Dear Friends,

I’m an intern at Micah Challenge this semester, and am also a senior at George Fox University, a small school in Oregon. Global poverty issues are very important to me, and to many students on the GFU campus. I’m excited to participate in the 10.10.10 Lend A Hand campaign, and to offer ways for the campus community to get involved as well. As you think about holding a 10.10.10 event on your campus, please consider my process and use whatever may be helpful.

First, I’ll connect with the Residence Life staff I work with, and see if the RAs are interested in using Lend A Hand as an area event. If I can get the 12 RAs on board, then: 1) I’ll have a student support, 2) I’ll have 12 freshman floors that will be very aware of the event, and 3) I’ll have a group of people to help run the event.

Second, I will delegate tasks: 1) Marketing, 2) Volunteers, and 3) Logistics and program.

The Logistics and Programs group will do the following:

1) Create a plan for the event:

a) Create space for making handprints during the day

i. Tables during lunch and dinner to discuss Lend A Hand, make handprints, and remind about evening prayer meeting.

b) Facilitate a prayer meeting in the evening and create a space for contemplation and prayer (connect with Student Chaplains to help facilitate this)

i. Have resources to distribute (ie, Micah Challenge Prayer Guides)

ii. Decorate Prayer Chapel for the prayer meeting

iii. Have materials for making more handprints

iv. Have material and space for Follow Up Cards

- Post cards that students can write a letter to themselves, reminding them of the 10.10.10 promise, that we will send through campus mail later in the year.

- Make sure to include student box # on the card

v. Have a plan for how the prayer meeting will go; i.e., open prayer, led prayer, etc…

c) Ask Spiritual Life to have the chapel theme include Lend A Hand, perhaps have Micah Challenge present in chapel

2) Connect with Associated Student Community (ASC), our student government, to reserve two tables to put in the SUB for making handprints

3) Connect with ASC and Spiritual Life to reserve Prayer Chapel for the evening meeting

4) Connect with Micah Challenge to get resources (Prayer Guides) and register event

5) Make sure all volunteers understand the Lend A Hand campaign and can explain it for students with questions.

The Marketing group will do the following:

1) Connect with Spiritual Life, to ask for a chapel announcement the week before the event. They will prepare a 5 minute announcement, and ask a member of our volunteer group to present it.

2) Connect with Associate Student Community (ASC) to inform them of the event and ask approval for flyers to put around dorms, posters around campus, announcements on the campus TV screens, paint “Lend A Hand” on the main windows, sidewalk chalk “Lend A Hand” on the campus paths, and put flyers on the tables in the cafeteria.

3) Make the flyers, posters, and announcements.

4) Connect with Event Services, to request 3 sandwich boards to place in front of the Student Union Building (SUB), the Prayer Chapel, and the Auditorium.

5) Make sandwich board posters.

6) Connect with KFOX, the campus radio station, to make a Lend A Hand announcement.

7) Connect with the Crescent, the campus newspaper, to have an article about Lend A Hand in the upcoming issue.

8) Send an email announcement to all undergrad students.

9) Connect with other students groups to raise awareness of the event through word of mouth:

a) All other Residence Life staffs

b) Bible study leaders

c) Student Outreach coordinators

d) Student Spiritual Life coordinators

e) Student clubs

The Volunteers group will:

1) Establish volunteers to run the booth for handprints in the SUB during lunch and dinner.

2) Establish volunteers to run the prayer meeting in the Prayer Chapel

3) Help Logistics and Programs prepare:

a) Materials for handprints:

i. Paper and pens

ii. Resources for Micah Challenge and MDGs

iii. A tally to keep track of number of handprints

b) Materials for prayer meeting:

i. Decorations for Chapel—candles, fabric, etc…

ii. Materials for meeting: Micah Challenge Prayer Guides, pens and paper, etc…

iii. Make stations for each MDG?

iv. Materials for more handprints: pens, paper, tally sheet

v. Materials for Follow-Up cards: pens, paper

c) Connect with other student groups:

i. Student Chaplains – help facilitate prayer meeting

Thirdly, we’ll finish planning and will actually run the event.

