"UnChristian?" -- by Lallie Lloyd

I recently read David Kinnaman’s new book, UnChristian, which is a great gift to the church, though not a comfortable read. I’ve been thinking about how to apply his research findings to our work for the MDGs and have come up with these notes. I hope they’re helpful to you.

Kinnaman is a researcher for The Barna Group and spent years doing rigorous research into how young adults, ages 16 – 29, perceive Christianity. He includes reflections on his own life and faith journey and tells powerful stories about people he knows. He writes with an engaging humility and self-awareness that challenges us to drop our defenses, and he balances his message with a passionate invitation to Christians to take responsibility for how we are perceived.

But it’s not a pretty picture.

Kinnaman’s findings are summarized in his title, Christians are unChristian. We are hypocritical (say one thing and live something else entirely), focused on saving others (insincere and concerned only with converting), too political (identified with extreme conservative politics), anti-homosexual (show contempt for gays and lesbians), sheltered (boring, unintelligent old-fashioned and out of touch with reality) and judgmental (prideful and quick to find fault with others). Ouch.

Turns out young adults don’t avoid church because of Jesus. Many of them don’t know much about him, but they like what they do know. They avoid church because they don’t like Christians.

Here are two implications of his research for our MDG ministries:

First, we can tell the people we know –outside the church, and inside, about the work we do to end extreme poverty, and why we do it. “Our relationships, our interactions with people, comprise the picture of Jesus that people retain,” Kinnaman writes.

Our culture is hungry for a church that leads the country to repentance for consumerism, greed, destruction of the environment and arrogant dismissal of the basic human dignity and survival needs of the worlds’ poor. In other words a church that lifts up the MDGs. A church that is on the forefront of this movement will be more recognizable as the living body of Christ. This isn’t about spinning the Christian message; it’s about living it.

Second, most young Americans don’t give the Bible moral weight and don’t know its stories and images, so we need to use language that is fresh, accurate and meaningful when we describe why the MDGs are important to us. Kinnaman urges us to be creative, be “engaged, winsome and intentional.”

Fresh talk comes from our hearts and personal experiences; it may not be the way we are accustomed to talking in church, but if we want to be understood outside church, and if we want to invite our lay and ordained leaders to work for the MDGS, then we each need to develop our parables, stories and metaphors. I’m a vision-driven person and believe a world in which the MDGs have been met is an inherently attractive vision. But I need to tell my personal story. It may take time, reflection and practice to get your story clear in your own mind, but when you do, it will be easier for people to hear you, you’ll be more relaxed, and your ‘talks’ will feel more like conversations -- they’ll refresh you instead of draining you.

Get the book and see what you think.

Lallie Lloyd is the author of "Eradicating Global Poverty: A Christian Study Guide on the MDGs" for the National Council of Churches and co-chair of Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism.

"The Poverty of Dreams" -- by Stephanie Rhodes

I'm such a dreamer… it's not just an occasional segue – it's a core element of my personality. The truth is that I can't imagine life without dreams. Not just general dreams either, or practical 5-year plans. No, I dream big, but with lots of colorful details. Keeps things exciting and enticing. It also generally keeps them thoroughly impractical, yet familiar and deeply loved.

But at the end of the day, it's an escape born out of possibility. The reality of being an only child in a middle/upper middle class household is that you have a distinct sense of potential. You believe that there's a great big future out there, whenever you feel like catching up to it. It's natural, when all of the basic dreams like, for example, going to college are already assumed. You may not be able to afford the school of your dreams without some scholarship help, but you're sure as hell going somewhere. And, of course, the grades and activities that tend to earn scholarship money are easier to come by when being a good little student is the only real obligation you have.

It was always easy to assume big, exciting possibilities. And, despite the disappointments and setbacks that inevitably accompany growing up, it still is. After all, I manage to spend most of the year in the Holy Land doing work that I find rewarding in a place that I love, even when I sometimes hate it. I took risks, but I've also been incredibly lucky. More than that, I always knew that there were people who could offer fallback support if I really needed it. That is not an insignificant crutch.

So the thing that I find the most painful and sad about life for Palestinian children is the absence of dreams. I mean, I'm sure they still have them, but I wonder for how long? When you've come of age amidst a conflict that includes hundreds of children in its carnage, even the basic notion of life can be a huge assumption. And, assuming that your parents have the money to help you go abroad (also, by the way, a huge assumption), the requisite visa is by no means guaranteed.

