wfn.org | Women's Pre-Council: Taking the Jesus bus to poverty

["Daphne Martin_Gnanadason" <Daphne.Martin_Gnanadason@warc.ch>]

>Uniting General Council 2010 
>News Release 
>17 June 2010

Women's Pre-Council: Taking the Jesus bus to poverty  
By Esther R. Suter, correspondent for Uniting General Council 
Under the motto, “Come with Jesus into the streets,” delegates
to the Women’s Pre-Council were invited to get to know Grand
Rapids, Michigan from the “other side.”
Beyond the boundaries of the beautifully landscaped Calvin
College campus and the large upper-class homes of East Grand
Rapids, they listened to and experiencedpeoplewho are challenged
to cope day-to-day.  In so-called “Jesus buses,” they were driven
Tuesday to astruggling section of the city called “Heartside,”
and confronted with the economic problems of a deteriorating auto
industry and its impact on the population.
Meeting at Westminster Presbyterian Church, the women learned
about local problems and a Christian agency that long has worked
to alleviate them. 
Heartside Ministry began more than 25 years ago as a place of
hope for people who lived at the margins of society. They
includementally ill people whowerereleased from institutions
under a change in health policy and left largely on their own;
women victimized by domestic and sexual violence; and the
unemployed and homeless casualties of economicdeclineand
shuttered industries. 
Rev. Charlotte Ellison, pastor of Heartside Ministry, said she
fears that in the future the widespread transition fromindustrial
production to service jobs such as the food and health
industrieswillcreate more social problems. 
Herministry is not restricted toitsdaily offerings to those in
need, but also has developed housing programmes.  The ministry’s
impressive work, inpartnership with the YWCA and the Salvation
Army, evoked questions from women who compared local conditions
with their own situationsin the global South.  
The strongly charitable thrust of the ministry, for example,
might create dependency rather than guiding people towards
independence, a Rwandan woman said.A woman from Nigeriacommented
that giving alone might be one-sided if the receiver did not give
back a contribution out of his or her own gifts. Several saidthe
question of injustice was not being raised.  
A core concern emerged from small-groupdiscussions: How is it
possible to respond to the question of justice without giving up
charitableinvolvementin the process?  
The women weighed such questions, held Bible study and sang
songs of praise before returning to Calvin College, where they
continued their Pre-Council that winds up Thursday.          
The Uniting General Council 2010 in Grand Rapids, United States
(June 18-28) marks the merger of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches and the Reformed Ecumenical Council to form the World
Communion of Reformed Churches. 

>Contact: Kristine Greenaway
>Executive Secretary, Communications
>World Communion of Reformed Churches

UGC News Room – Calvin College - Hoogenboom Center Room HC 204
(Arial 10)
Cell phone: 1-616-826-5540 or 1-616-826-8636
email: kgr@warc.ch
web: www.reformedchurches.org (
http://www.reformedchurches.org/#_blank )