IMPLEMENTING OUR CONFERENCE
RESOLUTION REGARDING BECOMING A JUBILEE CHURCH
Dear Friends:
At Annual
Meeting 2004 our Conference voted to declare itself a Jubilee Conference. It
also recommended that our local churches consider becoming Jubilee
Congregations, supporting the program of Jubilee U.S.A. and 80 other
countries around the world to bring debt forgiveness to the poorest
nations of the world. The forgiveness of 1/3 of these debts
in 2000 has resulted in freeing funds which otherwise would have
gone to pay interest and principal on never-ending debts and using
those funds for education, medical care, water purification and other
constructive programs which are badly needed in the developing world.
The
Overview Board for Justice and Witness Ministries wishes to remind
you of this resolution, and to offer help to your church as it explores
what it means to become a Jubilee Church. We make the following
suggestions for your use as you pursue this important cause.
- To review
the original resolution and the accompanying materials, click here. This
will give you valuable background on the debts of the poorest
nations, Jubilee U.S.A. and other important information. (You
will need Adobe
Acrobat Reader, a free download, to view this PDF document.)
- For further,
in-depth information on all aspects of the problems of debt and
debt forgiveness, go to Jubilee U.S.A.'s web site www.jubileeusa.org. Jubilee U.S.A.'s
phone number is 202-783-3566.
- For speakers
who can come to your church to present the Jubilee program, contact
Rev. Bill Lesher, a leader of the SF Bay Area Jubilee Debt Cancellation
Coalition. His phone is 510-524-6645 and e-mail
is welesher@aol.com. We
are fortunate to have a well-organized resource of this type in our
area.
- First Congregational
UCC, Santa Rosa has already become a Jubilee Church. They would be happy to share with you the steps
they took toward making this decision. Contact Bob Orr at
707-539-4030 or by e-mail at rgorr@earthlink.net.
- All members
of Justice and Witness Ministries stand ready to help you. These
people are:
C'Anna Bergman-Hill; New Spirit Community Church, Berkeley;
510-881-5366; cannabh@aol.com
Charles Brown; Parkside Community Church, Sacramento;
916-443-2971; CHASBROWN@LANSET.com
Art Raab; United Christian Church, Lodi;
209-368-4718; artraab@earthlink.net
Allan Essex; Arlington Community Church, Kensington;
510-559-9793; abge@comcast.net
Rev. Sophia DeWitt; First Congregational Church, Fresno;
559-225-1894; Sophiad@firminc.org
Bob Orr; First Congregational UCC, Santa Rosa;
707-539-4030; rgorr@earthlink.net
Rev. Drew Nettinga (staff); San Lorenzo Community UCC;
510-862-1136; dsnett@ncncucc.org
We
trust these resources will be helpful in your consideration of
becoming a Jubilee Church, and, hopefully, joining with a growing
number of Conference churches committed to the Jubilee cause.
 -
The Overview Board for Justice and Witness Ministries
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