Growing up near the Gulf Coast, beach trips were a frequent characteristic of family vacations and, later, spring breaks with friends. There was always something magical about the ocean…deep and powerful in ways that I couldn't completely imagine…the next wave bearing connections I couldn't predict but knew that I wanted to be a part of. It is the quintessential dreamscape for me.

Most children in the West Bank have never seen the sea.

Perhaps growing up with martyrs rather than maritime romance has made their dreams very practical. Most of the teenagers I meet long to go to college abroad. But of course their schools lack the study abroad connections that characterize the American college experience.

Dreams, like any other living organism, need food. Without it, they cannot survive. Likewise, I'm not convinced that people, and certainly not a culture, can survive without dreams.

Or, as Langston Hughes phrased it,

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore –
and then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over –
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Stephanie Rhodes lives in Jerusalem where she coordinates Palestinian media development projects. She is a former member of Episcopal Church Committee on the Status of Women.

"My War" -- by Craig Cole

Memorial Day is approaching and I am starting to feel guilty. Well, my emotions are more complex than just mere guilt. I feel the sadness and loss of a missed opportunity to serve my country in the military. During the first Gulf War, many of my high school friends were part of Desert Storm. As an editorial assistant for a Chicago area newspaper at the time, I collected and published stories and photographs from families of those serving “over there”. One of them was killed. I sat behind a desk.

I am now over 40 and I am too old to join this fight, but I still feel a pull to go because despite the cliché, there is no shame in the sacrifice of serving our country. I should be there in Afghanistan or Iraq.

There is a desperate desire for shared sacrifice at the very soul of our country. Yet as individuals we have not been given a concrete opportunity to do so by our government and thus we are disengaged from a struggle that has historic implications for the future of our country and for the world.

To quell my guilt and disengagement, I sometimes refer to the work of poverty alleviation as “My War.” I have seen children die of malaria, mothers who die at childbirth and the awful stench of life in a slum. Poverty ravages and kills innocent children each day and creates such despair that those who survive choose terrorism and suicide bombings as their one path to riches.

What’s more patriotic, and in the best interests of the United States, than stabilizing societies and countries through economic development? A secure household with parents who have jobs even in a slum like Kibera in Kenya or in Lahore, Pakistan can translate into security here at home.

My heroes are not only those who serve in the armed forces, but those in the relief and development agencies and churches at the frontlines who help rebuild and love their neighbor in the pits of hell. My friend Brian is finishing a tour with USAID in Iraq while his wife and three children wait for his return. And, I think of Anna, who about a month ago died in Afghanistan while working with a non-governmental organization. Although her death was an accident and not related to the conflict, she still leaves six siblings and two parents grieving the loss of a young, vibrant life. This too is her Memorial Day.

There are many opportunities at home and abroad to transform lives and assist those who live on the very margins of society. We must act now not just militarily, not just diplomatically but at the very grassroots achieving what is unthinkable but is more urgent than ever – creating employment, stabilizing communities and ending radical poverty before the next car bomb goes off somewhere _ maybe even here in the United States.

As Christians, it is imperative that we engage in this world, not just by voting on the best American Idol, but through service and sacrifice. There is a war out there on poverty and misery that we can all agree needs to be fought. Let’s not miss this opportunity. We may regret it later in life.

Craig Cole is the executive director of Five Talents International, an Anglican microfinance nonprofit. He is also a member of the Diocese of Virginia's Mission Commission and an EGR board member.

"Much Work Left To Do In Sudan" -- by Reynolds Whalen

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of spending time with Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak of Sudan. As he spoke to the Companion Diocese Committee of Missouri, he stressed the need to think on a large scale when approaching issues of development and reconciliation. He stressed the importance of the United States facilitating the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the North and South in Sudan three years ago, and used that as an example of how American citizens can have a profound global effect. He urged us to use our political agency as citizens of one of the most powerful nations in the world to help ensure peace in Sudan.

Over the past five years, there has been considerable media attention to the atrocities in Darfur. The conflict has left several hundred thousand people dead and several million displaced from their homes. Personal stories from people living in the area and the labeling of the situation as “genocide” have mobilized a significant activist movement around the world. However, recently, the Sudanese government has used this attention to further exploit the failing peace agreement in the South. Many provisions are not being met and returning refugees are finding their villages in shambles, no sign of the reconstruction promised by the government in the CPA.

