Peace churches help to rebuild US Gulf Coast
-26/05/06
With hurricane season a week awa
Peace churches help to rebuild US Gulf Coast
-26/05/06
With hurricane season a week away, a special commission of the National Council of Churches USA (NCCUSA) promises to ìspeak truth to powerî throughout the long and arduous rebuilding effort of this city and the entire Gulf Coast region ñ and historic peace churches are among those who are joining the collaborative effort.
Eight months ago hurricane damage and destruction ìtook off the maskî of poverty, race, class and gender in the United States, say Christians and civil rights activists.
The NCCís Special Commission for the Just Rebuilding of the Gulf Coast will be supporting local ecumenical and community groups ìto advocate for justice in the distribution of resources and services for those impacted by the hurricanes, especially the poor.î
A report was presented this week to the ecumenical bodyís governing board by the Rev Melvin G. Talbert, retired bishop in the United Methodist Church and chair of the Special Commission.
ìWe will speak with the moral authority of our member churches,î Bishop Talbert declared. ìThere are times when we will take the initiative to open the doors that need to be opened,î he said, in order to ìhold fast to our vision of restored communities of love and justice.î
As part of that vision the NCCUSA has partnered with six denominations, the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and the Every Church a Peace Church movement to sponsor Churches Supporting Churches.
The programme will help rebuild 36 destroyed or damaged churches in 12 predominantly African American neighbourhoods of New Orleans.
The goal is to ìrestart, reopen, repair or rebuild the churches in order for them to be agents for community development and to recreate their community,î said Dr C. T. Vivian, CSC chair and long-time activist in the civil rights movement.
Congregations across the country will be offered the opportunity to help get these churches up and running again. A year-long training programme in community development will equip pastors and lay leaders for their expanded work as community developers.
ìCSC, concerned about the total hurricane devastation,î says Dr Vivian, ìsees this New Orleans project as a model for similar working in all areas of the Gulf Coast.î
The Special Commission will employ a local coordinator to direct its work. The staff presence in the region is seen as critical in keeping the voice of the church at the table in the civic dialogue about remaking a city and region that gives voice to the voiceless.
The commission will come back to the region in August 2006 for its next meeting, one week prior to the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
In his report to the National Council of Churches USA, Bishop Talbert said it is the ìright of all displaced residents to return to a community that offers security, tranquillity and stability of opportunity.î
The NCCís Governing Board says it chose to meet in New Orleans to bring the witness of the church there as well as to learn more about the role of the church in the rebuilding efforts. A prayer vigil and half-mile silent march was held on Monday evening from Canal Street to the Ernest W. Morial Convention Center.
Hurricane victims had sought security and safety at the centre. Many found only humiliation. Others spent their last moments on this earth at this site.
The NCC gathering was led in a prayer litany calling on God to hear the cries of the people, cries for justice and cries for an equitable rebuilding of this city. Bishop Talbert told the vigil, ìWe come now as the church of Jesus Christ responding to this crisis.î
The National Council of Churches USA is an alliance of Protestant, Orthodox, Episcopal, African American and historic peace churches representing some 50 million Christians country-wide.
The historic peace churches in the USA are the Mennonites, the Quakers and the Brethren in Christ.
Every Church a Peace Church (ECAPC) is “a vision energized by the belief that the church could turn the world toward peace if every church lived and taught as Jesus lived and taught”. It is an effort to nurture a global network of creative nonviolence among Christians. ECAPC developed out of a New Call to Peacemaking in 1975.
[Also on Ekklesia: Black Methodists seek justice for US Gulf Coast; Episcopalians and Mennonites provide support to Hurricane Rita; US church leader challenges president to tackle inequality; Churches prepare to transform the world; Local churches give hurricane victims a fresh start; Jim Wallis to outline progressive Christian view of politics; Black church rises from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina; Dramatic church call for defeat of anti-poor US budget; Churches step up US hurricane aid efforts; US church leader says poverty is the hurricane culprit]
Peace churches help to rebuild US Gulf Coast
-26/05/06
With hurricane season a week away, a special commission of the National Council of Churches USA (NCCUSA) promises to ìspeak truth to powerî throughout the long and arduous rebuilding effort of this city and the entire Gulf Coast region ñ and historic peace churches are among those who are joining the collaborative effort.
