June 24th, 2008 at 2:08 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
On Thursday, bishops from all of the G8 countries released a letter urging the G8 country leaders to honor their commitments to reduce global poverty and address climate change at their July summit in Toyako, Japan.
“Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was joined by the presidents of bishops’ conferences in other G-8 countries in reminding the leaders of their promise to spend $50 billion annually on development assistance — with half going to Africa — by 2010. “This commitment must be met and additional commitments should be made in the areas of health care, education and humanitarian aid,” the bishops wrote.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:25 pm | posted by Betsy Avila
Ed Streitelmeier opened the sermon at Zoar Lutheran Church’s “ONE Sunday” with “Bambelela,” a South African term for encouragement. Throughout the month of February, the congregation held two Bible Studies and devoted a sermon to educating their congregation about extreme poverty, its reality, and Christianity’s role in fighting extreme poverty.
The Bible Studies included a Hunger-Awareness Sunday for first grade and pre-school children. The children were given cheerios, crackers and donuts to represent the different amounts of food given at different economic levels, from the most minimal to the overstuffed and over-glazed. Using treats may have been the best way of grabbing their attention, and it assured every little attendee was involved in the event.
For the older students (those probably less impressed with dry cheerios and donuts) the studies included a run through of the bind that holds Christianity to the duty of social justice by adding a biblical application to each MDG:
8. Create a Global Partnership for Development
Biblical Application: “If you lend money to my people, to the poor around you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. If you take your neighbor’s cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down; for it may be your neighbor’s only clothing to use as cover; in what else should that person sleep? And if your neighbor cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate.” Exodus 22:25-27.
Adults were able to contribute to the “Noisy Bucket” and throw loose change, bills and checks. Those attending generated almost $3500 in donations for the ELCA World Hunger Appeal!
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:54 pm | posted by annisa.wanat
I have a lot of volunteers, all of whom are dedicated and amazing people because they give up their free time to helping the world’s poor, but every once in awhile, I meet a group that leaves me slack-jawed. Chip Huber and his students at Wheaton Academy are one such group. As a school, WA has worked with ONE-partner, World Vision, over the last six years to build a medical clinic and school in Zambia. I have always thought this was “cool”, so when Chip contacted me to come speak to his class two-week intensive “Winterim” course on poverty and social justice, I thought it would be great to meet these “kids” in person.
We talked about the Millennium Development Goals and the upcoming congressional and presidential races and how the class could make an impact. I left the school excited about helping them make their first advocacy project a reality, but when Chip sent me a link to the blogs the students had been writing I was speechless. I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite of the ten, but I found this line to be particularly powerful and in line with ONE’s mission:
I considered the possibility of presenting some perfect way to tell the world about AIDS, poverty, injustice, hunger, and water issues, but I don’t think there is one. The only way to spread this in a lasting way is one person or community at a time. I really believe it’s important (though not necessary) to have a relationship with someone in order for them to be influenced by your ideas and passions. As I’ve been writing this, I’ve realized that I’m contributing to the problem of ignorance that bugs me so much, and after being saturated with information over the past two weeks, that needs to change. –Josh Ellis
December 21st, 2007 at 1:49 pm | posted by Aaron.Banks
The weekend of November 23 - 25 was the first ever ONE Sabbath weekend, in the pilot of year of what we hope will become a major expression of the impact of people and communities of faith in the fight against extreme poverty and global disease.
ONE members across the country downloaded materials from our faith resource page ONE.org/faith and organized services and group activities in their houses of worship. A recap of Bluff Road African Methodist Episcopal Church’s ONE Sabbath in Columbia, South Carolina is below.
On Sunday, November 25, I attended services at Bluff Road AME Church in Columbia, the home church of ONE Vote ’08 SC ambassador Leon Love. Pastor Ellis White led a brief presentation about the One Campaign. He shared with his congregation of 100 plus members that during this holiday season we need to be mindful of those in other countries who are suffering from poverty and disease. After referencing numerous bible verses and praising the One Campaign, he invited me to address the congregation. I discussed the importance of fighting poverty and how clean water can save thousands of lives. I stressed the need to elect a President who cares about eradicating poverty, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and pneumonia, and educating all children. I also thanked Pastor White for representing South Carolina on our national media call to promote One Sabbath activities.
