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At Hope Central Church, we believe God's peace and justice are
intimately connected with our faith and our lives together. We have been called to
feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, and visit
the sick and imprisoned. We believe justice is prophetic, relational, active, and
always challenging us - as individuals and society - to become what God is calling us to
become.
Here are the details of our various projects, with suggestions of ways that
you can get involved. To begin participating in any of these efforts,
contact the church office.
Fast-Track Grants
Fast-track grants are an expression of the richness and diversity of Hope Central
Church's justice commitments, and a way to support and encourage participation
in God's peace and justice. If you are a Hope Central Church Covenant Partner
(anyone who has joined the church), Hope Central Church wants to support a cause
that matters to you. Our fast-track grant program provides a quick and easy process
for requesting a grant (of up to $250) for justice work. A grant may
support a nonprofit organization, contribute to an event or activity, or provide
help to someone in need. To apply for a grant, complete an
Application.
Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center for Women
The Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center for Women, operated by hopeFound
at Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain, provides treatment for homeless women in the early
stages of recovery from substance abuse.
At Hope Central Church, we work to support the treatment center by doing volunteer
work, collecting items needed by women at the center, participating in events with the
women (from baking cookies to karaoke!), giving funds to redecorate a patient
room (the first room in a drive to "make over" the whole center), and by helping to raise
money and raise awareness. Our efforts were recently recognized by hopeFound as it named
Hope Church a recipient of its Community Champions award for 2008.
St. Paul's Health Center in Kenya
Since 2007, Hope Central Church has partnered with St.
Paul's Health Center, a locally-founded and locally-operated health center in rural western Kenya.
St. Paul's mission is to promote spiritual, mental, social and physical well-being through
prevention of disease, care for the sick, support for the needy, and advocacy for the vulnerable.
Hope Central Church covenant partners Amara and Matt Mulder spent six months in Kenya working
with the health center, and a partnership between Hope and St. Paul's grew from this relationship.
A Bluegrass Harvest Festival fundraiser at Hope raised over $6,000 enabling St. Paul's to
finish building a maternal and child health center. Hope Central Church is also providing
ongoing support to the clinic's community health workers and outreach program.
Boston Faith and Justice Network
The Boston Faith and Justice Network (BFJN) is
an ecumenical community of Christians seeking justice as an expression of faith. BFJN
mobilizes Christians to alleviate poverty and promote just stewardship through personal,
community, and policy change. Many Hope Central Church covenant partners are active in BFJN's programs
and Hope Central Church is a partner church in BFJN's work through these two initiatives:
Economic Discipleship: "Lazarus at the Gate" is a small group
program in which church members gather together to talk about their relationship to money
and to the global poor. These discussions create the opportunity to support each other to
live gratefully and make concrete changes including living more simply and buying fair-trade
products that provide more direct benefit to the poor. The four "Lazarus commitments"
are: spend joyfully, spend differently, spend less, and give more. At the end of its sessions,
each Lazarus group pools the money saved by making specific lifestyle changes and makes a collective
gift to address global poverty. To date, Lazarus groups in Boston have given away over $120,000 to
the global poor.
Fair Trade: Hope Central Church aims to be a "Fair Trade Church"
along with other churches in the Boston Faith and Justice Network as part of the Fair Trade
Boston campaign. Hope Central's Fair Trade Team, along with teams in several other churches, have
already helped over a dozen businesses, organizations, and churches switch to Fair Trade in a
quest to make Greater Boston a "Fair Trade Town."
Greater Boston Interfaith Organization
Hope Central Church is a member of the Greater Boston
Interfaith Organization (GBIO), a broad-based organization that trains and organizes
the communities of Greater Boston across religious, racial, ethnic, class and neighborhood
lines for the public good. GBIO seeks to develop local leadership and change public policy
on a variety of justice and human service issues. GBIO is affiliated with national
and regional networks of similar groups: the Industrial
Areas Foundation and Metro IAF.
GBIO and Metro IAF have launched a campaign to cap interest rates at 10%; see
the site "10 Percent is Enough". Other GBIO
campaigns include: Aging with Dignity, an action plan to secure better access to services for
elderly people; Debts to Assets, a financial counseling program to help people stay debt free
in a failing economy; and an initiative to address Youth and Safety. GBIO worked with other
organizations to make Massachusetts the first state in the nation with health insurance for all,
and led a successful campaign to achieve just working conditions for the largely Haitian aides
and orderlies in nursing homes.
Jubilee (international debt reduction)
Jubilee is a movement calling for cancellation of international debts and restoration
of right relationships between nations.
To learn more visit Jubillee USA and
Jubilee Justice.
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