Title: ELCA, Episcopal Church Release Ecumenical Study Guide on Global Poverty ELCA NEWS SERVICE
February 8, 2007
ELCA, Episcopal Church Release Ecumenical Study Guide on Global Poverty
WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- A study guide on global poverty and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), produced by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Episcopal Church, is available for download and for purchase through Augsburg Fortress.
"God's Mission in the World" is intended as a resource for congregations and other groups looking to "broaden their understanding of global poverty and become part of the worldwide movement achieving the MDGs," according to the guide's introduction.
The guide features six sessions examining Christian understandings of social justice, global poverty and the MDGs. The MDGs are eight interrelated development goals that flow from the Millennium Declaration of 2000 adopted by all members of the United Nations, including the United States. The goals for 2015 are to cut extreme poverty and hunger in half; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and create a global partnership for development, with emphasis on debt cancellation, foreign aid and fair trade.
"'God's Mission in the World' invites participants to moral deliberation on the realities of global poverty and offers practical ways that we might together, as an ecumenical body of Christ, respond to our baptismal call to love our neighbor by raising our voices on behalf of those living in deadly poverty," said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA. Hanson and the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop and primate, Episcopal Church, each contributed forewords to the guide.
"This study guide is an easy-to-use, comprehensive journey through the causes and solutions to global poverty," said Dennis Frado, director, Lutheran Office for World Community. "Congregation leaders can use this tool to motivate their members to pressure their elected officials to fulfill their promises toward achieving the MDGs."
The guide was released as part of the ONE Lutheran Campaign, which encourages Lutherans to engage in political processes in order to encourage the U.S. government to meet the commitments they have made in the fight against poverty. ONE Lutheran leaders have been established in 27 of the ELCA's 65 synods; student groups on ELCA campuses have held ONE Lutheran events; and individual ELCA congregations have been declared "ONE Lutheran Congregations" by meeting certain goals.
"The commitment by Lutherans to engage in advocacy to end poverty is growing," said Kimberly Stietz, ONE Lutheran campaign coordinator, ELCA Washington Office. "In 2007 we plan to engage Lutherans in advocacy to urge the U.S. Congress to increase poverty-focused development assistance, support debt cancellation for the world's poorest nations and make international trade rules fair."
The guide is at http://www.ELCA.org/one/ on the ELCA Web site and is available for purchase at http://www.augsburgfortress.org/ELCAhunger/ on the Web site of Augsburg Fortress, the publishing ministry of the ELCA.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog