(via e-mail)
July 20, 2007

Greetings from the Brethren Witness/Washington Office:

1. Brethren congregations invited to sponsor public prayer on International Day of Prayer for Peace.
2. Urgent: Your Elected Officials Need to Hear From You Today! Tell Them to Cover All Nine Million Uninsured Children This Year

1. Brethren congregations invited to sponsor public prayer on International Day of Prayer for Peace.

The Brethren Witness/Washington Office and On Earth Peace are calling on congregations to organize prayer events as part of the World Council of Churches (WCC) International Day of Prayer for Peace on Sept. 21. The Brethren Witness/Washington Office is a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board. On Earth Peace is an agency rooted in the Church of the Brethren, empowering people to discern the things that make for peace.

Sept. 21, 2007, marks the fourth observance of the WCC-sponsored International Day of Prayer for Peace, which joins the 25-year commitment by the United Nations to an International Day of Peace. Churches are invited to plan prayer meetings, vigils, or other events that focus on concerns about violence in their own communities and around the world, and that lift up God's promise of shalom and healing for all people.

On Earth Peace and the Brethren Witness/Washington Office have jointly announced a goal of at least 40 vigils or public prayer meetings sponsored by Brethren congregations. It is hoped that at least half of those events will be cosponsored with ecumenical or interfaith partners, inviting fellow Christian denominations and movements to join with this effort for prayer and peacemaking. Participants are invited to ask God for vision and insight about how to address violence, laying the groundwork for faithful engagement and collaboration to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). To date over 20 congregations have expressed interest in participating in this event. Resource materials are being developed by the sponsoring organizations to assist in the planning for this day by local groups/congregations.

"The idea of linking the world in prayer is awesome, whether it is a moment at noon praying, 'May Peace Prevail,' or a 24-hour vigil. It's truly exhilarating!" said Lois Clark, Decade to Overcome Violence organizer for the Northern Indiana District of the Church of the Brethren.

A Source mailing at the beginning of August will include a bulletin insert about the International Day of Prayer for Peace. For more information contact Mimi Copp, Church of the Brethren organizer for the International Day of Prayer for Peace, at 260-479-5087 or miminski@gmail.com. Find the International Day of Prayer for Peace website at http://overcomingviolence.org/en/about-dov/international-day-of-prayer-for-peace.

2. Urgent: Your Elected Officials Need to Hear From You Today! Tell Them to Cover All Nine Million Uninsured Children This Year

In the next few weeks Congress will decide whether or not millions of children in America will have the health coverage they need to reach their God-given potential in life. Over the past decade, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has been effective at reducing the number of uninsured children. However, nine million children are still uninsured, millions more are underinsured, and the number of uninsured children is on the rise — government data indicates that the number of uninsured children increased by 294,000 from 2004 to 2005.

Funding for SCHIP expires this year and at any moment Congress will consider renewing the Program and ultimately decide how many children will remain uninsured. People of faith and conscience have a moral obligation to send Congress the message that anything less than health coverage for all children is unacceptable.

Take a few minutes right now to make sure your voice is heard!

• Send emails to your Senators and Representative - Tell them they must use this opportunity to expand and improve children’s health coverage so that all children and pregnant women – not just some – are guaranteed comprehensive, easy-to-obtain health and mental health coverage. The Children’s Defense Fund has an excellent tool to assist with these emails: http://www.childrensdefense.org/ActionEmail.
  
  
• Call your Senators and Representative (1-800-861-5343 this number will direct you to your Elected Officials’ office through your address) continuously until they publicly support the following principals:
  
  • Ensure that all children and pregnant women have health coverage and access to timely health care.
  • Guarantee all children and pregnant women comprehensive health coverage for all medically necessary services regardless of where they live.
  • Simplify the application process, institute true automatic enrollment, and ensure eligibility for a full year to make it easy all children to get covered and stay covered.
    
    
• Use the attached Children’s Defense Fund July Faith Community Action Kit to organize your faith community by utilizing the church bulletin insert. Brethren congregations are encouraged to use these resources and to encourage one another to follow up with local visits, emails, and other helpful contacts with elected officials.

Join the chorus of faithful voices this July in a call to action – a call for justice. Until your members of Congress commit to covering all children with mental and health coverage, the hard work and calls must continue.

Thank you for your continued prayers and for giving a voice to the nine million uninsured children in America.

In 1989 the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference affirmed the right to healthcare for all with the following statement (in part), “Throughout the Scriptures, God calls for justice and fairness for all people. Therefore, it seems particularly clear that in the richest nation on earth God expects access to adequate health care to be a basic right for all citizens [children], regardless of gender, race, [age] or financial status. While good health cannot be assured to everyone, good health care can and should be guaranteed.” To review the entire statement please visit our website and click on the link to Brethren policy.

Brethren Witness/Washington Office Contact Information

If you have questions on these or other issues, contact the Brethren Witness/Washington Office at the address below. We would love to hear from you!

Brethren Witness/Washington Office Action Alerts are sent out as important issues arise. Forward this alert to others! To add an e-mail address to our list, contact us at:

Brethren Witness/Washington Office
337 North Carolina Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003
Local Phone: 202-546-3202
Toll Free: 1-800-785-3246
Fax: 202-544-5852
E-mail: washington_office_gb@brethren.org