The Church in Ocean Park began our ONE Sabbath event with Joy Buckley, one of our resident poets, reading the Millennium Development Goals as they appear on the ONE.org website. The Millennium Development Goals set a framework for how nations can work together to end extreme poverty. Then Ron Maxson read a quote about poverty being a justice issue.
The first to speak after the readings was Bob Gordh who discussed The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. Rev. Janet McKeithen talked about the spiritual dimensions of poverty and ONE. I rounded out the presentations talking about ONE successes and what we can all do. This included signing the ONE Declaration, participating in the LA ONE Volunteer and Advocacy Training on December 8, and the World Swim Against Malaria on April 5 (where we will take to the water in fancy dress again).
A number of people responded thoughtfully during the community sharing. We sang several songs throughout, led by Elinor Graham and Bob Gordh singing Bob Marley’s “One Love”.
-Herley Jim Bowling, Santa Monica ONE Group Leader
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:25 am | posted by Aaron.Banks
The weekend of November 23 - 25 was the first ever ONE Sabbath weekend, in the pilot of year of what we hope will become a major expression of the impact of people and communities of faith in the fight against extreme poverty and global disease.
ONE members across the country downloaded materials from our faith resource page ONE.org/faith and organized services and group activities in their houses of worship. A recap of St. John’s Lutheran Church’s ONE Sabbath in Belle Plaine, Minnesota is below.
On Sunday November 25th, members of the congregation were greeted by the St John’s Social Justice Team and presented with a reverse offering.
Pictured: Social Justice Team member Amy S. greets members with a reverse offering.
Half of the congregation received a baggie of rice and represented half the world’s population of earning 2 dollars or less.
The second group was presented with a baggie or rice and beans and represented 35% of the world’s population who earned just enough to get by and afford life’s basic necessities.
The next group represented all people living in wealthy nations such as the United States, regardless of income brackets. These 15% received gold chocolate coins (purchased through Global Exchange Fair Trade). Within this group, half received two coins and were representative of those who share their time and wealth with the poor.
Lastly, one person from each service received a gift certificate to a local restaurant as a representative of the world’s richest one percent.
During a brief temple talk at the onset of the service, the reverse offering was dramatized to provide a real world experience and members of the congregation were invited to stand up when their “food” group was identified. This activity was a great success and there were many positive comments after both services on having brought about awareness and contemplation on what extreme poverty is. I think this example really hit home and actually shocked many as they realized how little the majority of the world has, while we, living in a wealthy nation and regardless of income brackets are the minortiy and that we are blessed with what we have.
During each service, members also had the opportunity to join the ONE Campaign by signing their “tear off” sheet on their bulletin insert and add it to the offering plate as it went around…
November 30th, 2007 at 1:14 pm | posted by Aaron.Banks
The weekend of November 23 - 25 was the first ever ONE Sabbath weekend, in the pilot of year of what we hope will become a major expression of the impact of people and communities of faith in the fight against extreme poverty and global disease.
ONE members across the country downloaded materials from our faith resource page ONE.org/faith and organized services and group activities in their houses of worship. A recap of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Louisville, Kentucky is below.
Our ONE Sunday included a litany of prayers based on the MDGs, and a sermon wrapped around the ONE Campaign - available to listen at http://www.sermons.stmatt-ky.org/071125Trimble.m4a - at all 3 services. Declaration cards and bands were available to all, and we signed up 46 folks.
We also used ONE as a jump off point to promote a “simpler Christmas”, with resources from Heifer International, and Episcopal Relief and Development, as well as stations to make cards for soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital, making ornaments for families in the inner city, and making Christmas lists of what we’re going to give this year, instead of get.
I’ve included a few pictures. Wish they were better quality, but it’s a cell phone.
