Simply Sharing Talk and Meal Tuesday 19th June. Talk on asylum seeker issues by Phil Glendenning of the Edmund Rice Centre at 5.15 pm in the Catholic Hall Rusden St, to be followed by meal of delicious soups and bread at 6.30 in Catholic Dining Room. Monetary donations from this annual ecumenical event will go to the Australian Council of Churches’ work in the Pacific. All welcome.
World Council of Churches - Update
“Our sharing of experiences revealed that water supply, sanitation and protection of the environment should never be separated, but worked on in a holistic approach,” says the final statement of the “Churches for Water in Africa” conference, held on 21-25 May in Entebbe, Uganda.
The conference gathered nearly 70 participants including church leaders, theologians, water experts and project coordinators. They came from 19 African countries as well as from Europe and Latin America to discuss the role of churches in the face of the water crisis in Africa. It was organized by the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) in cooperation with the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC), the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and the Uganda-based Agency for Corporation and Research in Development (ACCORD).
Participants at the conference urged governments and multilateral institutions to respect the human right to water and meet their obligations regarding its provision. “One important step is to prioritize the just and sustainable provision of water to the poor and the most excluded, and to make water and sanitation a strong component of national budgets and other financial allocations, including development aid,” says the conference’s final statement, read by Bishop Elisa Buberwa of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.
The participants noted that, in spite of promises made in the context of the Millennium Development Goals, in rural Africa 65% of the population lack access to sufficient and safe water supply and 73% to adequate sanitation.. This hinders the chances of achieving those goals. “Poverty can never be overcome, if the issue of water and sanitation is not adequately addressed,” says the statement.
In his closing speech, Metropolitan Jonah Lwanga, from the Uganda Orthodox Church, criticized the current trend to commodify and privatise common goods. He encouraged conference participants to “continue the debate with enthusiasm upon related issues in the country and region”.
Participants were troubled by the impact of climate change, which causes unpredictable rainfall, prolonged droughts, devastating floods, desertification and drying up of water sources. “The existence and future of millions of people is jeopardised,” the statement says.
They affirmed that access to water is a fundamental human right, protection and control of water resources is a central public responsibility and that water must not be treated as a commodity, but as an essential social good for the present and future generations. “Provision of water for all is possible. The way towards it passes through the prioritisation of the poor and most excluded in water policies and funds allocation,” says the statement.
Participants from churches and faith organizations affirmed water as cradle and source of life, and an expression of God’s grace in perpetuity for the whole of creation. They asserted that faith based groups were called upon to exercise responsible stewardship, preserve and share it, for the benefit of humanity and creation.
The conference’s programme included interaction with local communities. Participants visited an informal settlement in Kampala City and rural communities in the Masaka western region and in Busoga in the East.
The conference stated that the participation of rural communities and disadvantaged communities at all stages of intervention on water issues is not only a democratic imperative, but also a precondition for sustainability and a prerequisite for peace.
Participants welcomed the opportunity to learn technologies and approaches used in other African countries that they could apply in their own work. The need to further deepen the exchange on best practices was highlighted.
The Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) will facilitate continued dialogue among the conference participants, and broaden it to include other churches and church-related organizations. A number of follow-up workshops are planned for 2008.
The EWN is an initiative of Christian churches, organizations and movements who advocate for water as a human right and work to promote people’s access to water through community-based initiatives around the world.
Media contacts:
Maike Gorsboth +41-76-459-7727
Dunstan Ddamulira +256-772-457726
The full text of the EWN conference statement is available at:
http://www.oikoumene.org?id=3633
Ecumenical Water Network:
http://water.oikoumene.org
See also our press release of 17 May 2007:
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/all-news-english/display-single-english-news/article/1634/ecumenical-water-network.html
This material may be reprinted freely.
Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 347 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
Cheryl Lawrie who works with an alternative worship project for the Uniting Church Synod of Victoria & Tasmania, writes reasonably regular columns on religious issues for the Melbourne Age. Amid the flurry of articles on atheism that have been sparked by the screening of Dawkins’ God Delusion documentary, Cheryl was asked by the Age to write a case for God.
She begins:
Atheism might be all the rage, but Christianity is about more than fashion.
IT WAS only a few months ago that I read an article in The Age claiming faith was the new black. Then last week Catherine Deveny informed me that atheism had taken its place. Fashion is indeed fickle. I am so last year.
