| Peace with Justice offering assists drug rehab BY ERIK ALSGAARDUMCONNECTION STAFF In Croatia, youth from the United States are working with youth of Vukovar to develop skills in conflict resolution. In Memphis, Tenn., volunteers are being trained and empowered to advocate on behalf of people seeking a living wage. In the Philippines, youth are being trained and mobilized to speak out for peace and against militarization. These ministries, noted on the General Board of Church and Societys Web site, along with others, are connected and supported through The United Methodist Churchs Peace with Justice Special Sunday offering. Its purpose, according to the churchs Book of Discipline, is to witness to Gods demand for a faithful, just, disarmed and secure world. This year, Peace with Justice Sunday falls on June 15, the Sunday when the Baltimore-Washington Conference will be in session in Washington, D.C. We are called to promote these issues, s aid the Rev. Samson Nortey, chairman of the Peace with Justice sub-committee of the Board of Christian Presence in Gods World. Apart from evangelism, these are issues the church should focus on. The Rev. Douglas Sands, chairman of the conference Committee on Drugs and Violence, said money from the Peace with Ju stice offering is critical to ministries in the conference. The Peace with Justice Sunday offering has helped to make the Resurrection Drug Treatment Ministry and the Non-violence Ministry available to the entire conference, Sands said. Ten regional conferences have been held within the last two years to offer all of the resources of the conference Committee on Drugs and Violence to each local church. Fifty percent of the money given by the churches in the annual conference minus administration and promotion costs stays in the conference for local church ministry and mission. In the Baltimore-Washington Conference, the money is administered through the Board of Christian Presence in Gods World. In 2002, the conference gave $14,875 to the Peace with Justice Sunday offering. Denominationally, the total received was $243,051, the smallest of the six special Sunday offerings in the church. Six grants were given by the board in 2002 to: Union Street UMC in Westminster; New Covenant UMC in Cumberland; Emory UMC in Washington; Asbury Broadneck UMC in Annapolis; Methodists United For Peace and Justice; and the Washington Council of Churches. The grants totaled $5,500. Nortey doesnt expect the Peace with Justice Sunday offering to decrease this year in the wake of the war in Iraq. Those people who want to give will give, he said, because they have it in their heart to give. | 
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