Lastly, I’ll try to have some solid debrief time with the group. We’ll talk about global poverty, the campus “feel”, struggles with programming, Jesus, all of it. We want this not to be an event, but rather to be a time of deepening our commitment to live obediently and compassionately, and to be people of prayer and sacrifice. Programming can sometime take the joy and purpose out of a vision, and we don’t want that to happen with Lend A Hand.

Hopefully this gave you a few ideas for how to run an event your campus—one that fits your community and abilities. Contact Micah Challenge for more ideas, for the Lend A Hand toolkit, for other resources, and for general encouragement. We’d love to hear how it went.

Peace to the journey,

-Sara

About ASJ

“Do justice.” Honduran Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ) seeks to be a leading, courageous organization in making the public system function and do so fairly for the most vulnerable members of Honduran society. ASJ currently promotes justice through 1) labor rights defense, 2) psychological and general legal assistance, 3) land regularization (titling), 4) investigative journalism for transparency and 5) investigative, legal and psychological assistance for survivors of violent crime. ASJ: www.asjhonduras.com. North-American sister foundation: www.ajs-us.org.

ASJ joins the many Christians (groups and individuals) answering God’s call to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with (Him),” who have come together as a rope of many strands through the Micah Challenge. ASJ, through justice work in Honduras, contributes to creating the necessary conditions for achieving the Millennium Development Goals; and its sister foundation, the Association for a More Just Society, engages North-American Christians in supporting the work through prayer and action.

Welcome to Micah Challenge!

Micah Challenge USA welcomes the Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ) to the network. ASJ, founded in 1998, seeks to be a leading, courageous organization in making the public system function and do so fairly for the most vulnerable members of Honduran society. As noted above, ASJ promotes justice for the country’s most vulnerable populations through 1) labor rights defense, 2) psychological and general legal assistance, 3) land regularization (titling), 4) investigative journalism for transparency and 5) investigative, legal and psychological assistance for survivors of violent crime, with an emphasis on child sexual abuse and its prevention. The majority of these activities focus on vulnerable populations in and around the capital city, Tegucigalpa, but ASJ also has projects in Olancho, San Pedro Sula and other areas of the north coast.

Thanks to God’s grace and protection and to the hard work of committed staff, ASJ has achieved inspiring results in each of its projects. To name some, in 2009, ASJ’s Gideon projects provided counseling to 716 members of poor urban neighborhoods, legal assistance to 650 residents and training on topics such as the prevention of sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS and healthy relationships to 3,217 children, teens and adults. Thanks in large part to the work of ASJ’s land rights project, 2,154 Hondurans became familiar with their land rights and the land titling process, and 11,107 people received titles to their land in the same year. In the last three years, ASJ’s labor rights project has won 135 cases, guaranteeing the rights of cleaning, security and fast-food workers; trained more than 7,000 workers in the aforementioned target sectors; and successfully negotiated with several private companies and public institutions to improve labor rights respect. In 2009, ASJ’s digital magazine Revistazo.com carried out eleven (11) in-depth investigations on a number of topics relevant to human rights and corruption, which were visited by 838,059 people internationally. In addition, ASJ supported the Public Ministry and spearheaded advocacy both nationally and internationally until the murderers of ASJ labor lawyer Dionisio Díaz García were finally condemned in February of 2009; obtained security measures for leaders on the north coast threated in relation to their work for land titling; and has presented six different cases before the Inter-American Human Rights Court.

Meet Vanessa Martinez:

My name is Vanessa Martinez and I live in Orange County, California. My passion for social justice issues stems from my personal walk with Christ. As a follower of Christ, I am to love my neighbor and let my life be a testimony of God’s love and compassion. Growing up in a developing country as a child has allowed me to see how poverty affects people – not only physically but emotionally and spiritually as well. This is why I feel compelled to be a voice for those who don’t have one. A voice that resonates with the justice and love that comes from God. Because every person has been made in the image of God, we are called treat everyone with dignity and respect. That means making sure we all have equal access to basic human rights, resources, and education – I think all these are ways I can show my love for God in tangible ways.

