By Steve Polston
October 2007
For about two years now, I’ve been telling you about the Millennium Development Goals in the Episcopal Church, in our Diocese and at St. Timothy’s.
These eight goals are about changing/saving the world (in secular language) and about ushering in the Kingdom of God (to use our own church-y jargon). You may find it peculiar that I am writing about changing/saving the world and ushering in the Kingdom, but the fact is that the MDGs are a program begun by the United Nations more than 50 years ago, with the United States being one of the first signatories.
The plan was that governments and organizations would give seven-tenths of one percent of their budgets (also known as .7 percent, and also known as .07 if you are multiplying) toward projects that would:
· eradicate poverty and hunger;
· achieve universal primary education;
· promote gender equality and empower women;
· reduce child mortality;
· improve maternal health;
· combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases;
· ensure environmental sustainability; and,
· create a global partnership for development with a focus on debt, aid and relief.
The Episcopal Church and many other denominations have signed on to the MDGs.
At St. Timothy’s the Vestry began talking and thinking about MDGs in earnest in the summer of 2006. I wrote a “white paper,” which the Vestry frequently revisits under the leadership of Senior warden Chris Large; you can find it on our Web site. Also, I challenged you to read Jeffrey Sachs’ book, “The End of Poverty,” and donated copies of the book to the parish. Reading the white paper and the book will help inform you more about the MDGs.
We have done very well with local mission which, as we devote our time, energy and financial treasure to the food pantry and the health fair, we note that we are on a mission in our neighborhood and community to usher in the Kingdom of God. Dozens of families are being fed by our generosity and work and many persons are receiving health screenings that will give them health and wellness information that truly can change lives. Our UTO grant from the wider church for $10,000 covered infrastructure, and families in the parish and the Vestry on our behalf have given money, food and support. Many individuals have a strong heartfelt goal for the medical screenings and their work is very effective.
And we have given regularly as individuals and as a parish to Episcopal Relief and Development (formerly the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief). We give for our own Bishop’s ministry when the regular episcopal visit occurs. And we even have given when the odd missionary comes along promoting feeding and medical missions. Advent, when Jesus comes to the world anew in our hearts and liturgy, is as good a time as any to think about making real God’s vision for us.
Our work reflects what others in the worldwide Anglican Communion do to help our brothers and sisters. Moreover, the work we are doing reflects what we believe as Christians and is representative of our roles as missionaries.
Yes, I know. It’s weird to think about, but we are missionaries and members of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America.
I am eager to thank you for the support you have given me as a missioner whose service has been to the wider church. Bishop Cate Waynick appointed me as chair of the Diocesan Global and National Missions Commission for a two-year appointment that ends in December. The parish has allowed me to convene our commission in the parish halls several times and the Women’s Guild was a gracious luncheon host for us earlier this year. Our group travels from around the state for meetings every couple of months and I believe that I never have seen a group more grateful to eat than this group. I run us through our paces quickly as we make presentations about our individual mission work and propose and report on new mission opportunities. Sometimes we gather as many as 15 or 20, and my work is to ensure all have a chance to speak and assure that all are heard, while we take care to consider how best to spend mission funds.
In the past two years, our commission (through the generous support of parishes like St. Timothy’s and very large parishes such as the Cathedral) has supported medical missions to address malaria and meningitis in Bor Diocese in the Sudan. Do not doubt that you not only saved lives, but extended the lives of brother and sister Episcopalians! Your Vestry voted to send money!
Pilgrims from Indianapolis have visited Bor, where the Church built the Marc Nikkel School, an Episcopal day school, long before a talk show host got involved in education in Africa. Our Diocese is now partnering with the Diocese of Denver and Project Education Sudan, and together we will expand schools in Bor Diocese.
Grace Episcopal Church in Muncie raised $7,000 to drill a water well at Zion Church in Bor, not knowing that the missions commission had been pondering how to find the best well driller at the lowest cost. We still need another $10,000 or so, but we are confident that generous Episcopalians will help bring water.
I believe that knowing the dollar amount sometimes is less important than knowing the impact money will have – especially when I think about how refugees will not return to Bor until there is water and a school system.
Episcopalians are bringing about the change that will alter the face of the earth.
No other governmental organization or non-governmental unit working in southern Sudan is as effective as the Episcopal Church. Last winter, the Archbishop of Canterbury sent his secretary for international development to meet with our commission, asking for financial support for a program that was not yet formed or funded. Our committee prayed and studied for weeks, but realized that the work we are doing has advanced far beyond what the Archbishop could do, especially given the overhead that was projected. We decided that since we already were on the ground and doing mission that we perhaps knew the best or better course for our work. Two members of our commission were engaged with many African bishops in Spain this summer under the auspices of large American Episcopal churches, and did much good to organize conversations that will strengthen our relationship for mission work when there is much division in the Anglican Communion.
The church in Bor Diocese is our companion Diocese, along with Brasilia, and we have trustworthy and conscientious pastors in Bor who are able to receive secure monetary transfers from Indianapolis and account for how the funds are spent. Regular visits from this Diocese also assure accountability. Our ability and success to sustain a relationship such as this is unequaled.
We are working in Brazil, too. More than 200 children a year are enrolled in after-school tutoring in the parishes of the Diocese of Brasilia, which also is a companion diocese. The cost is about $60 per year per child (about $12,000). Many individuals and families in this Diocese have agreed to send $20 per month, which supports two children in daily tutoring. This is important and effective since the government only provides four hours school per day and 17 million people are illiterate. Six parishes in this diocese do active fundraising and three parishes have held “Brazilian dinners” on Shrove Tuesday, raising as much as $1,000 in a single night. The folks at tiny St. George’s parish in West Terre Haute are my heroes, coming up with $1,000 from amongst 25 families for after-school tutoring.
When our Diocese’s attention turned toward rebuilding homes and churches in the Gulf Coast after hurricanes ravaged the area, St. George’s came through again with a fundraising dinner to buy drywall. St. Paul’s parish in Evansville raised money for drywall as well as sent missionaries to work in the Gulf Coast. Last year, Episcopalians in Indiana bought enough drywall to fill two semi-tractors. Two St. Timothians, Judy Champa and Adam Marcum, went to the Gulf Coast last year and came back with open eyes and increased desire to do mission.
Our diocese will continue to become more mission-oriented in the next several years, with a commitment to provide $65,000 to build a house in the Gulf Coast. St. Paul’s parish in New Albany has promised $10 per member for this effort. We are convinced that there is a tremendous will to give for the ushering in of the Kingdom of God, and the Episcopalian flavor is to address the needs of people first.
I’ve been thinking about this for awhile, and I have begun to see that each person in each family has a mission. The mission may be to educate their children, or to get them past the danger of childhood disease or to survive poverty. Or it may be some other mission. Episcopalians are missionaries, and our mission is to strengthen and equip others so they can get on with their mission. It is in this way that we seek and serve the Christ in others.
It is becoming evident that this Diocese will place more emphasis on mission work as time progresses, even sending a missionary priest to Brazil in late-2008 or early 2009, and later a missionary priest to Sudan. Cost will be borne in thirds, paid by the Episcopal Church, this Diocese and the receiving diocese. The plan will be for standard pension and medical benefits as part of the salary package, and wages tied to the local clergy salary scale. You will be hearing more about all these things through the year, but I hope that you will begin to pray specifically about them.