Presbyterian Peacemaking Conference

Sowing Mustard Seeds:
Working for God’s Justice — Confronting
Poverty

Chapman University
Orange, California

Today globalization creates new forms of poverty with more extreme disparities between the rich and the poor. The annual income of the richest 1 percent is equal to that of the poorest 57 percent, and 24,000 people die each day from poverty and malnutrition. The majority of those in poverty are women and children. The number of people living in absolute poverty on less than one dollar per day continues to increase (Accra Confession. World Alliance of Reformed Churches, 2004). In 2006, as many as 36.5 million people in the United States lived in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau).

Jesus calls us to be aware of the systems that impoverish people and, through the parable of the mustard seed, teaches us of the power of small acts of peaceful resistance to crack those systems open.

Keynote Presenters

• Anuradha Mittal — Executive Director,
  The Oakland Institute
• Roberto Jordan — Reformed Churches in
  Argentina, Consultant to the Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth Project, World Alliance of Reformed Churches
• Lisa Schirch — Program Director, 3D Security Initiative and Professor of Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University

Conference Leaders

• Mark Lomax — Theological Reflector
• Cindy Edwards — Community Builder
• Patrick Evans — Music Leader
• Dianna Wright — Worship Coordinator

Gathering in Southern California as an intergenerational group, participants in the conference will:

• deepen our awareness of the causes and effects of poverty
• explore the effects of empire — the convergence of economic, political, cultural and military systems that force and facilitate the flow of wealth and power from vulnerable persons, communities and countries to the more powerful
• be equipped to live as disciples of Jesus who work
  to ensure that all of God’s children are cared for and have places at the table through
  • organizing

  • advocating
  • joining existing campaigns and movements
  • educating
  • networking
  • cultivating peaceful resistance to empire

 
More info and online registration at
http://www.pcusa.org/peacemaking/conferences/2008.htm