Meet Benjamin Juarez:

My name is Benjamin Juarez and I am originally from San Bernardino, California but now reside in Orange County. I am twenty five years old and have been involved in community development for seven years working with many non-profits in Santa and Garden Grove. Within the last three years I became passionate in justice issues and began advocating for hunger and poverty. One of my first experiences was with Bread for the World in Washington D.C. meeting with my representative Loretta Sanchez. Our focus was to advocate for the small farms in the United States and Mexico. On my arrival home a group of college students including myself launched ACTS (Acts of Compassion Transforming Society) and we have done many events and projects in reference to the injustices in our community. I am currently working with the Micah Challenge USA team organizing churches and students to rally together for the 10.10.10 event. I am extremely grateful to be able to serve the Lord and our communities around the world.

Meet Sara Eccleston:

I’m a senior at George Fox University, a Quaker college just 20 miles south of the Micah Challenge USA headquarters. I’m a Seattle native and as such, I really enjoy Pike Place Market, the rain, and the San Juans.I study sociology and political science, and thus, I find myself spending hours upon hours studying global issues. It’s a special privilege to intern at Micah Challenge USA this summer, and be able to engage these issues beyond just a class assignment. Lately, I’ve been thinking about how my faith impacts my participation in issues of global poverty, and am finding that prayer has somehow ended up at the bottom of my list of ‘actions toward justice’, instead of at the top. I’m excited to work with Micah Challenge USA this summer, a place that focuses on prayer and action.

"There is not a square inch in the whole
domain of our human existence over which
Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!' "
Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920)

Widely quoted in Christian universities, Sunday school classes, pulpits, and theological discussions, this quote seems like one of those poetic phrases that is beautiful when spoken yet extremely challenging to live by.

Ten of us sat in the basement of Eastminster United Church debriefing our long day in Toronto. We marched with our banner amidst a much larger crowd of around 10,000 people. What did our group have in common with the thousands of other G8/G20 protesters? We were marching in peaceful protest against an unjust world with unjust rules and asking our leaders to listen to our requests for a better world.

Unfortunately by this time on Saturday night, the only headlines reaching the world were about a small fraction of people using Black Bloc tactics to run the streets of Toronto and set police cruisers on fire. This is not the march we witnessed. We marched next to Amnesty International and the Make Poverty History campaign. We saw grandmothers come out and hold signs in support of Maternal Health, young people asking for cleaner energy and care for the earth, concerned citizens asking for transparency in international mining, and a host of other causes. Clearly, some of the protesters had extreme views that we may have disagreed with, but we still had this in common—we were standing for something; we hoped for change.

So our discussion in the church basement led to this question:

Does the church have a place in the People’s March in Toronto, or the next G8/G20 protests?

If we truly believe that this beautiful quote by Abraham Kuyper is Biblical, the answer is yes. Christ, who is Sovereign over all, indeed cries, “Mine!” over these meetings of world leaders and the group of people that ask for change to unjust structures.

Imagine the surprise of the world if at the next G8/G20 meetings, thousands of Christians representing the church showed up to the march to voice their concern over God’s creation, mothers dying in childbirth, and children not surviving until their fifth birthday. What if we began the march with prayer for our leaders? Would the normal protesting crowd be surprised at the presence of the Church? What does this mean for our reputation? Do we see an irony to the average church member’s aversion to protesting, when we consider ourselves “protestants”?

Definition

Prot·es·tant[ prótt?st?nt ]

somebody who protests: somebody who makes a protest against an action

This is where our faith is birthed—protesting a powerful system and believing things should change.

A small group of Christian college students in a Toronto church basement dared to dream what creative Christian advocacy might look like and the impact it could have on our leaders and our world. We want to extend the invitation for you to join us on this journey and be a part of this conversation.

Psalm 24

“ ¹ The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;”

This past weekend over 300 Christians in Australia flocked to Canberra to lobby for the MDGs at an event called "Voices of Justice"organized by Micah Challenge Australia. The Micah Challenge crew delivered a scroll 40 meters in length with over 100,000 signatures of Christians who have signed the Micah Call--a document expressing support for the MDGs. By the end of the weekend the outgoing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed the scroll! You can read more about Voices of Justice here or visit Micah Challenge Australia here.

G8 CANADA: Background

On June 25, the G8 summit will be held in Huntsville, Canada. This is a conference of worldwide importance, as these meetings have the potential to renew commitment to the MDGs and support new measures to reach targets.

