World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org For immediate release - 08/03/2007 05:21:43 PM
CHILDREN THE FOCUS OF THIS YEAR'S ECUMENICAL ADVOCACY DAYS IN WASHINGTON
Nearly 1,300 religious advocates are expected for this year's Ecumenical Advocacy Days taking place 9-12 March in Washington, DC on the theme, "* and how are the children?"
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is one of nearly 50 religious groups and a wide array of Christian denominations sponsoring this fifth annual gathering of social justice advocates from around the US.
Focusing on issues affecting children, the 2007 theme will guide workshops and speakers in eight different areas of concern: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, domestic, jubilee and economic justice, eco-justice, and global security.
Experts will train participants on how to do advocacy, and inform them of US domestic and international policies that impact all of God's children. The gathering will conclude with a visit to Capitol Hill, where participant s will ask their congressional representatives to make the needs of children the centre of the 2007 legislative agenda.
Ecumenical Advocacy Days coordinator Michael Neuroth says his hope for this year's edition is "that it will strengthen the ecumenical movement through a process of raising the voices of the US Christians on the ways their country's policy impact the plight of children around the world".
The initiative's mission statement characterizes it as "a movement of the ecumenical Christian community, and its recognized partners and allies, grounded in biblical witness and our shared traditions of justice, peace and the integrity of creation".
The WCC has participated in this annual event since 2004 through its New York-based UN liaison office and through the US Conference for the WCC.
Media contacts: Jan Dragin (24/7) +1-782-925-1526 jdragin@gis.net Michael Neuroth (Conference coordinator) +1-202-470-0127 info@advocacydays. org
Additional information available at the Ecumenical Advocacy Days website: http://www.advocacydays.org
Additional information: Juan Michel, +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
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The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 347 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
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