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Maryland church takes action on behalf of Central American children
by Rev. Sharon Stanley-Rea, director of Disciples Home Missions' Refugee and Immigration Ministries
 The letterhead of North Chevy Chase Christian Church in Maryland claims their congregation is committed to outreach. Now their generosity and rapid response to assist the critical concerns of Central American children fleeing violence has confirmed their words in a big and generous way! As soon as church mission team members heard that over 15 percent of the nearly 38,000 children seeking safety from gang extortion and drug violence were joining relatives among the already existing Central American communities of DC Maryland, and Virginia, they contacted the Refugee & Immigration Ministries office to ask how they could help.
Of the many ways to assist the children they learned that one of the most crucial needs is to provide legal services to aid the children in preparing for their required immigration hearing. Indeed, 9 of 10 children are likely to be deported immediately without the assistance of a lawyer to listen to their story, understand the violence they have endured, and represent their possible eligibility for a trafficking, special immigrant juvenile, or other visa protection.
The church also learned that Week of Compassion had given $15,000 in recent months to support the children-and they developed a vision to form a "tithing partnership" to support both local and national legal help. Week of Compassion agreed early this week to contribute a $1,500 "new tithe" seed amount (based on their amounts so far given). And then the church went forward to see whether they could "match the tithe" with a $1,500 contribution of their own. Two days later, they were ready with their match-and last night, a $3,000 check was presented at a DC based event to support the legal aid work of our ecumenical partners Church World Service and Justice for our Neighbors.
In the presentation, Stanley-Rea read from a letter by Rev. Dr. Cheryl Tatham and the North Chevy Chase congregation that stated, "It is our moral obligation to help these children." (See the full text of the letter here.) Stanley-Rea likewise shared the challenge from Deuteronomy 26:12 which urged the Israelites to give a "THIRD TITHE": "When you finish tithing all your income in the third year...you must give it to...the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages." Participants were then invited to "Be the Third Tithe" by providing their own matching amount through their churches and communities.
Rev. Dr. Bob Perry, Interim Regional Minister for the Christian Church Capital Area, also spoke as a member of North Chevy Chase Christian Church: "I am grateful to be a part of a church that has so generously responded to the needs of children who have risked their lives to escape the dangerous conditions in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. They are in great need of protection-and we challenge you all to keep multiplying the generosity of this 'matching tithe' gift within this region and around the country."
Ms. Jen Smyers, Associate Director of Immigration & Refugee Policy for Church World Service, commented as she received the check, "Thank you so much for your incredible generosity. Please pass on our heartfelt thanks to all the members of the congregation, and all those who were part of making the donation a reality. We are so blessed to have the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as our partners!"
Please contact the office of Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries at: sstanley@dhm.disciples.org or 202-957-7826 for further information about how you also can help the kids-and perhaps join the "THIRD TITHE CHALLENGE!"
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When is enough really enough?
Guest column by Rev. Dr. Timothy James, administrative secretary of the National Convocation
Note: this is an abridged version - the full text will appear in the fall edition of SELAH.
The eyes of the nation are on the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, MO. The nation is looking to see if justice will prevail for the family of Michael Brown, the unarmed African American teenager killed by a white policeman. What really happened? Was this excessive and violent force necessary? These and many other questions will go to a grand jury for investigation. We do pray for the truth to be made known.
Calls for peace and calm have come from all sectors of the country. Church leaders and concerned citizens are doing what can be done to maintain peace and safety.
The ingredients are all in place for a royal mess. When you mix high unemployment, racial tension, and now the militarization of the police department, you have a problem. The presence of the National Guard along with a strong armed police department produces the image of a police state in America in 2014. Such a show of force with intimidating equipment, serves only to stir retaliation in the face of oppression. There is something definitely wrong with this picture.
We pray for truth to prevail. That truth will speak to the powers that perpetuate racial injustice and the systemic forces that divide people along class and race. That truth will speak healing to a hurting community and broken hearts. That peace will come to the city of Ferguson, MO. We pray that justice will prevail and these atrocities will cease and desist. These cries are yet relevant: "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" "WHAT DO YOU WANT?! JUSTICE!!" "WHEN DO YOU WANT IT?! NOW!!!"
Reconciliation Ministries has compiled resources to address the Ferguson situation.
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| | Brown | Mizisin-Cullumber | Shenko |
Scholarships awarded to seminarians
Three seminary students have been named recipients of the John and Maxine McCaw Scholarship Fund Prophetic Living, Teaching and Preaching. The scholarship fund, held in trust at the Christian Church Foundation and administered by the College of Regional Ministers, was created by the McCaws in 2012.
The recipients for the 2014-15 school year are:
- William Brown from the Upper Midwest region, who attends Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, TX;
- Sadie Mizisin-Cullumber from the Pacific Southwest region, who attends Claremont School of Religion,Claremont, CA; and
- James Shenko from the Florida region, who attends the Disciples Divinity House at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. Shenko also received the award last year.