Atheism is the new big thing. Richard Dawkins’ book and documentary The God Delusion have headlined its charge. For many, Dawkins’ books are a much-needed tonic after a lifetime of fundamentalist indoctrination. For others, his arguments are based on gross generalisations emanating from shoddy research.
The whole article can be found here and you can read about her work on her blogsite hold :: this space
There is a very active community of people who are involved in discussing biblical scholarship on line. Some of these people are professional academic biblical and religious scholars and/or theologians, while others are students and ministers/pastors. They come from a wide cross-section of theological positions and usually offer informed comment on a range of interesting things. If you are interested in finding out more, I would suggest that you start at biblioblogs, a blogsite which provides “an aggregate of blogs geared towards biblical studies” and explore the links.
Some of the blogs are very serious and focussed only on the research of the blogger, while others are more wide-ranging and include more personal reflection and humour as well. Probably the most popular New Testament site is Mark Goodacre’s NT Gateway Weblog. Mark is an Englishman who is currently teaching at Duke University in the US and a very active blogger. If you are interested in non-canonical early Christian writings, you might like April DeConick’s The Forbidden Gospels Blog. I have also been blogging about my research on the Gospel of Thomas at Judy’s research blog.
Once you’ve found blogs that interest you, you can subscribe to them using a feedreader service and then you’ll be notified whenever a new post appears. UNE has a feedreader for Windows computers that can be downloaded from here but I didn’t find it particularly good to use and I now subscribe to all my feeds using Bloglines.
News
$ The World Bank reports an 80 million drop in the number of people living in extreme poverty (less than US$1 a day) between 2002 and 2004. This means that Millennium Development Goal 1 can be reached. BUT the good news is entirely due to rapid economic growth in China and India. The Bank says that many countries will not reach Goal 1 and the boom in China masks an increase in extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.
$ The Budget will be announced next Tuesday May 8. There will be a preliminary report on our overseas aid commitments on the website on Wednesday, so keep an eye on what happens. There SHOULD be more money to help meet the Government’s 2005 commitment to increase aid. This will be welcome news but will the money be going to the people who need it most? And will we be doing enough to keep our eye on the goal of halving global poverty by 2015?
Opportunities to be involved this month
Order the new 07:07:07 postcards for your whole church, school or group. This is an easy and effective step to take and if we can send 100,000 postcards, it will have a huge impact. If we want to see the hungry fed, the vulnerable secure and the homeless with shelter, your voice is needed. Click on the link for an order form:
http://www.micahchallenge.org.au/pages/content.asp?plid=151
Come to Voices for Justice 07 in June. Early bird discount till May 16. This promises to be an exciting time of worship, learning and speaking to politicians. It is an amazing opportunity. Come and be inspired by Bishop Alexis Bilindabagabo from Rwanda, The Idea of North, workshops, art, prayer and politicians.
See http://www.micahchallenge.org.au/pages/content.asp?plid=49
Order an 07:07:07 sports kit with everything you need to know about running a half-time sports event with your club, at school or in the community. There’s a half-time dvd and whistle in every kit! Contact pippa.cave@micahchallenge.org.au
Entries for Create to Advocate 07 close on May 18, so don’t delay. A bigger exhibition space this year plus Ken Duncan is contributing a work to the exhibition. Info and application forms at http://www.micahchallenge.org.au/pages/content.asp?plid=148
Fantastic NEW resource available NOW. Take part in 7 weeks of prayer and action. Show the new video, use the new cartoon explaining poverty, plus other new resources. Order the DVD – What can one person do? at http://www.micahchallenge.org.au/resource/DVDorderform.pdf
Prayer
Lord, we thank you that we have a voice in our nation, the freedom to speak and act for those in need. Don’t let us slip into apathy.
We pray for Christians in nations where there is no freedom. Don’t let them be fearful.
Fill us all with your Spirit of boldness so that voices everywhere are raised for right, for peace and for truth. Amen
Quote of the Month
“I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity…that I was a ‘drum major’ for justice, peace and righteousness.â€
Martin Luther King Jr, speaking of how he wanted to be remembered.
Because of all the resources we are producing this year, we urgently need $20,000. If 400 people give only $50 each we will cover our expenses. Can you help? You can download a donation form at our website or donate over the phone (02 9453 1586). We believe this year is a time to have a huge impact and we need funds. Please help if you can. Amanda, National Coordinator