When I was in Southern Sudan in 2005, shortly after the signing of the CPA, I conducted several interviews about the political situation and the relationship between conflicts in Sudan. Here were some reactions:

We know [Darfur] is affecting us here because now peace was signed, but now peace is not working. We know this is the problem on the Darfur: if there is no war in Darfur, maybe there is change in this peace, but now peace is not changing. We know that is the war in Darfur.

You see, if we still hear about war in Sudan, it is like still we are not free, we are still under war because the Darfur people are our people, you see? They are still in Sudan. So we don’t want to even hear a war in Sudan […] we are Sudanese and if the peace was there, you see for all the Sudanese, not only the one side, you see, still if you hear your brother is groaning because of something, you still feel pain, you see. So, in fact, it affects us badly...we are thinking we are still in war.

[Darfur] will affect the peace because it is the same Sudan government involved in that war and it is the same Sudan government we signed peace with from the Southern Sudan. So even though those of Darfur are far from here, we are still sympathizing with their situation because we have gone under the same situation and we know exactly how they are feeling.

Three years later, these issues continue to plague the country and all of the conflicts continue to be related. As those interviewed explained, the country needs to be addressed as a whole.

Recently, some positive steps have been taken in the direction of addressing issues of conflict in Sudan from a multi-faceted approach. The United States Congress passed House Resolution 1011, which calls on Chad, Sudan, and the Central African Republic to work together for stability throughout the entire region.

However, there is much to be done. This upcoming week will be crucial for our government as we decide on a Supplemental funding bill for Sudan in the FY2008 budget. As Christians living out our baptismal covenant, concerned for all of humanity, this is an issue on which we should speak loudly. How can we even begin to discuss the Millennium Development Goals in regions where constant armed conflict threatens all forms of infrastructure and livelihood?

Your members of Congress will listen. I have called Representatives and visited Senators’ offices many times, and am often contacted later and told that the information I offered became a great factor in decisions to sign or co-sponsor important bills. Do not let the size of our democratic system be daunting and stop you from letting your voice be heard. Educate yourself and use that education to think big and spread your knowledge to the places where it will have the most impact.

Reynolds Whalen is a graduating senior (ONE MORE WEEK!) at Washington University in St. Louis, has traveled extensively in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. He spent fall semester 2006 in Kenya working with AIDS orphans -- read his blog on it here and has produced a documentary film on that experience.

"Love the whole world, one person at a time" -- by the Rev. Becca Stevens.

I have been thinking about what it means to love the world. A group of seven women from the Magdalene Community just returned home safe and sound from Rwanda. It was amazing, and we thankful to be with our families again. The women we met fell in love with the message and community of Magdalene. We read letters the women from Nashville sent and in response, the women who are part of the sisters of Rwanda started sharing their experiences of surviving incest, violence, addiction and prostitution. Their staff said that they had never heard the women talk so openly. In gratitude and solidarity with the women of Magdalene, the sisters of Rwanda wrote letters and sent video messages to us. The stories are hauntingly similar.

Rwanda is full of people walking around with ghosts, while new life is strapped to the backs of women. Hearty crops are blooming next to people so poor they can't feed their children. It was so much to take in sometimes my legs would shake or my head would throb. Our small group carried you all with us the whole time. It was the right trip and we all think there are many more villages of women who want us to be with them. We found the cousins to the thistles. One of the many lessons I learned in Rwanda was that rape and love are universal actions. Neither get lost in translation and our job is to love the whole world, one person at a time.

Seeing women in traditional African dress with goggles and rubber gloves preparing to make soap is awesome. They were so excited when we started the second morning, they had already started cleaning the equipment. We went to villages where women waited all day to see us. They were stunning, poised, and almost whispered what they needed to tell us about their lives and their need for hope and money to keep going. We went to the market and purchased shovels, seeds, and sewing machines in response to some of their requests. Sometimes its just a fishing pole people need. They already know how to fish. The faith we saw was inspiring and a little intimidating. The singing and dancing were beautiful. The landscape is hilly with mists that come in like sweet blankets. It is strange to think of a million people dying on that land. It is hard to love the world, but if we can't, nothing else means anything to me.

"Making a Killing From the Food Crisis" -- by GRAIN

The Rev. Martha Korienek, EGR diocesan contact from Los Angeles, forwards this report from GRAIN: an international non-governmental organisation which promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity based on people's control over genetic resources and local knowledge.

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The world food crisis is hurting a lot of people, but global agribusiness firms, traders and speculators are raking in huge profits.

