Millennium Development Goals

A white paper proposal and report for

St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church

2106 E. Thompson Rd., Indianapolis, Ind.

Steve Polston, clerk of Vestry

 

July 18, 2006 (and as amended)

Amended June 6, 2007

 

Background: The United Nations Millennium Development Goals essentially pledge national, institutional and individual resources to rid the world of hunger and poverty, ­by dedicating .7 percent of budgets and income.

            The MDG (Millennium Development Goals) were passed by member nations of the United Nations compact, including the United States, and adopted by the 74^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church (2006), and the Diocesan Convention of the Diocese of Indianapolis in 2005. Seventy-one of the Church’s 110 dioceses have signed to follow the pledge.

All parishes are asked to participate in their budgeting processes to designate .7 percent. The money need not be new money or be passed through or passed on to the Diocese or the national church organization; the Diocese of Indianapolis has identified money already being spent in the category of support for world relief. In the case of individuals, parishes, dioceses, institutions and national governments, new (additional) money need not be given, but present monies should be directed specifically toward the MDGs.

 

          The Goals:

 

1.     Eradicate poverty and hunger (this means extreme poverty, typified by the plight of people — about 22,000 daily in the world — who go for one day without a single meal), by providing food for their daily meals. St. Timothy’s parishioners fund a Gleaners Food Bank satellite distribution point, opened in November 2006 with a $10,000 grant from the United Thank Offering. Funds are collected monthly with our “coins into cans” program; staple goods also are provided weekly by parishioners, who are asked to “get your can to church.” On the last Tuesday of each month, St. Timothy’s provides enough food for one week for as many as 30 families consisting of four or more adults.

 

2.     Achieve universal primary education. Indiana’s Constitution provides for free and universal education to all children through high school. In Indiana, we lament that graduation rates and literacy are a disgrace, but in Brazil, site of our companion Diocese of Brasilia, for instance, more than 17 million people are illiterate (about 13 percent). Several parishes in our Diocese support after school tutoring programs in Brasilian parishes (less than $250 per child per year, to augment the daily requirement of only 4 hours schooling per day). Elsewhere in the world, education not only is unbudgeted, it is not required. St. Timothy’s raised $280 in 2007 and donated it to the Diocese to help build a school in Bor; open-plate money collected during Sundays in Lent were designated for the purpose.

 

3.     Promote gender equality and empower women. In the United States, women follow men in many critical areas of research medicine, medical service delivery, society, employment and education. In the rest of the world, women are increasingly the target of disgraceful violence, factional religious wars and unjust laws (including forced sterilization, birth limit, rape and sexual mutilation). St. Timothy’s raises funds from many sources (including the Diocese, Episcopal clergy-friends, and other parishes) to fund a battery of free health screenings at its annual Old Time Jamboree and Health Fair; a significant tithe of vendor fee collections funds this initiative and provides matching funds from “other” sources. The goal should be $500 this year. The Health Fair has grown each year and additional types of testing are added each year. Testing remains free to all. Information for women to get help escaping the cycle of battery is provided in our restrooms, specifically as an outreach to the many visitors who use our parish home for civic purposes (e.g., AA, Al-Anon, Al-a-Teen, By Grace, precinct voting, Handicapable Hands, Jazzercize).

 

4.     Reduce child mortality. St. Timothy’s can help by actively raising funds from parishioners to support a variety of state-supported programs, including non-profit foster parent and adoptive family organizations. The goal should be $240 a year.

 

5.     Improve maternal health. St. Timothy’s can help intentionally by purchasing vouchers for Vitamin B shots and other pre-natal care medications at local health clinics, designated for pregnant women in ZIP codes contiguous to our parish. The goal in 2007 should be $240.

 

6.     Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases. St. Timothy’s should designate a financial gift to help ease the meningitis outbreak in our companion Diocese of Bor in The Sudan of Africa. The goal should be $100.

 

7.     Ensure environmental sustainability. St. Timothy’s can help by designating a tithe of .7 percent from the sale of any excess church land as a gift to the Indiana Heritage Trust, a non-profit state-sponsored plan to set aside land for natural resource protection, recreation and cultural heritage. So far nearly 40,000 acres has been preserved statewide, but more than 100,000 acres has been identified for such protection.

 

8.     Create a global partnership for development with a focus on debt, aid and relief. St. Timothy’s can help by educating parishioners and the community about these issues. St. Timothy’s will encourage parishioners to support the Presiding Bishop’s visit and attend the One Hope, One Voice conference in June in Indianapolis. St. Timothy’s will encourage support of the Von Trapp Family concert at Christ Church Cathedral in Spetember, which pledges to raise funds in support of MDGs related to women and children in our partner dioceses. St. Timothy’s parishioners are encouraged to educate themselves about MDGs, especially by reading books such as Jeffrey Sach’s The End of Poverty. St. Timothy’s parish will continue to support the Diocesan Global and National Missions Commission by encouraging use of the parish facility for periodical meetings. St. Timothy’s vestry inserts ECUSA materials into the Sunday bulletins and the monthly parish newsletter to help educate parishioners.