November 29th, 2007 at 2:35 pm | posted by Aaron.Banks
The weekend of November 23 - 25 was the first ever ONE Sabbath weekend, in the pilot of year of what we hope will become a major expression of the impact of people and communities of faith in the fight against extreme poverty and global disease.
ONE members across the country downloaded materials from our faith resource page ONE.org/faith and organized services and group activities in their houses of worship. A few of their stories are below.
-Aaron Banks
I led my church’s middle/high school group in the ONE Sabbath activities. We started actually 2 weeks ago talking about the issues, what ONE is, made a “bulletin board” and then yesterday they addressed the congregation explaining what they have learned and what can be done. It was a very powerful couple of weeks…I loved being able to introduce ONE to the kids and the congregation.
-Jennifer Carlson, Christian Ed Coordinator, Dedham Congregational Church- UCC, Dedham, ME
I’m just giving a shout out that my parish, Christ Church United Methodist in Fair Haven, NJ, had a powerful ONE Sabbath worship event! We are a very small church of about 30 in attendance, but our ONE Sabbath event was an uplifting, challenging and compelling worship service. Many were humbled…I live in a very affluent area, yet the importance of this message was heard as a small ripple…I hope to continue my support for this important mission!
-Peace, Rev. Eusun Kim
Since you asked, I thought I would write and describe what our church did for the ONE Sabbath. We have a newly formed “Social Justice Ministry” committee at our church, and we decided we wanted to do something for the ONE Sabbath…
We had a large poster-board with general information about the ONE Campaign, about ONE Sabbath, and some of the supporting/ partner organizations. We had a double sided handout for people who wanted information about (more…)
November 12th, 2007 at 11:44 am | posted by Aaron.Banks
As part of ONE Sabbath, ONE’s new outreach initiative to people and communities of faith, we’re asking our members to share stories of what their faith communities are already doing to make poverty history. ONE member Polly Nichols sent in this great post on the important work New Song Episcopal Church is doing in Coralville, Iowa.
-Aaron Banks
“Our youth group is sponsoring a Splash-a-thon to help provide clean, safe water for people in Swaziland. Swaziland is our sister diocese in Africa, one whose bishop has visited us and whom we pray for and with every Sunday.
The Splash-a-thon will be launched at a swimming and water-play party held in Des Moines this month during the annual Episcopal convention. Every church will pick up pledge sheets there for their young people to use signing up donors for each minute they splash over the winter months.
As the minutes accumulate, so will our churches’ understanding of the value of clean water and what the lack of it costs in human health and lives. To raise awareness, the splash-a-thon will be accompanied by online mini-lessons on water in the developing world.
It is with no sense of superiority that we undertake this project to give money to Swaziland’s people to help them with their water problems. Rather, we give with humility and embarrassment that as Iowans, we ourselves are so mindlessly spoiling a resource that Africans are literally dying to have.
New Song’s youth members are also planning the final event they will hold after three months of Splash-a-thon activity, a splashy affair devoted to gathering in the pledges, totaling them up, and celebrating individual and team successes with fun and silly prizes. We will know then how many families we supplied with water purification kits and how much extra money we contributed to a major Swaziland water project that is under way. And, together with our Swaziland friends, we will have learned how to be advocates for protecting God’s gift of safe and clean water here at home as well as in Africa.
Polly Nichols, Ph.D.
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics”
We were thrilled to have SONICFLOOd in Las Vegas last week to play a show and rally ONE members of faith at The Crossing Church. Over 800 people turned out to hear Sonicflood’s inspirational music and message.
Throughout the evening over 150 people signed the declaration, including some of our newest and youngest members. Although some of the youngsters didn’t have email address, they were very pleased to know that their name would be added to the list because they wanted “to help the children live.”
We are lucky to have Pastors Shane Philip, Chris Cooley, and Ben Parker as ONE ambassadors. They held a service on the ONE Campaign in April after which they signed up many members of their congregation and they are also excited about the ONE Sabbath program this month.
The ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, volunteers, members and coalition partners.
The content of each post and each comment represent the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the ONE Campaign or ONE Action. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any posts expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