Much of the news coverage of the world food crisis has focussed on riots in low-income countries, where workers and others cannot cope with skyrocketing costs of staple foods. But there is another side to the story: the big profits that are being made by huge food corporations and investors. Cargill, the world’s biggest grain trader, achieved an 86% increase in profits from commodity trading in the first quarter of this year. Bunge, another huge food trader, had a 77% increase in profits during the last quarter of last year. ADM, the second largest grain trader in the world, registered a 67% per cent increase in profits in 2007.

Nor are retail giants taking the strain: profits at Tesco, the UK supermarket giant, rose by a record 11.8% last year. Other major retailers, such as France’s Carrefour and Wal-Mart of the US, say that food sales are the main sector sustaining their profit increases. Investment funds, running away from sliding stock markets and the credit crunch, are having a heyday on the commodity markets, driving prices out of reach for food importers like Bangladesh and the Philippines.

These profits are no freak windfalls. Over the last 30 years, the IMF and the World Bank have pushed so-called developing countries to dismantle all forms of protection for their local farmers and to open up their markets to global agribusiness, speculators and subsidised food from rich countries. This has transformed most developing countries from being exporters of food into importers. Today about 70 per cent of developing countries are net importers of food. On top of this, finance liberalisation has made it easier for investors to take control of markets for their own private benefit.

Agricultural policy has lost touch with its most basic goal: that of feeding people. Rather than rethink their own disastrous policies, governments and think tanks are blaming production problems, the growing demand for food in China and India, and biofuels. While these have played a role, the fundamental cause of today's food crisis is neoliberal globalisation itself, which has transformed food from a source of livelihood security into a mere commodity to be gambled away, even at the cost of widespread hunger among the world’s poorest people.

"Sent Side-by-Side Into the World" -- by the Rev. Jay Lawlor

In recent weeks, I have been thinking a lot about how the work of ending extreme poverty is such an important aspect of my ministry as a baptized person and as an ordained priest. I have been especially reflecting on the ever-expanding network of amazing people that I am blessed to be working with in pursuit of this common mission.

In my reflections I have been drawn to Mark’s Gospel on Jesus’ sending out of the twelve. This short passage from the gospel according to Mark is packed with insight about Jesus' teachings on discipleship -- what it was like for the apostles and the Church's mission and ministry for the 21st century. Jesus sends the twelve apostles out two by two and provides them with detailed instructions:

He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money for their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place does not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them" (Mark 6:8-11).

First, let us examine the significance of Jesus' instructions for the twelve apostles. Traveling in twos was common in antiquity for practical purposes. It was dangerous to travel alone due to some treacherous terrain and the threat of robbers/bandits along many of the roads. It provides a clear message that ministry should not be done alone -- even if it is to protect one another from the dangers the world may present.

Jesus first instructs the apostles that are to take nothing but a staff. This, presumably, was a staff for travelers to help traverse the countryside and fend off wild animals. But this is rich in important symbolism. Recall Psalm 23 and the beloved imagery of God's rod and staff, they comfort me. Or Jesus as the Good Shepherd caring for his flock. The staff being a longer rod that a shepherd can lean on for support and use to guide the flock is the imagery, I believe, that Jesus wants to leave with his apostles and us. Jesus is granting the disciples an extension of his authority to act on his behalf in the world. They are to become the shepherds of Christ's flock.

Through our mission we are called to continue Jesus' work here on earth. The Church today shares in the authority and mission as given to us just as assuredly it was given to the twelve apostles. The questions we need to ask ourselves are: What do we do with this in the face of extreme poverty, violence, and environmental destruction? How is Jesus sending us out into the world to preach and to heal a gospel of compassion, justice, and reconciliation?

What first need to remember is that ministry cannot be done alone. We must walk side by side with one another and always be calling upon the Holy Spirit to move in us and through us. Second, I believe that Jesus' message is for us to carry our staffs to draw people together in caring and compassion. Thirdly, we need not worry about bread, or bags for money, or an extra tunic, as ministry is not about our own profit or gain. Jesus is calling us to be his disciples as an extension of his ministry.

Most importantly, nothing that we do in ministry is of our own authority. Our ministry as Christians is an extension of Jesus' authority and ministry that he has invited us to share in. We are ALWAYS dependent upon Jesus Christ as the source of our authority in ministry. Let us see the world through Jesus’ eyes and may we answer Jesus' call to go forth into the world as his disciples, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to be powerful catalysts that build a stronger church and a better world.