The G8 (Group of 8) is a meeting of senior officials and heads of state and government from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Union functions as a ninth member. This G8 summit is the first significant international meeting since the Copenhagen UN Climate Change Conference in December 2009.

At the summit, many key world leaders discussing important global issues, including: open markets and free trade, global warming, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, and various aspects of development.

These discussions could make significant contributions towards the Millennium Development Goals. Stephen Harper, Canada’s Prime Minister and host of the Summit, has specifically committed to discussing the issue of child mortality and maternal health (MDGs 4 & 5), two issues that are of great global concern. An estimated 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing nations; half of all those deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. For women in industrialized nations, pregnancy presents a risk of 9 in 100,000 chance of maternal death; for every 100,000 women in developing nations, 450 will die during or after giving birth. Children in developing nations are also at great risk—the under-five mortality rate in developing nations per 1,000 live births in 74; half of these deaths are Sub-Saharan African children.

Micah Challenge Canada has been busy this week performing trainings for churches on how to advocate for the MDGs. They are also getting ready to join a group of students from the US for prayer and demonstration surrounding the meetings.

PRAYER POINTS

• For wisdom and grace for all the leaders and officials involved in these complex discussions.
• That the G8 and G20 leaders will not ignore previous commitments made on development, and that systems of accountability would help enforce pledges made at previous summits.
• That there would be genuine progress made in these meetings regarding the Millennium Development Goals, specifically in regards to child and maternal health issues, and that these meetings would act as a springboard for the MDG Summit in September.
• That there would be no security issues at these major events.
• That these summits will be reported fairly by the press.
• Pray for the team of college students representing Micah Challenge USA at events surrounding the G8. Pray for safe travels as they drive to Toronto, and that God uses their voices in a mighty way.

Although most of my work with Micah Challenge so far has been meeting with pastors and worship leaders about participating in 10.10.10, I’ve also had the opportunity to give chapels to Middle Schoolers about issues of justice and the power we have to affect change by talking to our leaders.

At the end of our time together, each student writes her or his message to their leader about why they care and why they hope their leaders will care.

This is one of my favorites so far, written by Kassie, a 6^th grader at Hudsonville Christian School. “I care because we are all the same even in other countries or on the other side of the world. Also if no one does really anything then it will get worse and then we will all be mad because we could have done something earlier.”

I love the logic in Kassie’s reasoning and wish she could hand deliver this message to the G8 next week. Per haps this would speak to our world leaders specifically around the issues of child survival and maternal health, two millennium development goals which will be discussed in the meetings.

The most recent update from the World Health Organization on the Millennium Development Goals says that, “While the global proportion of births attended by a skilled health worker has increased, in the WHO regions of Africa and South-East Asia fewer than half of all births had skilled assistance.”

I’m with Kassie. This statistic is alarming. If we are informed on these statistics and have the power to address these shortfalls and don’t do it, “we will all be mad because we could have done something earlier.”

I play soccer in a recreational soccer league. This is my second year in the league and I have begun to get to know the referees pretty well. There are four primary referees in the league and each has his own unique style.

One is quiet. He is not often involved. He does not call many fouls or give many yellow cards. He rarely blows his whistle. He tends to just let the players play and the game go on. I’ll be honest; most of the time I love this referee. I like to be left alone to play the game. Most of the time, this is the way it should be. However, a couple weeks ago we played a team prone to fouling, dirty tricks, and cheap shots. The referee’s silence ruined the game.

Another is too involved. He is always yelling at players and blowing his whistle. He claims he is trying to maintain control of the game. I do not have a problem with a referee taking control of a game that is out of control, but this referee seems to think that every game is out of control and it is his responsibility to restore order and protect us players from ourselves. This referee would have been valuable a couple weeks ago, but most of the time he needs to take a step back and let the game be.

A third referee is arbitrarily involved in the game. When he seems to get involved it is at all the wrong times, and then he misses the most significant calls. Nearly every game with this referee is frustrating to play as a player because you do not know what he will call a foul or when. The only consistency he provides is his inconsistency.

The final referee is my favorite. For most of the games he is quiet and rarely involved. When he steps in it is at the right time for the right reason. He is just and fair, he is consistent, he takes control when the game is out of control and let’s the game go on when it is being played well. He is the most effective referee in the league.

