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POVERTY SOCIAL STATMENTS - DISCIPLES
Poverty and the Working Poor
http://www.disciples.org/GA97/GA97Rel/ga9716.htm
http://www.disciples.org/GA97/GA97Rel/ga9720.htm
The Biblical vision of human life is of a balanced whole of work and leisure, vast numbers of people in our urban centers--and especially African-American men--never know that rhythm of alternation between rest and work.
The problem of unemployment partly is a result of several factors: a declining tax base, persons being graduated without having learned to read or handle simple math at a level which enables them to function in the working world, and the shift of available jobs from the cities to the suburbs. Add to these factors, the "alternative economy of drugs" and its decimation of whole communities.
Congregations are also called upon to address the crisis of unemployment in concert with community organizations and others to do the following:
1. advocate for adjustments of mass transit systems to take people without transportation from the city to the suburbs for work
2. encourage corporations to develop after school and summer internships where African-American high school students will have paid real-life work experiences. Here the lead can be taken by members of congregations who are employed by such corporations
3. encourage unions to include young African-Americans in apprenticeships
4. advocate for improved technical school training and education
5. advocate for the development of meaningful, socially beneficial jobs programs where local and state governments, as well as non-profit community corporations, employ the unemployed.
Church of Jesus Christ has a mandate to care for "the least of these. . . brothers and sisters;" historically the People of God have heard God's word spoken through the prophets with regard to the treatment of "the widows and orphans," and have had the commandment of hospitality to strangers and care for "the sojourner in the land."
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has spoken through resolutions (as in 1963) about our responsibility for "caring for the sick, the poor, the troubled, the lame, the blind, since the beginning of the Christian movement;" we have, as a church, declared that every person in need has every right to call upon the resources of the community without embarrassment and without being assigned second-class citizenship. Services are not favors to be bestowed, but resources on which anyone in need should have a rightful claim.
Studies on poverty point out the growing numbers of women and children who are pushed into poverty and dependence on public support and assistance, increasing the feminization of poverty. Also, efforts continue from many sides to penalize mothers and their children for their plight.
General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), meeting in Denver, Colorado, July 25-29, 1997, urge our church's general units, regions and congregations to monitor welfare reform in the United States, and especially their effects on refugees and immigrants, children and their families and care-givers, and those most vulnerable to the loss of support and services as a result of welfare reform. We urge the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), at every manifestation of its life, to facilitate cooperative efforts, provide leadership and materials for study and action, and expand the network among our congregations of persons concerned with the issues or racism, poverty, homelessness, hunger, health care, immigration and refugee issues, unemployment and under-employment -- all those social conditions which adversely affect the quality of life
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has spoken through resolutions (as in 1963) about our responsibility for "caring for the sick, the poor, the troubled, the lame, the blind, since the beginning of the Christian movement;" we have, as a church, declared that every person in need has every right to call upon the resources of the community without embarrassment and without being assigned second-class citizenship. Services are not favors to be bestowed, but resources on which anyone in need should have a rightful claim.
Church of Jesus Christ has a mandate to care for "the least of these. . . brothers and sisters;" historically the People of God have heard God's word spoken through the prophets with regard to the treatment of "the widows and orphans," and have had the commandment of hospitality to strangers and care for "the sojourner in the land." (http://www.disciples.org/GA97/GA97Rel/ga9716.htm).
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