By RJ Walters, Editor
Among the resolutions being voted on at the Detroit Annual Conference, four of them could widely be considered mission-based initiatives.
There is a motion to encourage every single church in the conference to participate in the CROP Walk at some point during the next year.
CROP Walk is a fund-raising and hunger-education event that supports self-development, assists with emergency needs and helps to address the root causes of poverty and hunger.
Rev. Margie R. Crawford, the Chair of the Detroit Annual Conference Hunger/UMCOR Committee says the conference needs to make a renewed commitment to fighting hunger.
Last year CROP Walks contributed over $4 million to U.S. food pantries alone.
Another motion offered by Crawford is that the conference should set a goal for a minimum offering of $1.75 per member for the 2010-11 One Great Hour of Sharing Offering.
The special offering helps with the administrative costs of UMCOR, which has garnered nationally attention recently for its work in Haiti.
Rev Eric A. Stone and Dr. Floyd Stevens, members of a VIM team that went to Liberia in December 2009, have proposed a resolution to add Liberia as a recipient country for the conference’s involvement with the Heifer project.
Heifer International provides gifts of livestock and plants, as well as education in sustainable agriculture, to financially-disadvantaged families around the world.
Some churches have recently talked about boycotting Heifer International to focus more on UMCOR and UMC missions, but Stone and Stevens said there are numerous opportunities in Liberia considering the conference’s relationship with the Liberia Annual Conference.
George Jonté, the Peace with Justice and Bread for the World Chairperson, is asking for a resolution to be passed that a total of 21 churches, at least three per district, become covenant partners with the hunger-fighting organization Bread for the World.
The average covenant church gives upwards of $500 a year to worldwide resources to end hunger and they also commit themselves to further educating their congregation about food needs around the world, while offering support and prayers.
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