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'Tis the season -- diocesan convention season, that
is.
October and November have more diocesan conventions
than any other months. And that means it's time for
us to get busy making sure the Millennium
Development Goals are front and center on the agenda
(and in the budget!).
The first thing you need to do is find your EGR
diocesan contact and tell them you want to help
bring the MDGs to your diocesan convention. (And if
your diocese doesn't have a contact ... it could be
you!).
After that, there's lots of help:
*EGR has plenty of resources for you that you can
order by emailing us. Such as:
-MDG brochures and bookmarks from The
Millennium Campaign. Available for cost of
packing and
shipping.
-Big, red
0.7% What One Can Do buttons. 50 cents
each. Or you can download the
pattern free and make
them yourself.
-Bright red EGR MDG t-shirts (with the MDGs listed
on the back along with "The MDGs - The REAL
Instruments of Unity") for $10 each in S, M, L, XL, XXL.
-Copies of "Preach
the Gospel at all times...," the
EGR primer, also available for the cost of shipping
(though if you're ordering more than $150 it's
probably cheaper for you to download
it free from the EGR website and print it
yourself.
-ONE campaign
signup cards
-LOTS AND LOTS MORE is available FREE from the EGR
website -- MDG
cards, logos,
business
card templates, prayers,
liturgies, U2charist
information, commitment
cards, sample
resolutions,
etc.
*Get White Bands from
the ONE Campaign or through
the ONE
Episcopalian Campaign. Sorry ... we're out
of white bands. The
Millennium Campaign graciously
gave us 5,000 for General Convention ... and they're
all gone! Unfortunately, TMC doesn't have any more
for us.
*Download a MDG
powerpoint for a presentation or to
run at a booth (and if you develop your own or alter
these, let us know so we can share!)
*Put up a giant world map and have people put pins
in places where they have visited or where they or
their congregation have
relationships/ministries.
*Make a big poster of the MDGs and have people
sticky dots (or better yet tabs they've written
their names on) by the ones they most want to work
on. A great way to see where the energy is (Thanks,
N. Dakota folks for this great idea!)
*Get the MDGs included in the convention
prayers and liturgies.
*Come up with creative ways to bring the MDGs to
life (like building your own popsicle
stick cross to
demonstrate child mortality). Get youth and young
adults involved in the planning and let their
creative energy go nuts!
And remember -- contact us if you need any help or
resources and be sure and let us know what you do!
| Sites to see |
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Cool websites about the MDGs and global
reconciliation
*Become
Red -- Bono's new venture: trendy products
that raise money for The Global
Fund.
*ELCA
Uganda Documentary -- read the blog and see
video clips from the ELCA video team making a
documentary in Northern Uganda.
*NetAid
-- Educating, inspiring and empowering young
people to fight global poverty.
*Lives in
Focus-- Using video, audio and photographs,
this website presents the voices of those who are
rarely given space or time in traditional news media.
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| Quote of the Week |
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"The power ... of RED is its
win-win model. Consumers get the latest hip
products, companies get a boost to their sales, the
Global Fund gets vitally needed support for
life-saving programs in Africa."
-Richard Feachem, executive director of The Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria
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Turn the Millennial Generation loose on the MDGs! |
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The
Millennial Generation (birth years 1982-2001) is
the most globally connected generation in human
history. They don't need to be sold on the MDGs and
global reconciliation ... they're already there.
What the Church needs to be doing is what it should
be doing in all aspects of its life -- giving this
highly creative generation power, responsibility and
resources to do mission. Here are some ideas:
*Take a portion (or even all) of the minimum of 0.7%
of your congregation's budget that is going toward
the MDGs and let the Millennials (children, youth
and young adults) decide where to spend it. Let them
do the research, the vetting, the praying, the
dreaming. Then have them do follow-up on what
happens with it and report back to the rest of the
congregation.
*Give Millennials 2 or 3 preaching slots a
year to
talk about where Christ is moving in their lives and
where they see God calling us to be active in the
world.
*Have the youth group design a "MDG fair" for the
rest of the congregation... with activities to
illustrate each MDG.
*Have children and youth do a "YouTube scavenger
hunt" -- finding as many videos as they can that
deal with global poverty and the MDGs
*The BBC is planning a special week of programs in
December to understand and explore the world through
the eyes of the next generation. Millennials can
contribute their ideas here.
(and they'll be able to watch the shows online in
December).
*Get a webcam and computer and have your Millennials
record video snapshots on Chat the
Planet - a
website where groups of youth from around the world
interact. Watch the chat shows together and
discuss.
*Let the Millennials in your congregation design a
global mission page for your church website (and you
might want to let them redesign the whole site!)
Some great resources for Millennials and the MDGs
are available from the ELCA, Hunger No More, YouThink!,
and the Catholic
Agency for Overseas Development. If you find any
others ... let us
know so we can share with everyone!
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