within the faith community to learn more about global health and poverty issues. I encouraged everyone there to get involved with ONE Sabbath and begin planning different ways they can continue to engage their peers and inspire the community to take action against poverty.
By the end of the night nearly everyone there had signed up to be ONE members and promised to remain committed to making a difference in the fight against extreme poverty. It was an amazing experience and as I drove home last night I couldn’t help but feel even more inspired by this amazing group of revolutionaries!
-Sara Paterni, ONE Field Organizer
Prime Time Chicago
Moody Radio, based out of Chicago, had me on their program ‘Prime Time Chicago’ yesterday to talk about ONE and our ONE Sabbath efforts. I also told them a little about my own faith journey as pastor and advocate in fighting extreme poverty. It was a bit of a hectic start however– the radio transmitter (and its backup!) were both down for the afternoon until ten minutes before I went on. Fortunately, the problem with the transmitter was fixed in time so my interview could hit the airwaves. Many thanks to Steve Hiller, the host, and Michelle Strombeck of WMBI.
Here’s the segment for you to listen to in full.
-Adam Phillips, ONE’s Faith Outreach Coordinator
Be One in a Million: Catholics Confront Global Poverty
Yesterday morning the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services launched a major campaign to confront global poverty. Dubbed Catholics Confront Global Poverty, the Campaign aims to mobilize one million U.S. Catholics to advocate to end poverty, hunger and disease around the world.
Bishop Howard Hubbard, Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace at the USCCB and Bishop of Albany, NY, launched the campaign along with Mr. Ken Hackett, President of Catholic Relief Services. Bishop Fernando Bargallo of Merlo-Moreno Argentina and Ugandan Archbishop John Baptist Odama took part in the event as well. Archbishop Odama closed his message with a charge for “people of good faith and good will to advocate for the promotion and defense of human dignity.”
The launch took place at the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering, held on Capitol Hill here in Washington. I attended the event along with hundreds of leaders from across the US. They are in town this week to share, learn, advocate and strategize. It was an exciting moment where local and national leaders joined together “in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the developing world.”
The Catholics Confront Global Poverty initiative is built on the foundation of the earlier Catholic Campaign Against Global Poverty that started in 2005. To learn more about the initiative, visit www.usccb.org/globalpoverty and www.crs.org/globalpoverty.
I was able to talk with Bishop Hubbard after the event and he offered his thoughts for you in this video message:
-Adam Phillips
ONE Sermon Challenge Update
Faith leaders from many traditions are taking up the challenge to preach against global poverty. If you haven’t heard about the ONE Sermon Challenge yet, take some time to check out what we have up so far. So far we have some great Christian, Jewish and Buddhist messages on the site. If you are a preacher or if you haven’t gotten the chance to encourage your local faith leader to deliver a message on the fight against extreme poverty, it’s not too late to do so.
Through mid-April the ONE Sermon Challenge will continue to accept original and inspirational sermons related to global poverty and collect them online at ONE.org. Through the ONE Sermon Challenge, pastors, rabbis, imams and other faith leaders have the chance to share their message to ONE’s millions of members and congregations nationwide, inspiring advocacy and action.
Over at the ONE Sermon Challenge site, you may want to check out Sensei Anthony Stultz’s “Liberating Message of the Dharma,” or take a listen to Rev. Steve Price’s “Springing Up,” or Rabbi Eric Solomon’s call to action, reflecting on the lives of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. There’s a lot of great stuff over on the site so make sure to take a moment to visit the Sermon Challenge page.
We encourage you and your local congregation to send us their original and inspirational message with ONE. If you are a youth leader or youth pastor, check out ONE partner Youth Specialties podcast video, hosted by Adam McLane, and take the challenge as well.
-Adam Phillips
ONE Sabbath Forum at Lebanon Valley College
In 2009, ONE is engaging faith communities through its ONE Sabbath effort, which gives local congregations and believers opportunities to respond to such global challenges as AIDS, malaria, lack of clean water and children out of school, and informs congregations about the proven solutions that can save lives and transform impoverished communities.
