Adventure: Mobilization to End Poverty
Useful resources:
- www.onesabbath.org
- www.worldhunger.org
- What Can One Person Do?: Faith to Heal a Broken World by Alkire, Sabina &
Newell, Edmund. - Down to Earth: Community Perspectives on Health, Development, & the Environment by Bradford, B. & Gwynne, M.
Worldwide goals in action
At the turn of the millennium, church and world leaders came together to develop a comprehensive plan and timetable to wipe out extreme poverty around the globe. In April, many of those working on the front lines with this plan met to review the progress and renew their efforts.
In September 2000, world leaders gathered and adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): a set of eight measurable goals with the focus of ending extreme poverty by 2015.
The eight goals are:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger,
2. Achieve universal primary education,
3. Promote gender equality and empower women,
4. Reduce child mortality,
5. Improve maternal health,
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases,
7. Ensure environmental sustainability,
8. Develop a global partnership for
development.
Much progress has been made on the path to reaching these goals. More than 1.6 billion people have gained access to safe drinking water since 1990 and primary school enrollment has risen to at least 90 percent in all but two global regions. However, there is still much work to be done, and a decrease in monetary support in recent years because of economic challenges has raised roadblocks along the path to reaching the goals.
The Millennium Development Goals provide a framework for people partnering with a foreign country to allow for a more focused effort and a more positive outlook for both sides.
Advocates often say they’re trying to give a voice to the voiceless. Ndunge Kitti, professor at United Methodist-related Emory University reminds us that, “It’s very rare to find someone who is voiceless. People have a voice. Oftentimes we’re not listening.”
According to Kitti, sustainability, partnerships and gender are three of the vital themes common to each of the goals.
At the Mobilizaiton to End Poverty, Kitti explained how these principals can be applied to any global partnership:
Sustainability
- Make goals as a framework for creating dialogue.
- Make sure goals are measurable to keep the program effective and the government accountable.
- Use the goals to tap communities for advocacy and community change.
- Engage people in dialogue to ensure you’re building on what already exists in a community.
- Understand cultural safety nets, like family, and community are often relational, community-based and indigenous in nature.
Partnerships
- Define the geographic location you’ll be working in.
- Promote community.
- Allow people to address their own issues through self-empowerment.
- Define the lifecycle of involvement.
- Establish partnerships with local institutions (not just Non Governmental Organizations).
- Establish a system of measurable goals.
- Ensure project is cost effective by using local resources instead of bringing in outside resources.
- Work toward self-sustainability.
Gender
- Work to build strong families and communities.
- Promote dialogue.
- A majority of those impoverished are women. Family health directly correlates with education. Women have the largest impact on family health.
- Access to micro loans allows locals to participate in economic development.
For details on the MDGs, progress and resources, visit www.un.org/millenniumgoals. Download the 2008 Report for progress updates.
Faith Collides with Justice
Societal change often occurs at the intersection of faith and justice. Increasing numbers of faith and justice groups have been emerging in communities and exhibiting powerful hearts.
If you’re interested in connecting with a small group of dedicated activists and finding a niche in the community, God might be calling you to start your own.
Rachel Anderson and Lisa Sharon Harper each co-founded faith and justice groups in Boston and New York respectively. Harper said faith and justice groups, “should not start with an issue. Members should start with relationships. Start with who’s in the room to figure out who they should become.”
Begin by connecting with a few people who share your passion. Then follow the steps below to form and grow a group.
- Root all action in spiritual formation.
- Spend time building relationships and listening to people in your life and your community. This is often God’s lifeline to helping people decipher the path forward.
- Form a leadership team of people with some sort of commonality. It could be specific or broad, localized or global, or just the desire to search out more in life. Remember that diversity can help grow something new.
- Meet with people from the community one-on-one or at town hall meetings. This will help to get a feel for the community’s strengths and challenges to determine where a new faith and justice group might fit in. Do community mapping while keeping in mind that community partnerships can allow for broader strokes.
- Cast a vision and mission. Consider having a leadership team retreat where there’s space for listening and open expression.
- Create goals and a campaign, some of which should be measurable. Have an open mind as new needs in the community arise.
- Take action. This is simple yet crucial.
- Set aside time for experiential learning; otherwise known as “grace.” Learn with arms wide open to God’s movement. Leave room for continual change.
First-hand witnesses
Bob and Ed, two homeless men who are often found on the side of Rt. 175 shared their perspective on life. Four years ago, Bob lost his job, and eventually set up a tent to live in near the highway. Bob, Ed and Sally, a previous member of Grace UMC in Baltimore, now live in a makeshift camp and take turns holding a sign that asks for jobs or food.
Every little bit helps, said Bob. The three friends have found only one nearby program helpful, the Congregations Concerned for the Homeless in Columbia. It is a partner organization for area churches and community organizations originally founded by seven UMCs and two Catholic churches.
Through the years, a few people have made an
effort to find Bob and Ed affordable housing, but in the end, it always fell through.
More than anything, the three are interested in finding employment.
Ed suggests bringing local homeless into discussions about poverty to
ensure needs are being met.
Living Your Story
Stories are one of the most powerful ways to share God and make a difference in the lives of others. All people have stories and experiences that shape them. Giving and receiving these stories,
especially with those who are different, can be a meaningful way to create communities.
During the Mobilization to End Poverty, best selling author, Donald Miller spoke to a group of young adults.
Miller has recently become intrigued with the way people are influenced by other’s life stories in the movies, but how most of us don’t live such gripping stories in reality.
“What if you took the elements of story that make a great film and then apply those elements to your life? How would you structure your life differently?” he asked.
Some of the most captivating movies include stories of an underdog who wants something and is willing to overcome conflict to get it. A few examples include, “Rocky”, “Ratatouille”,” Boys in the Hood”, “Slumdog Millionaire”, “The Shawshank Redemption”, “The Lord of the Rings”, “The Great Debaters,” “Star Wars,” “Chariots of Fire” and others. The more difficult the challenge, the more the character is transformed.
What if people saw their own lives as an epic series, where God is waiting to walk with them to accomplish their most heartfelt dreams? What if their lives could be more than waiting to see what happens to us tomorrow, but stepping into the life-changing drama that allows God to accomplish God’s kingdom on earth? The story would ooze out of them in ways that would transform others around them.
Giving and receiving stories also has its challenges. It often requires crossing a line of vulnerability where one’s true self is exposed. “But it’s not until after we cross that line that we can truly know each other,” Miller said.
Listening to others and sharing one’s own journey is a meaningful step toward resolving issues of poverty. By listening, walls are broken down and communities are created. By sharing, others find their passion and get involved in their own unique way.
It’s time for us to start living our own dramatic story with God. “A character isn’t what they dream, a character is what they do,” Miller said.
During the Mobilization to End Poverty, 100 United Methodists from across the country gathered at Asbury UMC in Washington to share their stories. The atmosphere of conversation allowed them to interalize the learnings they would carry home. It was co-sponsored by General Board of Church and Society, Wesley Theological Seminary and Asbury UMC.
Stories and photos by Kate Thomas
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