At a recent conference examining the role of government and foreign assistance in God’s mission in the world there was much discussion about the appropriate role of government.

Many conference goers noted a trend in Conservative Evangelicalism to small government.

Some conference goers lamented this trend arguing that while a small government might be good in theory, it is not practical given the complicated needs of the world today.

One speaker, Nicta Lubaale, in his presentation on African Perspectives on government, foreign assistance, and God’s Mission in the world stated “God is not on the right or the left, God is not a Marxist or a capitalist, God is a just and righteous God.”

Mr. Lubaale raises an important point for Christians to consider. Just as the most effective soccer referee is neither uninvolved nor overinvolved, as Christians we need to leave behind the secular question of whether the ideal candidate is Republican or Democrat, whether the ideal government is big or small, and whether the proper economic system will be an unregulated free market or a regulated market many fear borders on socialism. These are not the chief questions for our consideration as Christians. The chief question is what is just and righteous? What is God’s will for the world?

It is time that as Christian voters, as the church in the United States we reframe the conversation on God’s terms rather than on the terms of media pundits and political interests.

I cannot help but wonder if I look as out of place as I feel. I am surrounded by directors of organizations, directors of government programs, and academic scholars. Blackberry’s are buzzing in consistent melodies. Everyone is speaking in a language called international development that is only vaguely familiar to me.

We are here to examine the role of government and foreign assistance in God’s mission in the world – certainly, no small task. This event is unique in that we seem to move seamlessly between songs of worship, prayer, technical papers, and sermonettes. The cumulative years of experience in this room would make wizards like Dumbledore look like a mere youth. Each persons unique and vast experience enriched the discussion. But for all the experience in the room, more questions were raised than answers.

As this event draws to a close I find myself processing the facts, stories, sermons and prayers I have heard over the past thirty hours. In the days to come, as I wrestle with and tease out the ideas from this conference, I hope you will join in the discussion. Post your insights, questions, comments, and experiences as we all explore together how to best work toward the completion of this project called the Kingdom of God.

Here are some highlights from the conference:

“God is not on the right or the left. God is not a Marxist or capitalist. God is a just and righteous God.”

“If you take away what belongs to us and give us back charity – that is an issue of justice. That is an issue of dignity.”

“Elections give us politicians not leaders.”

“Theological discourse without love is just noise.”

“It is time to reframe the discussion about being a global citizen to being about being a global neighbor.”

“To change our theological conversations of noise into messages of life we need love.”

“Nehemiah prayed to God and answered the king….the government provided some resources but that does not displace the responsibility of the Israelites to do the work.”

“If you would have known us in the village when I was growing up, you would have been shocked at how closely our Acholi culture is to the Jewish culture in the Bible,” Timothy started explaining the similarities as we sipped our afternoon tea on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda.

Timothy Jokkene is one of my favorite people to spend time with. I used to get excited when we happened to be travelling to Gulu on the same day and I was able to catch a ride with him. That meant five hours of his stories, his analogies, and scattered throughout—his wisdom.

Timothy is like a second father to me while I’m away from home. As Anna and I pulled up to his house around midnight when we arrived in Uganda, he was waiting on his veranda with a big smile and said, “Yes, I see that white skin. My daughters have come!”

Like a father, he wanted to know all of the details of what had happened in the last year since I had left. He asked about family, boyfriends, Michigan, the new house, and what I was doing for work.

I explained to him the next day a little about my new position with Micah Challenge and it started us on a discussion of numerous other things, like the importance of good implementation of Universal Primary Education and the struggles of democracy in a country with so many voters that are uneducated on their rights and important political issues.

We debated each other about the answers to many of these problems citing case studies from other countries, Uganda’s own history, and books we’ve read recently.

Finally, Timothy began speaking in his voice that signaled a sort of conclusion to what we had been talking about. He folded his hands, lowered his voice, and looked at us saying,

“I really think the answer to all of this is from this verse that says that we are the salt of the earth, and if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? We have really lost something along the way as the church.

You might read this differently when you’re an American and salt is referencing flavor. Yet you have salt at your fingertips, at your disposal. But when I was growing up in Northern Uganda, and still in many places today in the village, salt is a precious commodity that you don’t waste. You handle it carefully. Salt has value and worth because of its many uses in both preservation and in cooking.

