From a Baptist pastor-friend:

We downloaded the Micah Call Petition from the Micah Challenge website http://micahchallenge.org/advocacy_resources/documents/92.doc and invited people to sign that, which a dozen people were eager to do.

Further below are three bulletin blurbs I am using at Aberfeldie to promote Micah Challenge.

The Micah Call has big goals, but also practical steps we can take at a local church level to be actively involved. Be encouraged to check it out,

(2 speakers – A & B)

Slide 1-A The Micah Challenge is an initiative by Christians around the world to make poverty history in the this new millennium

Slide 2-A In the years leading up to 2000, many of us campaigned for Jubilee 2000, and the impact of that campaign is still being felt. Only a couple of weekends ago Gordon Brown the UK’s Chancellor, announced the cancelling of all the debts owed to Britain by the world’s poorest countries. Jubilee 2000 was a global campaign that has had a direct impact on the ability of people to improve their own lives.

We know that we can make a difference

Slide 3-B But there is still a long way to go. Poverty still has a huge hold on the world, as these statistics show. (pick out one or two)

. 16% of the world’s population goes hungry every day

. 11 million kids under 5 die each year from preventable diseases

. 1 billion live in extreme and desperate poverty

. 3 billion have no access to sanitation

. 130 million children can’t go to school

Slide 4 -B And this unjust situation is not God’s intention. The prophet Micah calls out to us

“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” God expects us as Christ’s hands and feet on this earth to show something of God’s love and compassion for the world’s most needy peoples.

Slide 5-A In 2000 Australia, along with the 191 member states of the UN, committed themselves to achieve 8 development goals for the new millennium, and you can see these listed here. They may seem impossible dreams, but the UN and all official bodies agree that there is enough food, water and resources to adequately feed, care for and resource all the world’s peoples.

Slide 6 – A What needs to happen is an increase in overseas aid, and a realigning of trade policies. The UN has consistently said that if each developed country gave 0.7% of their Gross National Income, there would be no children dying of starvation tonight. The Millennium goals committed each nation to striving to achieve 0.5%. However Australia is currently only giving 0.25%, and is nearly at the bottom of list in terms of her global generosity.

Slide 7-B The Australian newspaper estimated that the total promises made by the 2 main parties in the weeks leading up to the election amount to $600 million new spending a day , but not one cent has been promised to overseas aid.

The Micah Challenge gives us the opportunity to remind our government that we are not all ruled by short-term self-interest, and that caring about the global economy is actually in the long-term interests of everyone.

Slide 8 -B The Micah Challenge calls on us all – church people, politicians and decision-makers to act with justice, kindness and humility.

Slide 9 -A Today we invite you to be involved, to sign the petitions and keep your ears open for other ways to be involved in days to come.

-B The petition is just one step. Another idea is to write to the new government, welcoming them into office and suggesting to them that although the issue of global poverty did not feature in the election campaigns, you’d like to hear what they are going to do about the UN Millenial Development goals during their term of office.

-B As the campaign gathers momentum there will be regular suggestions for ways to keep this initiative on the agenda and in the press.

Keep an eye on the Micah challenge website and stay tuned here for further info; and pray; and do what you can with action,

Slide 10-A and be encouraged and encouraging – we can make a difference!

LISTENING THAT SAVED A LIFE

It as fascinating to hear last week of the amazing circumstances surrounding the rescue of 17 year old Laura Hatch in Seattle, Washington. (From ‘Crash teenager survives for eight days’, in TheAge.com.au October 12, 2004) After 8 days her family had almost given her up for dead. Sheriff’s deputies had just about written her off as a runaway. Then she was found, badly hurt and severely dehydrated, but alive and conscious, in the back seat of a crumpled car, 60 metres down a ravine.

It is evident that prayer led to her discovery.

Hatch’s parents organised a volunteer search on Saturday, and that night Sha Nohr, a church member and mother of a friend of Hatch’s, said she had dreams of an intersection and a wooded area and heard the message, “Keep going, keep going”.

Nohr and her daughter drove to the area where the crash occurred, praying along the way. “I just thought, ‘Let her speak out to us,’” Nohr said. Something drew her to stop and she clambered over a concrete barrier and more than 30 metres down a steep, densely vegetated embankment where she barely managed to discern the wrecked Camry in some trees.

“I told her that people were looking for her and they loved her,” Nohr recalled, “And she said, ‘I think I might be late for curfew’.”

Hatch was being treated in hospital for dehydration, a blood clot on the brain, and broken bones in her face. Officials have described her survival as a medical miracle and an amazing story that she’s doing as well as she is.

Praise God that Sha Nohr discerned God speaking to her through her dreams and listened to the Lord and persisted in looking for Laura. Her actions and obedience were no doubt an answer to other people’s prayers-not least of which those of Laura and her family.

What is it that God may be saying to us, if we are prepared to listen?

Today is the International Day of the Eradication of Poverty. In Australia, it is also the first day of Anti-Poverty week, a national initiative that aims to focus public attention on the experience of those living in poverty in Australia and internationally. Today 800 million people worldwide are chronically hungry, and 6,000 children will die of preventable diseases. Furthermore one-quarter of the world’s people are yet to hear the message of Jesus Christ. What is God saying about the needs of these people trapped in poverty?

