Global Mission

 

Guyana & its Rainbow of Six Nations Session 3

Guyana is a country of exceptional and vastly unexploited natural beauty, situated on the northeast corner of South America. It is one of the world's poorest countries, with the second highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate, next to Haiti. This workshop will update the knowledge, skills and attitudes of healthcare providers, church leaders, missionaries, and youth leaders about Guyana, a site for foreign missions work in the Episcopal Church. Goals are to reduce childhood mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, and create a global partnership for development of a New School of Learning in areas of spiritual counseling and public health. The Rev. Dr. Harold Lockett, Priest-in-Charge, St. Timothy's, Decatur

 

Making a Difference: Honduras Health Mission Session 2

The Diocese of North Carolina has been sponsoring this health mission to Honduras for more than 10 years. The mission is a joint effort between the diocese and a local community group. The mission's goal is to be sustainable and the involvement of local folk is key to its success. Bishop Alexander's wife, Lynn, has joined the group for the last five years. The workshop will include the history and development of the mission as well as some details regarding planning and implementation. Anyone interested in starting or attending a health mission will learn valuable information. Lynn Alexander, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at Nuestros Ninos Clinic in Austell, Georgia

 

How to Mobilize around MDGs Session 1

Our wonderful, faithful Episcopal Church has a rather tepid history with "big initiatives" -- brilliant ideas to enhance our corporate life that enjoy a few months, maybe even a few years in the sun, then faded into obscurity. Where are they now? The Decade of Evangelism, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, 20/20, Year of the Girl-Child...all needed, all well-conceived, all exciting, all mostly gone. The Millennium Development Goals movement currently enjoys top billing in the Episcopal Church. Designated top budget and program priority at General Convention 2006, people are preaching about them, holding conferences, writing books, and blogging. Still, the MDGs are vulnerable to the fate of initiatives-past.  In July 2007 the MDG Task Force for the Diocese of Minnesota, with support from the Episcopal Church Foundation, made a choice to try something different -- to design a strategic plan which focuses all of our energies on mobilizing individuals in the pews around MDGs. Our goal is ambitious - mobilizing 70% of the diocese in 18 months. The plan includes 0.7% individual giving campaigns, measurable outcomes, public narratives, and collective decision-making. Come hear how we arrived at this strategy, how it's going, and what we're learning in the process. The Rev. Devon Anderson, Diocese of Minnesota, Chair, Minnesota MDG Task Force and Episcopal Church Foundation Transformational Ministry Fellow

 

The Three-Legged Stool of MDGs: Relationship, Advocacy, Development Session 2

We Episcopalians know all about three-legged stools. Our theological mantra of Scripture, Tradition and Reason lives deep in our collective DNA. On face-value, the Millennium Development Goals seem like eight clear and simple avenues for the eradication of global poverty. And yet, one need put one toe in the global mission arena to know that doing effective ministry work in any one of the eight paths is complicated and multi-layered. In September 2007, the Diocese of Minnesota held an MDG Training Summit, sponsored by the Episcopal Church Foundation. The goal was to explore in greater depth the relationship between three ingredients of effective global mission work: relationship, advocacy, and development. To be effective, sustainable, and mobilizing, global mission projects in congregations need to involve all three legs of this stool. This workshop will develop this idea and give specific examples of how individuals and congregations can engage them. The Rev.Devon Anderson, Diocese of Minnesota, Chair, Minnesota MDG Task Force and Episcopal Church Foundation Transformational Ministry Fellow