For the first time since its creation, a special committee reviewing North Carolina’s immigration policy heard from the public on Wednesday, March 28th. To a hearing room packed with advocates on both sides of the immigration debate, speakers told their stories to North Carolina lawmakers charged with considering the state’s role in immigration. Reverend Villegas presented the co-chairs of the committee with over 175 written comments from clergy and people of faith from across the State urging the committee to carefully consider the negative impact that new tough, anti-immigration laws would have on North Carolina. [...]
Continue reading Faith Leaders Ask Legislature for Fair Immigration Laws
Spring is a favorite time for all of us who love to be in the garden. I cherish this season and plan my weeks so that I can begin and end each day with sacred moments outside. Spring is a time to dig in the earth, to plant seeds and to cultivate flowers. It’s a time of renewal and anticipation for all the growth and beauty that is to come.
This season I am so [...]
Continue reading Springtime on Eaarth
Join us on April 19 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem as we package meals with Stop Hunger Now, the Raleigh-based non-profit that provides nutritious dehydrated meals which are shipped to support school feeding and crisis-relief programs around the world.
The meal packaging takes place from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., and a $25 fee per person helps defray SHN’s costs for supplies and shipping the meals abroad.
When the North Carolina Council of Churches decided [...]
Continue reading Join Us to Package Meals with Stop Hunger Now
The deadline to guarantee lunch at the 2012 Critical Issues Seminar has been extended to April 12. This year’s seminar, Eating Well for Ourselves, For Our Neighbors, For Our Planet, takes place on April 19 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem. The event offers a series of workshops focused on food as a social justice issue.
During lunch, Congresswoman Eva Clayton will speak about world hunger. Clayton, a Presbyterian lay [...]
Continue reading Deadline for Critical Issues Seminar Extended; Eva Clayton to Speak at Lunch
On April 6, state religious leaders and activists will remember Jesus Christ’s suffering and death and the suffering and death of immigrants coming to this country in an “Economic Justice Way of the Cross.” The North Carolina Council of Churches is a co-sponsor of the event which takes place from noon to 2 p.m. at the N.C. State Capitol.
The Good Friday commemoration of Jesus’ suffering and death will be linked with the need for justice, immigration reform, a change in US trade policies, and an end to US support for the war in Afghanistan and Colombia. Money needs to be spent on food and economic development instead of war, according to Gail Phares, director of Witness for Peace Southeast, the event’s primary organizer. [...]
Continue reading Economic Justice Way of the Cross
The Pee Dee Baptist Association Health Coalition, a joint effort of the Association along with Partners in Health and Wholeness, takes place April 3 at 7 p.m at St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church, 198 Gaines St., Aberdeen (Jackson Hamlet). Snacks will be provided, and the event is free and open to the public.
There are 32 churches within the Pee Dee Baptist Association, spanning several counties. President Mary Swann and Dean Yvonne McGraw have worked [...]
Continue reading Pee Dee Baptist Association Health Coalition Meeting
Alexia Kelley will deliver the keynote address for the North Carolina Council of Churches’ 2012 Critical Issues Seminar, and Father Joe Vetter will receive the Council’s Distinguished Service Award at the April 19 event.
Kelley, who is Catholic, is the Director of the Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Center with the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C. She is a graduate of Haverford College with a masters in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School. Her work with [...]
Continue reading Keynoter and Distinguished Service Award Recipient Announced for Critical Issues
Congratulations to two of the Council’s friends and colleagues on being designated Champions of Change by the White House. Linda Walling, Executive Director, of Faithful Reform in Health Care (and soon to be a NC resident) and native North Carolinian Adam Searing, Director of the Health Access Coalition for the North Carolina Justice Center, were honored for their dedication to improving access to health care. These individuals are helping others in their community understand the impact and [...]
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From Acts of Faith: Free Lectionary Resources for Prophetic Worship
Date: 2nd Sunday after Easter, April 15, 2012
Topic: Living Wages
Focus Text: Acts 4:32-35
From the pastoral reflection: “As Christians, we attempt to recapture the vision of work as related to the creating, sustaining, and transforming work of God. Our vocation is not defined simply by our paid employment. What we do at home, in churches, in our volunteer and political activities, all contribute to the “work” that embraces the whole of our lives.” [...]
Continue reading 2nd Sunday after Easter – Living Wages
Tell NC legislators that we don’t want to follow Arizona and Alabama – say NO to harmful anti-immigrant legislation that could be introduced here in North Carolina.
A special committee of the NC House has been meeting to determine whether to introduce an Arizona-style “Papers, please” bill. This is your chance to hold lawmakers accountable for making NC a welcoming state that is competitive in the global economy instead of enacting costly measures that will separate families and threaten our economy. [...]
Continue reading Say No to Anti-Immigrant Legislation in North Carolina
The Affordable Care Act was approved two years ago. Join the virtual second-anniversary celebration through a conference call with Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin on Thursday, March 22 at 2 p.m. Hear all the benefits already in place and what is to come. An RSVP in advance is required through this link.
Additionally, as the Supreme Court takes up challenges to the ACA, join the faith community in an Interfaith Prayer Vigil via teleconference on Tuesday, March 27 [...]
Continue reading Affordable Care Act (ACA) Celebrates its Second Anniversary
A recent report by the U.S. Surgeon General revealed that a large number of America’s youth – 600,000 middle school students and three million high school students – smoke cigarettes. At best, this information is disturbing, not only because it shows that progress made over the last decade to reduce youth smoking rates is slowing down, but also because smoking claims the lives of 1,200 Americans every day – putting our nation’s youth and young [...]
Continue reading Places of Worship Addressing Youth Health
Ending world hunger is a pretty big goal, but the folks at Stop Hunger Now have set it for themselves and have been working toward it for 13 years. With the help of volunteers, the Raleigh-based non-profit packages nutritious dehydrated meals which are shipped to support school feeding and crisis-relief programs around the world. As the Stop Hunger Now website explains, the meals that go to schools have a particularly far-reaching impact:
When hunger is [...]
Continue reading An End to Hunger
Lynice Williams died this weekend. Too soon by any measure.
She was one of this state’s great advocates for and organizers of people of low income and low wealth. Among other things, she was executive director of North Carolina Fair Share for 24 years and was a member of the Governing Board of the North Carolina Council of Churches at the time of her passing. These words about her on Progressive Pulse reflect the depth [...]
Continue reading In Thanksgiving for the Life of Lynice Williams
We hope you’ll join us on April 14 for the Fourth Annual Jack Crum Conference on Prophetic Ministry. This annual ecumenical event takes place at Raleigh’s Fairmont United Methodist Church from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. and focuses on Amendment One with the theme “For Such a Time As This: Embracing God’s Call To Protect All North Carolina Families,” based on Esther 4:12-16.
The Council is co-sponsoring the event with the North Carolina Conference Chapter [...]
Continue reading Jack Crum Conference on Prophetic Ministry Focuses on Amendment One
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