If we are to make any differences in these many areas of society, the church needs to be actively engaged in bringing about change. We can’t lose that saltiness because it’s too hard to get it back.”

We had this discussion my second day in Uganda, three days after I accepted this Micah Challenge position. I decided that this was one of those conversations that would lead me in the coming months; that I would take the words of Jesus, repeated by Timothy Jokkene here in Uganda, very seriously.

On April 24th, 2010, 150 people gathered to hear the soulful expression of David Bazan (Pedro the Lion, and Headphones fame), Shannon Stephens (marzuki!), Matthew Haussler, and Sonya Yun: four artists from the Pacific Northwest who performed at the benefit concert Notes for Nets to protect mothers and children from malaria.  The concert was a great opportunity for Micah to promote child and maternal health which is one of Micah’s top priorities this year. Notes for Nets was sponsored by Micah Challenge USA, Faiths Act Portland, and other businesses in Portland. The event was emceed by Matthew Haussler (who also opened for the show).

Everyone who attended was given a program with information about Project Muso to take with them, and over $3,300 was raised and matched to help Project Muso provide bed nets and comprehensive healthcare to eliminate malaria in their community.  In a VIP dessert before the show, 20 guests (including David Bazan himself) were inspired to consider how their contribution to the fight against malaria is significant when it is coupled with the actions of millions of others.

There was significant sound bleed during the two opening acts of Notes for Nets from a high school prom that was going on upstairs in the Crystal Ballroom.  In response to the Prom fiasco, our openers were incredibly gracious and flexible (cracking jokes and even once playing a song to the beat of the sub that was shaking the lights overhead).

At 11pm, when the when the upstairs base had blissfully stopped and right before Dave got up for his set, Matthew stood up and said, "it's good to remember what we have. We have to deal with the irritation of a prom distracting us from enjoying a show, while some others in our world have to deal with the reality of malaria threatening their health and the lives of their children every day." This reflection put our "suffering through prom" and the whole purpose for the evening quite powerfully into perspective.

Malaria unnecessarily kills 2,000 children per day, and we are excited to have been able to raise this much money for world Malaria Day. All the proceeds were matched by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation making this an even more successful fundraiser! We can’t wait for next years “Notes for Nets”!

Check out this blog post for more information on malaria from Micah Challenge USA.

On April 12^th, 2010 a diverse group of religious leaders and community members from different parts of New York City gathered for the Micah Institute launch at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Harlem, New York. The night was filled with energy as the gospel choir led us in songs, and various community members shared their stories of injustice in their neighborhoods. Ron Sider, author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and founder of Evangelicals For Social Action, gave a message imploring us to follow Jesus by doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God.

Jason Fileta, the national coordinator of Micah Challenge USA and Peter Heltzel, theology professor at New York Theological Seminary announced the partnership between the two organizations to create the Micah Institute. As we listened to their testimonies of how the institute came into fruition they explained the importance of theological education being coupled with community organizing and social action. With the combination of Ron Sider’s convicting message of loving Jesus through social action and the various testimonies of religious leaders who are already organizing their community on social issues we were inspired to act.

A practical application of Sider’s message and stories we heard from community and religious leaders was made available to the participants of the launch. First we signed a petition urging New York’s City council to pass legislation for fair and livable wages. This act is congruent to the ethos and mission of the Micah Institute as one of the institute’s main initiatives is for fair and livable wages for the citizens of New York City. Second, we made our handprints to the Micah Challenge’s 10.10.10 Lend A Hand Campaign. These handprints along with thousands of others around the country are going to be sent as a petition to Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. to keep our law-makers accountable to the promise they made to the world to follow through with the U.N. ‘s Millennium Development Goals. The night ended with a march to a local park to pray. The purpose of this act was to humble us before God and to symbolize our commitment to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly before God.

I was inspired by how the Micah Institute Launch created a space for unity and solidarity among people of different ages, ethic groups, faiths and Christian denominations. The launch reminded me that God’s love manifests through justice and mercy and that love for my neighbor manifests the same way. We hope and pray that the prophet Micah’s call: to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God will manifest throughout the world. I believe what I witnessed on April 12^th, 2010 at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church was a glimpse into God’s Kingdom.

