wfn.org | Reconciliation ministry boosted by endowment gift

["Communication Ministries" <wshuffit@cm.disciples.org>]

Date: September 24, 2001
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Curt Miller
E-mail: cmiller@cm.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

01a -52

	INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- Lois Artis Murray, president of the
Church Finance Council, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ),
announced a $50,000 lead gift to the Reconciliation Endowment
Fund. Designed to combat racism, the work of the Reconciliation
Mission of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has now
been undergirded by the establishment of this fund. 

	Longtime Disciples J. Irwin Miller and his wife, Xenia, have
helped establish the endowment through their contribution of
$50,000 from the Tangeman Charitable Trust. The Millers said
they were pleased that Disciples have decided to first tackle
systemic racism in the Church as a means to addressing it in
secular culture. 

	"This gift comes at an unprecedented time in American history,"
Murray said. We shall never forget the acts of terrorism
inflicted on September 11, 2001. In the face of pain and
heightened anxiety, God still calls us to be a reconciling
community. We are grateful for the tremendous confidence that
the Millers' gift places in the Anti-Racism/Pro Reconciliation
transformation ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ). Our mission will not be complete until all of God's
people live in peace and harmony."

	General Minister and President, Richard L. Hamm, says in his
book, 20/20 Vision, "Christians have a responsibility, both
individually and as the Church collectively, to struggle against
evil as it issues forth in both individual and systematic
injustice."

	The primary purpose of the Reconciliation Mission Endowment
Fund is to expand the witness and mission of Jesus Christ in the
world, bringing wholeness to the church of Jesus Christ by
tearing down walls of hostility and racism. The fund is not
intended to compete with the regular annual giving of
congregations or individuals or to diminish the opportunities
for responsible stewardship in the present or in the future.

	Gifts to the Reconciliation Endowment Fund can be made in a
variety of forms, including stocks, bonds, real estate, tangible
property and cash. The Reconciliation Endowment Fund will be a
permanent fund with the Christian Church Foundation. As such, it
can never be withdrawn from the Foundation, but will always be
held in trust for the Reconciliation Mission.

	For more information on the Reconciliation Mission or the
Reconciliation Endowment Fund, you may contact the Office of
Reconciliation Mission at 130 E. Washington St., Indianapolis,
IN 46204-3645; or P.O. Box 1986, Indianapolis, IN 46206-1986;
317.713.2442 or E-mail:chaskett@cfc.disciples.org. Additionally
you may access the Church Finance Council website:
www.churchfinancecouncil.org.  	

                               -- end --

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