 

Proposal: 1.) St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church pledges .7 percent of its annual budget to the eight Millennium Development Goals and asks its parish households to give likewise. 2.) Additionally, the parish leadership establishes the last Sunday after Pentecost and other days as “days of fasting, prayer and giving toward global reconciliation and the Millennium Development Goals,” as directed by the Episcopal Church’s 74^th General Convention. Gifts can be designated for specific proposals, or given through regular Good Sam, ERD (Episcopal Relief and Development) or UTO envelopes. The target date for participation is by July 7, 2007.

 

Action: The budget committee should identify a .7 percent goal in its 2007 budget planning to direct fundraising and parish gifts from established funds for the Millennium Development Goals.

 

Plan: 1.) Raise funds from individuals to support the Millennium Development Goals in the above areas; intentionally support the goals with a budget section entitled “Global Reconciliation/Millennium Development Goals.” 2.) Identify UTO, Good Sam and ERD receipts and budget for them in the new budget section. 3.) Achieve .7 percent of parish resources to give toward the goals and actively ask parishioners to give .7 percent of their income directly toward the goals or directly to the parish for UTO, Good Sam and ERD collections. 4.) Prepare study guides, homilies and pamphlets/mailings to promote the goals and ask for intentional giving.

It should be stressed that there is no provision in any of this to require additional funds and that in many cases, individuals, parishes and dioceses find that they already are giving .7 percent in the category of support to others.

Starting this process should begin with 1.) an education plan for the entire parish, perhaps by seeking a Diocesan staff person or clergy person to facilitate a parish session. Deacon involvement could be key to adding energy. 2.) Additionally, the Vestry should form a sub-committee of the budget committee to examine parish resources and advise the budget committee on how to plan for intentional giving and re-alignment of the budget priorities. 3.) This all can begin with adoption of this or a similar document and a pledge to follow the Millennium Development Goals.

 

Some  obvious things to consider

 

How can we afford to give to others when we are, ourselves, members of an aided parish? St. Timothy’s is approximately 7 years through a 10-year aid program with the Diocese, currently receiving $1,416.67 per month.

Some have reflected on this as collection on our insurance policy — we were a financially strong parish for many years, and paid excess funds, so now we’re just collecting our due. At the same time, we’ve been reeling from declining membership, lack of a fulltime rector and perceived disinterest from the Diocese.

 

Some people don’t want to give money to the national church, because they disagree with its priorities, politics or policies. Can we designate money that we raise and give away? Our monthly liability to the Diocese is $1,136.67. It’s an amount we can’t not pay and it’s not just a “wash” in which we deduct our obligation to the Diocese from the Diocesan monthly aid check.

The Diocese of Indianapolis has its own obligation to the national church, but has pledged to support the MDGs, setting aside .7 percent of its budget.

We do designate money that we raise and give away already, for the UTO and the Episcopal Fund for Human Need, given regularly through collection envelopes. Last year, St. Timothy’s was the only parish in the Diocese to receive a grant from the national UTO fund, in support of our food pantry ($10,000). The Episcopal Fund for Human Need (now called Episcopal Relief and Development) supports freshwater projects throughout the world and disaster and disease relief programs, such as helping in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast region.

 

We aren’t intentionally budgeting for a rector. How can we give for relief of the world’s problems? Perhaps we feel hopeless. Perhaps we’re waiting on leadership from the Diocese, or a solution from the heavens. It’s hard to take responsibility for operating the parish; it means a lot of sacrifices from a lot of people, giving with love and a hope that it will somehow help.

Meanwhile, we’re still members of the worldwide Anglican Communion, Episcopalians in the Diocese of Indianapolis. Both our helplessness and hopelessness and our identity as Episcopalians are true statements of who we are. But we do have help and hope from our Lord, Jesus Christ, whose church and world we are responsible for.

Budgeting with intention for the hiring of a rector (sometime) and designating .7 percent of our resources for the Millennium Development Goals will both strengthen our faith and challenge it. Both / and, not either / or.

 

We are getting stronger week by week. Our weekly worship together is our attempt to gather strength to serve.

          The move from two services to one has strengthened our time together by helping us see each other’s needs as we pray and take Communion together.

          Several infant Baptisms this year have brought together family members from near and far, sometimes giving us the joyful presence of 70-75 people for divine worship. Somehow, new soldiers are joining in the battle for good, and God’s Kingdom is being won prayer by prayer.

          We sometimes weary of having so many different priests’ faces (about 20 in the past nine years) in front of us and we long for stability, but perhaps the rotating cast of characters serving the pulpit position is God’s response to our need.

          Let’s take some strength in our Church’s motto, Jehova jireh — God will provide, and go out to serve the world.