This weekend, Lebanon Valley College and ONE hosted a ONE Sabbath Forum exploring the special role faith communities play in responding to the consequences of global poverty, hunger and preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
The forum was moderated by the Rev. Sandra L. Strauss, the director of public advocacy for the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, and included panelists from various faith traditions: Sensei Tony Stultz from the Buddhist community; the Rev. Dan Donmoyer from the Lutheran Church; Samia Malik, director of communications for the Council of American Islamic Relations; Patrick Walker, regional director for Church World Service; and Rabbi Paula Reimers from the Jewish community.
The panelists were asked how their faith traditions are responding to the issues of poverty and disease on a global and personal level, and how faith communities can work together to respond. The forum was a great success and many were in attendance. All of the panelists agreed that acting together as ONE is critical in the fight against global poverty and disease despite people’s differences in faith traditions.
Comments were also made by some of the panelists speaking out against apathy and the danger that exists when people do not participate in advocacy. At the end of the forum people from the audience were permitted to ask questions and Lancaster, PA ONE Member Fran Gouveia enthusiastically reminded everyone in attendance that ONE members have and continue to be some of the best advocates for people in the developing world!
After the forum concluded, guests stopped to sign the ONE Declaration and picked up information on ONE Sabbath. Many commented on the importance of people working together despite their differences whether it be faith, politics, or occupations and that having the visual of different faith leaders sitting together arriving at similar conclusions was inspiring!
-Brian Sweeney
(Read rest of Rev. Sandra Strauss’s op-ed below.)
ONE Sabbath in the LDN
ONE member Melissa Sweeney landed a terrific letter to the editor in yesterday’s western Pennsylvania’s Lebanon Daily News. In her letter, Melissa underscores the work of people of faith through efforts like ONE Sabbath, to lift up their voices and take action in the fight against extreme poverty. Check it out, below:
February 12, 2009
Group looking to act as ONE
Editor:
One of the most basic callings of my Christian faith is to serve those in need. Lending a kind hand turns faith into action.
Nearly all faiths share a similar calling of compassion and service. The Torah teaches that we should care for the poor through acts of compassion and loving kindness. Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew that how we treat “the least among us” is the measure of how we treat God. Zakat, serving the suffering of humanity, is one of the five pillars of Islam.
Congregations and believers across Pennsylvania have a unique opportunity to channel their energy into the movement to save lives and combat extreme poverty around the world. An effort called ONE Sabbath aims to raise awareness within communities of faith about the challenges of global poverty and provide resources for congregations to respond meaningfully to these challenges.
ONE Sabbath, an effort by the anti-poverty group ONE, gives local congregations and believers opportunities to respond to such global challenges as AIDS, malaria, lack of clean water and children out of school, and informs congregations about the proven solutions that can save lives and transform impoverished communities.
The ONE Sabbath effort, which includes Jewish and Christian congregations and encompasses ONE Sadaqa in the Muslim community and ONE Seva in the Hindu community, will run through the first 100 days of President Barack Obama’s administration, a critical time when America’s role in the world and our foreign policy and budget priorities will be set.
ONE Sabbath aims to turn our faith into action for the 12,500 people who will lose their lives today from AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis in the poorest parts of the world; action for the 1 billion people who struggle to live without access to clean water; action for the millions of children who, when the sun sets in Africa tonight, will go to bed without a mother or father due to preventable, treatable diseases.
Today we have the technology and the proven, effective solutions to save millions of lives. Malaria can be stopped with something as simple as a $6 bed net. Dehydration, which unbelievably kills 5,000 children each day, can be treated with a hydration tablet that costs pennies.
The solutions have arrived. We’re waiting for the moment we all say, “We will not allow people to die from diseases we can prevent. We will not allow children to die in a world of plenty from a lack of food. No longer.”
Through ONE Sabbath, we have the chance to get hundreds of congregations and thousands of voices speaking out and taking action. Visit ONE.org/ONESabbath to get your congregation engaged.
-Melissa Sweeney, ONE Member, Jonestown
ONE Sermon Challenge Launches
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King saw his role not simply as a Civil Rights leader, but as a preacher – he called it his “first calling and greatest commitment.” History remembers Dr. King’s voice, whether from the church pulpit or in the public arena, as a powerful instrument for social change.
