wfn.org | Lutherans Join Antipoverty Coalition 'Mobilization to End Poverty'

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: Lutherans Join Antipoverty Coalition 'Mobilization to End Poverty'
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>March 4, 2009  

Lutherans Join Antipoverty Coalition 'Mobilization to End Poverty'
09-057-JD

WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- On April 26-29 a coalition of
faith-based organizations, churches and global antipoverty
groups will convene here at The Mobilization to End Poverty.
Thousands of Christian and antipoverty leaders will engage
in education, worship and activism at the event, most of
which will be held at the Washington Convention Center.

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will be
speaking at the event.

The groups will call on President Barack Obama and
the U.S. Congress to make overcoming poverty a political
priority and to develop a national plan that addresses this
moral and spiritual crisis. Sojourners, a social justice
organization, is hosting the event. Twenty-three churches,
religious societies and groups support the event. The ELCA
is a sponsor.

Other invited speakers and preachers include Obama;
Angela Glover Blackwell, PolicyLink, Oakland, Calif.; Wesley
Granberg-Michaelson, Reformed Church in America, Grand
Rapids, Mich.; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; Alexia
Kelly, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Washington;
U.S. Rep. John Lewis, (D-Ga.); Brian McLaren, author;
John Perkins, Christian Community Development Association,
Chicago; Jeffery Sachs, The Earth Institute at Columbia
University, New York; Tavis Smiley, "The Tavis Smiley Show,"
Hollywood, Calif.; Rich Stearns, World Vision, Federal Way,
Wash.; Jim Wallis, Sojourners, Washington; Sharon Watkins,
Disciples of Christ, Indianapolis, and many others.

"We are witnessing the devastating effects of financial
insecurity as more people lose their jobs, their savings,
their homes and their health care," said Adam Taylor, senior
political director, Sojourners. "More and more from the
middle class are falling into the ranks of 36 million
Americans living below the poverty line and the billions
worldwide who live in extreme poverty. The Mobilization to
End Poverty will assemble a constituency to advocate for
radical change and bold leadership from both the Church and
our government."

Obama has committed to cutting domestic poverty by half
in 10 years and achieving the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals, aimed at reducing extreme global poverty.

As part of the event hundreds of advocates will meet
with their elected officials to ask for commitments and
leadership on a national plan to reduce domestic and
international poverty.

>---

Information about the Mobilization to End Poverty,
including registration information, is at
http://www.sojo.net/mobilization on the Web.

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