If you are interested in upcoming Micah Institute trainings and events, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Prayer is such a simple act of faith, and that’s probably why children are so good at it. And that might also be why we don’t always think of the ministry of prayer and the ministry of justice as being related. Prayer is too often viewed as a necessary, but passive, thing that we as Christians do. However, the more we engage in the ministry of prayer and the ministry of justice, the more we will discover that they are indeed related!

When we refer to people who pray for others, we often use the word “intercessor,” which basically means someone who stands in the gap on behalf of another. Isaiah 59:16 says, “The LORD looked and was displeased to find there was no justice. He was amazed to see that no one [intercessor] intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him.” God did the interceding for himself, but he really wanted human intercessors. God values the human touch. He has called us to be his hands and feet to bring about justice and righteousness in the world. And one of the ways we do that is through the ministry of intercession. Now, being called to pray doesn’t mean that we don’t serve the poor and advocate on behalf of the oppressed. However, prayer is what moves the heart and hand of God, and makes our service much more impactful.

In short, prayer is “vertical advocacy” that makes human advocacy possible. The Holy Spirit, the Great Intercessor, empowers us to help others through prayer in their time of need. As intercessors we stand in the gap for those who are spiritually, emotionally or socio-economically oppressed. We plead for their rights — the rights given to them as human beings made in God’s image. We feel their pain and empathize with their weaknesses.

When we intercede for someone, we are actually speaking to God on their behalf — giving voice to their need. Intercession is a ministry of justice — because it brings people into a right relationship with God, with others and even with themselves. So one way you can engage in the ministry of justice is by committing to being an intercessor. Pray compassionately for others and God will show you how to serve them. Go ahead — do justice to your prayers.

Marion Skeete is Founder and President of LegacyMakers International Ministries, a leadership development and discipleship network that empowers individuals, organizations and communities, both locally and globally, to embrace their Goddefined legacies. Visit LegacyMakers.

Jean Valery recently sent along this bold and important statement regarding plans for Haiti's recovery. Valery urges the international community to only move forward with development and aid plans AFTER the Haitian community has been consulted. The earthquake was devastating, but Haiti was suffering long before the earthquake struck and a recovery plan needs to address these longstanding injustices. Here are some excerpts from the letter:

"Any national plan put forward for the nation of Haiti must address the longstanding systemic issues present before the earthquake: educational reform, national food production and food security, the implementation of good governance practices, ensuring environmental protection, civil protection, the enhancement of social services and the creation of new jobs in a revived national economy.

We ask that no final approvals or definitive decisions be made in New York on March 31st regarding the allocation of development funding; that development allocations be fulfilled after an inclusive national process is completed in the next several weeks with the participation of the Haitian people. We ask the international community to support a Haitian-led, broad based consultation that addresses the aforementioned systemic issues in the recovery process.

Send us your feedback and please pass on this letter. Read the entire letter.

Find out more about Micah Challenge Haiti

Promises are a product. I work in insurance claims. I work in the promise business. Insurance products are not like other products. When you buy insurance you don’t get to bring home a sexy shiny new gizmo, you bring home a promise. The promise is that if an unexpected, unforeseen sudden loss occurs, it will be covered.

Politicians work in the promise business too. Politicians make promises to get elected and/or stay in office. In my business we are required by law to keep our promises. If we do not, the courts will make us. But what happens when politicians don’t keep their promises?

That is up to us. We are the court.

Participation is a popular buzzword in development circles these days. People need to participate in their own development for the development to be truly transformational and effective. I agree. The developed world needs to get participation as well. Participation from churches, citizens, campuses across the global north that holds leaders accountable to their promises.

This year’s campaign aims to do just that. It is a call for Christians across the globe to lend their hand to remind their leaders of the promises they have made. The Millennium Development Goals were not created to be set aside in hopeless despair. They are not a public relations campaign. They were created as a promise to the global poor that we would care. That we would work together: governments, church, NGO's, and business to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Will we keep our promise? See how you can urge our leaders to keep their promises.

Micah Challenge - Lend a Hand from Just Adams on Vimeo.