As a preacher myself, I often sweated the challenge of bringing an inspirational message to a congregation to help spur on faithful action. What always encouraged me, however, was seeing colleagues and friends doing the same thing and lifting up their voices in their houses of worship. Seeing preachers speak out and engage their congregations motivated me to do the same. That’s why I invite you and your local faith leaders to join a new effort to speak out to your congregation and help inspire action on behalf of the world’s poor.
The new effort is the ONE Sermon Challenge. Starting today, The ONE Sermon Challenge will accept original and inspirational sermons related to global poverty and collect them online at ONE.org. Through ONE Sermon Challenge, pastors, rabbis, imams and other faith leaders have the chance to share their message to ONE’s millions of members and congregations nationwide.
The challenge is part of ONE Sabbath 2008-09, ONE’s effort to mobilize people of faith to speak out and take action for those struggling against poverty and disease around the world. Preachers from all faith traditions are welcome to make submissions and fully incorporate their own tradition into their messages at:
http://www.one.org/onesabbath/sermonchallenge
Over the next few days as sermons come in, take a look at what others have shared. If you are a preacher, join the effort. If you’re not a preacher, ask your pastor, priest, rabbi or imam to join the ONE Sermon Challenge. We ask that the sermons be recent or are slated to be preached in your congregation over the next two months. If you do, we’ll then ship you a ONE Sabbath Action Pack, with ONE bands, literature, T-shirts and other materials you can use to host your own ONE Sabbath event. If you’ve already held a ONE Sabbath, then the pack will help keep the conversation and anti-poverty work going. If you submit a video of your sermon, we’ll include the book “On The Move,” Bono’s address at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2006.
Visit the ONE Sermon Challenge on the web and then come back often to see what other ONE members of faith are saying. Invite your priest, minister, rabbi, imam, pastor or other faith leaders you know to join the ONE Sermon Challenge and share their preaching on global poverty.
One word, one sermon, one challenging message on what we can each do, can make a significant difference. So whether it’s a sermon in worship, a sermon message at your youth worship, a d’ivrei torah, or a Friday khutba, add your voice and help inspire action in the fight against global poverty.
-Adam Phillips
Obama Announces Faith-Based Council
President Obama yesterday unveiled a new council of religious and secular leaders to help guide America’s faith-based programs, and here at ONE we are excited and encouraged because it’s a group that promises to bring renewed attention and energy to the fight against poverty and disease.
Dubbed the Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the new group will be made up of 25 members, featuring Christian, Jewish and Muslim representatives, many of whom have been outspoken leaders in efforts to address global hunger, HIV/AIDS and endemic poverty.
Here at ONE, we are particularly excited and encouraged because it’s a group that includes ONE’s long time allies in the effort of ending extreme poverty and preventable diseases.
A founding board member of ONE, Richard Stearns, who is the president of World Vision, is on the council along with Jim Wallis, president and Executive Director of Sojourners, also a key ally of ONE’s since the start.
Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, is on the council and has been involved in ONE Sabbath, our faith outreach effort. Here you can hear Rabbi Saperstein talk about ONE Sabbath and the need for America’s faith community to be active in advocacy on behalf of the world’s poor.
During ONE Vote ’08, the ONE Bus stopped outside Orlando, Fla. for an event at Northland, A Church distributed, led by another member of the council, the Rev. Joel Hunter.
Another council member, Eboo Patel, is the founder of the Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core and has just launched a program with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation that is focused on the Millennium Development Goals. William Shaw, council member and president of the National Baptist Convention, was also the keynote speaker at Bread for the World’s last Interfaith Convocation in 2007.
The Council will work with Joshua Dubois, a young Pentecostal pastor who will head the White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
ONE looks forward to working with the new council and White House office to help maximize the tremendous efforts of the countless congregations, organizations and community groups who are working each day to help those who are most vulnerable to poverty, hunger and disease.
As the president said yesterday at the National Prayer Breakfast:
The particular faith that motivates each of us can promote a greater good for all of us. Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife and rebuild what has broken; to lift up those who have fallen on hard times. This is not only our call as people of faith, but our duty as citizens of America.
-Mark Brinkmoeller
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The ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with frequent contributions from volunteers, members and partner organizations.
The ONE Blog updates readers daily with the latest in global development news and analysis and what ONE members and our partners are doing around the world to influence world leaders in the fight against global poverty.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE or ONE Action. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
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