ORLANDO, FL (ABNS 11/20/06)―General Board members of American Baptist Churches USA have surpassed a goal set in June to contribute $5,000 to the Adopt-a-Bed program of Baptist Children's Services.
The board traditionally has made an offering at the final worship service of its meetings to support a cause with special relevance for American Baptists. In recent meetings, offerings went to aid victims of natural disasters and to build a house in an impoverished Brazilian community through the World Council of Churches. At its meeting last June, board members contributed more than $3,500 toward Adopt-a-Bed; at its meeting here this week an additional $2,222.06 was raised, surpassing the original goal.
The contribution pays the difference between government allocations and the actual cost of sheltering a child for a year at its Philadelphia area facilities.
At its last national biennial meeting, ABCUSA passed "A Declaration of Importance for American Baptists on the Issue of Children in Poverty."
"American Baptists believe that God has called us to minister in love to children," the resolution read, "and to make the issue of children in poverty a priority of prayer, advocacy, ministry, and stewardship."
The U.S. Census Bureau calculated in 2004 that of 35.9 million Americans living below the poverty line, 12.9 million are children. One way that American Baptists can help to impact this often overlooked portion of our society is by supporting organizations like Baptist Children's Services or, by supporting National Ministries' own Children In Poverty initiative which seeks to respond to this need through ministries of caring and prophetic justice.
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches, USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/
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