The scholars must complete an application process and are selected by representatives of the College of Regional Ministers. Scholarship recipients must pledge to live a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise and a healthy diet while abstaining from the use of tobacco and alcoholic beverages; be responsible in their personal financial practices; and demonstrate a passion for a prophetic lifestyle ministry that seeks to eliminate evil and enhance goodness in human relations and in international relations.
Mizisin-Cullumber said the scholarship comes at a needed time as a mother of two who left a teaching career for ministry. "It will come as little surprise to you that the scholarship award I have received has created a space of calm for my family. It has created a moment for us to breathe in relief and to breathe out deep gratitude."
Recipients must attend Disciples seminaries or Union Theological Seminary in New York. Scholarships are awarded to men and women, regardless of background, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
Regional ministers recommend potential scholarship candidates to the McCaw Scholarship advisory committee of the College Regional Ministers.
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Task force for mission process, governance design takes next step
Last spring the General Board talked about putting mission first as Disciples. The discussion particularly emphasized finding a way to better distinguish between mission discernment and governance. General Minister and President Sharon Watkins asked the question: "What if we could listen for the voice of God to show us compellingly the right focus for our time to fulfill our mission - and then we agreed together who would take point, and how we would direct funding, and all would share in getting the word out together."
A business item was adopted, calling for a task force to "facilitate and implement a focused, interactive conversation and a broadly consultative process about how we as one church, discern God's mission for Disciples today and organize to accomplish that mission."
The task force has met, validated the distinction between governance and mission discernment, and added a call for "mission gatherings." The purpose of mission gatherings would be to "gather ideas from congregations and existing ministries" toward building a shared community vision of our mission.
In August, the TLC (Table of Leaders Conference) met to discuss the work of the task force so far. (TLC includes general ministry and racial/ethnic ministry presidents, regional ministers and seminary deans and presidents, along with a representative of the colleges and universities.) The TLC affirmed that the task force should proceed to developing a specific proposal to include: Mission gatherings to involve the church; a Mission Council for harvesting the input into key mission directions; Ministries to collaborate in implementing the mission; an Administrative Board to handle governance issues of the church. In fact, the TLC urged the board to get this done.
In late September the task force will take the work the next step and create a specific proposal for consideration by the Administrative Committee, general ministries, regions and racial/ethnic ministries over the winter and then by the General Board next spring.
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 Southeast regions strengthen commitment to collaboration
The Southeast Regional Fellowship (SERF) cluster gathered at Christmount for its annual fall retreat on Sept. 9-11. The retreat and a series of conference calls and conversations focused on the common need for collaboration among the eight regions as each seeks to be faithful to God's mission. The SERF cluster is one of five regional clusters/fellowship groups, in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It includes the following regions: Alabama-Northwest Florida, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. In recent years, the SERF cluster has collaborated to work toward the church-wide priority of becoming an anti-racist/pro-reconciling church and to provide leadership development opportunities. Ministerial staff leaders from the eight regions gathered in hopes of building on the successful collaboration that has been achieved in the past.
The staff leaders in attendance from the eight regions affirmed the following statement as an initial step in building stronger ties with one another and charting their goals for collaborative work: "We seek to develop a discipline of accompaniment, across 8 regions, that includes an exchange of ideas, resources, support, synergy, and inclusivity toward faithful, accountable and sustainable regional ministries."
Those gathered in retreat recognized that God has blessed the church with an abundance of gifts for doing ministry. Many of those gifts, however, may not be fully utilized if entities of the church, including Regions, fail to find meaningful ways to be in relationship to address commonly shared priorities. Collaboration is required in order to be faithful stewards of all that God is giving the church to carry out God's mission.
The Rev. Eric Brown, Pastor of Woodland Christian Church, Columbus, Ohio, and representative of the National Convocation, and the Rev. Rebecca Hale, Vice President of Mission and Ministry with the National Benevolent Association, assisted the group and provided the process for the conversations around collaboration.
The ministerial staff in SERF will meet again in two months in a conference call to continue their conversations around collaboration.
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Light a Candle for Children prayer vigil began Sept. 14
Light a Candle for Children is an annual advocacy and prayer vigil project that offers daily meditations written by Disciples and UCCers beginning this year September 14 and concluding October 19 on Children's Sabbath. For more information visit the Light a Candle blog or follow on Twitter or Facebook.
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July 18-22, 2015
Columbus, Ohio
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If you are interested in advertising in future issues of the Disciples News Service, please contact Fred Jones |
 The Disciples News Service, also known as The DiscipleŽ, is distributed weekly or as needed by Communication Ministries. For changes to your subscription options or to subscribe to this newsletter, please visit: www.disciples.org/Default.aspx?tabid=76 If you are interested in submitting news for distribution in the Disciples News Service, please review our "Guidelines for Submitting News and Information to Disciples News Service": www.disciples.org/Default.aspx?tabid=79 The next deadline to submit news for consideration
in the Disciples News Service: Friday, September 19, 2014 |
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