Christian unity strengthened by anti-poverty action
-23/02/05
Christian Aid Week, the annual multi-million pound street collection and fundraising event held each May, is the biggest ecumenical event in the UK. So says Dr David Goodbourn, general secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, speaking at the CTBI assembly in Swanwick, Derbyshire, this week.
Dr Goodbourn said that Christian Aid week raised £15 million for anti-poverty work across the world last year. This year voluntary and church fund raising has been dominated by the tsunami appeal, which Dr Goodbourn said has struck a real cord with the general public.
The major aid agencies are keen that long-term and existing programmes, especially those in Africa, are not hit as a result of this special focus on the tsunami-hit regions.
Christian Aid, which is the development arm of 40 UK churches and an associate of CTBI, is keen to make the raised awareness and concern count in the battle against global injustice and inequality.
ìTackling poverty is Christians talking the language of ordinary people,î said Dr Goodbourn, challenging the churches across Britain and Ireland to give active support to the Scottish Make Poverty History rally in Scotland on 2 July 2005, ahead of the G8 meeting of the worldís rich countries.
At the end of this week the 300 church representatives at the CTBI assembly will be told about a major new statement on wealth and poverty, Prosperity With A Purpose, which has been reported on Ekkesia but will be launched officially on Monday 28 February in Westminster.
The report working group ìwas asked to take seriously the context of globalisation, the persistence of terrible worldwide poverty, and the impact that our new riches have on the environment,î says Dr Goodbourn in his foreword, countering earlier press speculation that Prosperity With A Purpose was an uncomplicated endorsement of riches.
The document, put together by experts in banking, international relations and economics, as well as Christian ethics, has been commissioned by the major denominations to promote a wide-ranging debate within the churches about how to act decisively and faithfully in an affluent society.
Christian unity strengthened by anti-poverty action
-23/02/05
Christian Aid Week, the annual multi-million pound street collection and fundraising event held each May, is the biggest ecumenical event in the UK. So says Dr David Goodbourn, general secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, speaking at the CTBI assembly in Swanwick, Derbyshire, this week.
Dr Goodbourn said that Christian Aid week raised £15 million for anti-poverty work across the world last year. This year voluntary and church fund raising has been dominated by the tsunami appeal, which Dr Goodbourn said has struck a real cord with the general public.
The major aid agencies are keen that long-term and existing programmes, especially those in Africa, are not hit as a result of this special focus on the tsunami-hit regions.
Christian Aid, which is the development arm of 40 UK churches and an associate of CTBI, is keen to make the raised awareness and concern count in the battle against global injustice and inequality.
ìTackling poverty is Christians talking the language of ordinary people,î said Dr Goodbourn, challenging the churches across Britain and Ireland to give active support to the Scottish Make Poverty History rally in Scotland on 2 July 2005, ahead of the G8 meeting of the worldís rich countries.
At the end of this week the 300 church representatives at the CTBI assembly will be told about a major new statement on wealth and poverty, Prosperity With A Purpose, which has been reported on Ekkesia but will be launched officially on Monday 28 February in Westminster.
The report working group ìwas asked to take seriously the context of globalisation, the persistence of terrible worldwide poverty, and the impact that our new riches have on the environment,î says Dr Goodbourn in his foreword, countering earlier press speculation that Prosperity With A Purpose was an uncomplicated endorsement of riches.
The document, put together by experts in banking, international relations and economics, as well as Christian ethics, has been commissioned by the major denominations to promote a wide-ranging debate within the churches about how to act decisively and faithfully in an affluent society.