Let’s pray and listen about how we can be active and effective agents for Christ in addressing the physical and spiritual needs of people both here and around the world.

Today, maybe our listening could save a precious life as well.

OUR FORGOTTEN PROMISE TO THE WORLD’S POOR

Amid all the election promises and spending commitments in the election campaign, one promise has been forgotten – our promise to the world’s poor. Australia, along with all other members of the United Nations, has promised to halve world poverty by 2015. But since the commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was made in 2000, Australia has not done its fair share to see the goals fulfilled.

There are eight development Goals which cover basic poverty issues such as hunger, primary education, child mortality, gender equality, disease, clean water and sustaining the environment. The last goal seeks a global partnership for future development so that poor nations have a better chance of competing in the world economy.

The UN General Assembly said recently, “The world is making progress toward the MDGs but it is uneven and too slow. A large majority of nations will reach the MDGs only if they get substantial support – advocacy, expertise and resources – from outside.”

That’s why Micah Challenge was set up. It is a global Christian campaign speaking out for and with the world’s poor, seeking justice and compassion. The name comes from the Old Testament prophet, Micah, who challenged the leaders of his day and the people to act with justice. It is a message with relevance today in a world where 20% of the world’s people go hungry every day and where thousands die each year because they don’t have clean water.

Christians have the chance to speak out for the poor on Anti Poverty Sunday on October 17th. Thousands of Australians have already committed to supporting Micah Challenge by signing the Micah Call (see http://WWW.MICAHCHALLENGE.ORG.AU) and a dozen Christian aid and development agencies are supporting the campaign. On Anti Poverty Sunday, Micah Challenge is asking church groups and congregations to get involved in a variety of activities from prayers to writing letters to holding a blue and yellow fashion day. Micah Challenge aims to get 50,000 Australians supporting Micah Challenge so that we can be a voice for justice. There are resources available, including Bible studies, prayers and action ideas on the Micah website.

World poverty and inequality are such crucial issues of justice and security, that they must be addressed and all the research shows that we have the resources to make the promises on world poverty a reality. All we need is the will to act.

The challenge for Australia is to keep its promise and do its “fair share” – to increase overseas aid from an all time low to a level recommended by the UN and to focus aid on poverty reduction. Anti Poverty Sunday is a step to achieving that goal.

MICAH CHALLENGE LAUNCHED (by Robert Parham, Ethics Daily; Jill Howard, Micah Challenge; Wendy Ryan)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BWA) – Paul Montacute, director of Baptist World Aid, was among representatives of some 260 Christian relief and development agencies that met on Friday, October 15, and launched a global anti-poverty campaign, the Micah Challenge, at the United Nations (UN). The goal of this program which takes it Biblical mandate from the works of the prophet Micah 6:8: ” He has told you o man what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God!” aims to halve the world’s poverty by 2015.

This emphasis was approved by the General Council of the Baptist World Alliance which met in Seoul, Korea, in July and incoming BWA President, David Coffey, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, pledged his support to it.

At the UN opening, Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, urged churches in the goal to fight global poverty.

The Archbishop asked churches around the world to take a lead in putting pressure on governments to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty, declaring: “How can we claim to follow Jesus if we are not prepared to work to achieve his gospel good news for the poor?”

“Christians can play a vital role in helping global leaders meet their commitments. When Christians work with one another, united across nationalities and races, across rich and poor, across men, women and children, we have an enormously powerful and influential voice. We must speak loud and clear,” Ndungane said. Describing poverty as ‘evil’ and the Millennium Development Goals as the most ‘ambitious commitment the world has ever made to combating poverty’, The Archbishop stated “There is no doubt that the world can afford to do all that is necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goals. But there is a large question mark against whether or not we have the will power … Governments and business can say the words, but they need all the encouragement, all the pressure, that we can give, to deliver the goods.” “I support the Micah Challenge, as its results will lead to the alleviation of poverty in many parts of the world. Our world leaders have already committed to this, in the Millennium Development Goals, and we now need to help them to keep their eyes on the goal,” says Montacute. “I am delighted that the BWA General Council affirmed the Micah Challenge, and so would encourage all Baptists to familiarize themselves with this challenge, and play their own part in the achievement of the Millennium goals.”

“As I travel to some of the poorest part of the world, I see too many children lacking the basic essentials of life: food, clean water, basic medications and educations, etc.,” Montacute said. “They deserve better than this, and achieving the Millennium Goals will help! I was at the United Nations on Friday as a sign of my own personal commitment to the Millennium Goals, and also to represent many Baptists from around the world.” Other Baptist leaders who attended the opening were Doug Balfour, general director of Tearfund, the largest evangelical relief organization in Great Britain with annual revenue of $65 million. A member of London’s Ashford Baptist Church, Balfour is considered one of the vision-makers for the Micah Challenge and Michael Smitheram, the international coordinator for the Micah Challenge and a member of Canberra Baptist Church in Melbourne, Australia.

Australia’s “panel of reference” includes Gwyne Milne, national president of the Baptist Union of Australia; Les Fussell, national director of Baptist World Aid Australia; Graham Paulson, chairman of the Aboriginal and Islander Baptist Conference of Australia; and Tim Costello, former pastor of Melbourne’s Collins Street Baptist Church and now director of World Vision Australia.

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