Eight months ago hurricane damage and destruction ìtook off the maskî of poverty, race, class and gender in the United States, say Christians and civil rights activists.
The NCCís Special Commission for the Just Rebuilding of the Gulf Coast will be supporting local ecumenical and community groups ìto advocate for justice in the distribution of resources and services for those impacted by the hurricanes, especially the poor.î
A report was presented this week to the ecumenical bodyís governing board by the Rev Melvin G. Talbert, retired bishop in the United Methodist Church and chair of the Special Commission.
ìWe will speak with the moral authority of our member churches,î Bishop Talbert declared. ìThere are times when we will take the initiative to open the doors that need to be opened,î he said, in order to ìhold fast to our vision of restored communities of love and justice.î
As part of that vision the NCCUSA has partnered with six denominations, the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and the Every Church a Peace Church movement to sponsor Churches Supporting Churches.
The programme will help rebuild 36 destroyed or damaged churches in 12 predominantly African American neighbourhoods of New Orleans.
The goal is to ìrestart, reopen, repair or rebuild the churches in order for them to be agents for community development and to recreate their community,î said Dr C. T. Vivian, CSC chair and long-time activist in the civil rights movement.
Congregations across the country will be offered the opportunity to help get these churches up and running again. A year-long training programme in community development will equip pastors and lay leaders for their expanded work as community developers.
ìCSC, concerned about the total hurricane devastation,î says Dr Vivian, ìsees this New Orleans project as a model for similar working in all areas of the Gulf Coast.î
The Special Commission will employ a local coordinator to direct its work. The staff presence in the region is seen as critical in keeping the voice of the church at the table in the civic dialogue about remaking a city and region that gives voice to the voiceless.
The commission will come back to the region in August 2006 for its next meeting, one week prior to the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
In his report to the National Council of Churches USA, Bishop Talbert said it is the ìright of all displaced residents to return to a community that offers security, tranquillity and stability of opportunity.î
The NCCís Governing Board says it chose to meet in New Orleans to bring the witness of the church there as well as to learn more about the role of the church in the rebuilding efforts. A prayer vigil and half-mile silent march was held on Monday evening from Canal Street to the Ernest W. Morial Convention Center.
Hurricane victims had sought security and safety at the centre. Many found only humiliation. Others spent their last moments on this earth at this site.
The NCC gathering was led in a prayer litany calling on God to hear the cries of the people, cries for justice and cries for an equitable rebuilding of this city. Bishop Talbert told the vigil, ìWe come now as the church of Jesus Christ responding to this crisis.î
The National Council of Churches USA is an alliance of Protestant, Orthodox, Episcopal, African American and historic peace churches representing some 50 million Christians country-wide.
The historic peace churches in the USA are the Mennonites, the Quakers and the Brethren in Christ.
Every Church a Peace Church (ECAPC) is “a vision energized by the belief that the church could turn the world toward peace if every church lived and taught as Jesus lived and taught”. It is an effort to nurture a global network of creative nonviolence among Christians. ECAPC developed out of a New Call to Peacemaking in 1975.
[Also on Ekklesia: Black Methodists seek justice for US Gulf Coast; Episcopalians and Mennonites provide support to Hurricane Rita; US church leader challenges president to tackle inequality; Churches prepare to transform the world; Local churches give hurricane victims a fresh start; Jim Wallis to outline progressive Christian view of politics; Black church rises from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina; Dramatic church call for defeat of anti-poor US budget; Churches step up US hurricane aid efforts; US church leader says poverty is the hurricane culprit]