God's mission will be realized as we work together One by One -- One Person, One Congregation, One Diocese, One Church, One World. Find out more about EGR's motto: What One Can Do.
What's new on E4GR.org
E4GR.org is continually being updated with the latest news and resources -- but it's a two-way street. Got a great resource or tweak one we already have? Send it to us so we can share it with the church! Here's what's hot right now, broken down by the categories in EGR's Rule of Life.
*PRAY - Go to our prayer & worship page for lots of resources for individual and congregational prayer and worship, including the "Counting Prayer" and the "Billion Prayer March" ... interfaith prayer initiatives to make poverty history.
*STUDY - Visit EGR's Speaker's Bureau and see who is available to come to your congregation or gathering to talk about the MDGs and God's mission of global reconciliation. And you can sign up to be listed, too!
*GIVE - "Where do I give?" is one of the most common questions we get about the MDGs. EGR's giving page has guidelines for prayerfully making this decision ... and a starter set of organizations broken down by MDG.
*ACT - MDG Advocacy Alert - Ask your Senators to cosponsor the Global Poverty Act - Urgent action is needed TODAY to ensure consideration of this important legislation, which would require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to achieve MDG #1 (reducing by half the proportion of people who live on less than $1 per day). Click here to go to the EGR blog for easy instructions for What One Can Do.
The MDGs --
A Structure for
Living the Gospel
EGR uses the Millennium Development Goals as a structure for this movement. Agreed to in 2000 by representatives of more than 190 nations, the 8 MDGs are our response as humanity to the deepest material brokenness in the world today.
The MDGs have been embraced by the Episcopal Church at the past three General Conventions, culminating in 2006 when the church made supporting the MDGs its No. 1 mission priority. -- a recognition that living the Gospel requires an active global partnership to end extreme poverty.
For us as Christians, the MDGs are a part of the larger work of Christ drawing the whole world to himself, bringing wholeness to all that has been broken and, life by life, fulfilling the dream God has for all humanity.
The MDGs are nothing new. Our scriptural story is full of accounts of God's people doing these things and of God calling us to do them, too. Check out "The MDGs - Straight from Scripture" for plenty of examples. Also, EGR diocesan contact Eleanor Braun (Virginia) has put together this extensive list of scripture passages with peace and justice themes.
A Mission Surrounded by Prayer
"History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being." - Walter Wink
Prayer is the way we join our work with God's work, our hope with God's hope, our actions and love with the mission of God. Without prayer, all we have is the limits of our own imagination, efforts and stamina. With prayer, we are joined to and supported by something much greater -- the movement of God's Spirit, continually luring the whole creation forward more deeply into the hear of the divine.
You can find lots of prayer resources for this mission on the Prayer and Liturgy pages of this site. Please send us your prayer and liturgical resources so we can share them with the Church!
Two prayers form a specific foundation for this movement. The first is the EGR Prayer ... written for the movement by one of its founders, the Rt. Rev. Jeffery Rowthorn.
Most loving God,
as your desire for mercy for the poor is unrelenting,
may we be unrelenting in our pursuit of mercy for all;
as your compassion for the suffering of the poor knows no limit,
may our hearts overflow with compassion for all;
as you long for justice for the poor,
may we strive for justice for all.
Open our eyes to the structures of oppression from which we benefit,
and give us courage to accept our responsibility,
wisdom to chart a sound course amid complexity,
and perseverance to continue our work until it is finished.
Breathe your life-giving Spirit afresh into your Church
to free us from apathy and indifference;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The second is the Counting Prayer -- a worldwide interfaith movement to pray for the will to end extreme poverty. Please go to www.countingprayers.org and learn how to add you and your congregation to those praying daily and weekly for the will to make poverty history.
"The world now has the means to end extreme poverty;
we pray we will have the will."
