Members of North Hills Christian Reformed Church in Troy, Mich., joined Christians worldwide on Sunday, Oct. 10, in a day of prayer and promise for the poor.
“10-10-10” was designated by the Micah Challenge, a global coalition of Christians, as a day to draw attention to progress toward the eight Millennium Development Goals that 189 countries agreed 10 years ago to achieve by 2015.
The Millennium Development Goals, which the CRC’s synod endorsed through the Micah Challenge in 2004, include:
- ending world hunger
- achieving universal education
- promoting gender equality
- reducing child mortality
- improving maternal health
- halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other major diseases
- ensuring environmental sustainability
- establishing a global partnership for development.
Rev. Randy Engle of North Hills CRC preached on trusting the Lord, who promises to provide for his people and prevail against hunger, injustice, and the effects of evil. In addition the congregation held a 10-hour prayer vigil seeking justice for the poor.
Throughout the day church members participated in a “Show of Hands,” tracing hand prints to send to U.S. leaders as a reminder that only five years remain to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
The church devoted its adult discipleship hour to discussing its role in combating poverty and injustice. Devotions led by the youth group carried the theme into the evening.
The North Hills outreach team asked church members to pledge $1 a day to the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee’s poverty-fighting efforts, and also to set up two service outreach days in Detroit with local organizations working to help the poor.
Keeping the congregation aware of global and local needs and involved in alleviating those needs is a goal of the outreach team, said Anita Beem, director of education and outreach for North Hills. And engaging the church in the Micah Challenge’s 10-10-10 push was an ideal way to do both.
“Our busy schedules certainly don’t help us get out of our self-focused lives,” Beem said, “so it’s the church’s responsibility to continually remind us of our call from God himself to make a difference. We pray that [our] small steps may expand into something much larger for God’s glory and for the love of all.”
For more on the Micah Challenge, see http://www.crcna.org/pages/osj_micahchallenge.cfm.
