ONECalkins

Episcopal Church

Millenium Development

Goals

We Have a Mission

"The Millennium Development Goals seek to end the deep poverty that limits human flourishing. Achieving them would provide concrete examples of the abundant life Jesus insists is the reason he came among us - 'I came that you might have life, and have it abundantly’ (John 10:10)."

- The Most Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori

The Millennium Development Goals

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

2. Achieve universal primary education.

3. Promote gender equality and empower women.

4. Reduce child mortality.

5. Improve maternal health.

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

7. Ensure environmental sustainability.

8. Create a global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade and debt relief.

"We are called by our common humanity and our Christian faith to befriend and help our neighbors in need (Isaiah 58:7; Matthew 25:34-46; Luke 10:29-37; James 1:27; Hebrews 13:1-2; Baptismal Covenant, BCP 305). While not neglecting local concerns, we understand that our neighborhood is the world, and the mission of the Church is global: "to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ" (BCP 855)."

Global outreach is nothing new - since 1835, all Episcopalians have been members of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Episcopal Church. But of course old goals sometimes need new ways of doing and thinking. The global mission of the church these days is twofold: to build up mutual relationships, and to help by direct aid those most impoverished, young and vulnerable, and those whom aid will most help to develop self-reliant, flourishing human lives, economies and cultures - these are helpfully enumerated as the eight "Millennium Development Goals" (MDGs) listed above.

We accomplish our first goal - mutual relationship - best by getting to know each other. And so we will be sending people on mission trips to Colombia in early winter and perhaps to Tanzania in the summer. Some of us already have family and friends abroad - and so we build on our personal relationships in the Philippines and elsewhere. This helps us to put a personal face both on the needs and helps provide a measure of accountability in our relationship as we focus on trying to do our part in meetings the MDGs. This group forming here at St timothy’s is a step in the right direction. I applaud Elen Hinckley and the other members for their initiative and encourage all of us to get on board. After all, we are members of the missionary society already!

Please take some time to learn more about the MDGs and what we can do to help. There is plenty of information on the internet helpfully linked though our own website (www.sttimschurch.org) or our diocesan mission website (go to: http://www.ctdiocese.org/mission/MDGs.html). I also recommend reading these books: Jeffrey D. Sachs (the originator of the idea of the MDGs): The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for our Time; and The Bottom Billion, by Paul Collier (a brilliant economist and analyst formerly of the World Bank).

And as you learn more, pray about the people behind the statistics. You or I cannot save the world. But I can save a child from malaria in Mozambique by helping Bishop Sengulane buy treated nets, or you can send books to a village in the Phillipines through an organization Elen Hinckley’s cousin started, or we can help build sustainable agriculture in a village in Tanzania near our old friend Bela Benon. We can do that, and we will. What else can one do?

Fr. Matt+