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By Pam Crooks

hat could the reign of God look like in our midst?” This was the

Faith in Action

Jubilee work transforms local communities

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question posed and answered at the Triennial Gathering of Jubilee Ministries in Newark, New Jersey in April as one story after another unfolded from Jubilee Centers around the country: a free health clinic serving 60 patients weekly in a church basement in rural Michigan; a crime-ridden inner city neighborhood rehabilitated with a park, new housing and community center in Dallas; a truck garden at a church in Syracuse for Burmese refugees. The smallest projects and the largest ministries all had several things in common. They involve Episcopal churches, are community-based and are bringing about transformation.

There are over 600 designated Jubilee Centers doing amazing things; 11 of them are at work here in the Diocese of San Diego. Almost all churches in our diocese reach out in some way to their surrounding communities; Jubilee Centers have simply been recognized by the Episcopal Church for their extra- ordinary transformational efforts.

Many of us know about the awesome, life- changing programs Episcopal Community Services provides for the least among us (if

“They involve Episcopal churches, are community- based and bring about transformation.”

you’re not familiar, visit www.ecscalifornia. org) but may not be aware that St. Mark’s in City Heights provides housing for local teenagers who have aged out of the foster care system or that St. David’s in Clairemont hosts an annual homeless shelter and provides programs and prayer services for the mentally ill and their families.

St. Paul’s Senior Homes and Services offers affordable assisted living facilities downtown but also provides in-home services to destitute seniors living alone. St. Dunstan’s, San Diego raises thousands of dollars annually,

which it donates along with literally tons of food for programs here and abroad. The Episcopal Refugee Network assists hundreds of Sudanese, Burmese and Iraqi refugees each month with food, clothing, tutoring and translation services. The Christian Community Services Agency, with the support of three Episcopal congregations and other area churches provides a multitude of services to 25,000 beach-area residents living in poverty.

Other Jubilee Centers making a difference locally are the Mission to Seafarers, which last year ministered to over 3,000 lonely

foreign seamen docked in our harbor. St. Paul’s Cathedral advocates on behalf of immigrants, hosts a bi-weekly mobile health clinic on-site and runs a foster home for children of incarcerated parents in Tijuana. Each year our diocesan camp, Camp Stevens, teaches hundreds of children, including foster care children, about the importance of creation care and how to be better stewards of our environment.

The presiding bishop spoke on the first day of the conference and offered uncompromising support for issues regarding domestic poverty. A resolution passed last summer at General Convention (A155) seeks to restore the balance between local and international needs and to encourage more Episcopalians to become engaged in charity and justice work at home. Mentioned here are just a few of the many programs and services provided by our own Jubilee Centers.

If you or your congregation is interested in learning more or in partnering with one of our Jubilee Centers in its ministry, please contact Diocesan Jubilee Officer Pam Crooks: pcrooks@cox.net or 619-992-3414. X

The Episcopal Church just released an excellent 30 minute documentary about the Jubilee Center in Dallas, Texas. View it: http://

episcopalchurch.org/multimedia/jubilee/.

Change your worldview: serve in Kenya

By Dr. Nan Hardison, our missionary in Maseno North, Kenya

hospital; and initiation of a project undertaken by Engineers Without Borders to make the hospital and surrounding community’s water self-sufficient as the municipal water company went bankrupt.

Despite these accomplishments, there have been difficulties. The world’s financial meltdown caused an abrupt 45% decrement in our donor funds for all projects. Meanwhile, inflation following the post-electoral violence in Kenya has resulted in a doubling of staple food prices and a tripling of fuel costs over the past two years. This has pushed a large number of families, formerly on the edge, over the brink into malnutrition, some into frank starvation.

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands: Orphans at the Maseno North mission smile as

they sing praise songs. Many of these children are orphans; most of them have HIV/AIDS. Have you considered helping the Hardisons, our missionaries in Kenya?

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t has been our longest year and our visit to San Diego too short. Nonetheless there have

been more than enough advances to outweigh the disappointments. The Rev. Mike Russell, rector of All Souls’, Point Loma, embarked on a pilgrimage for Kenya, which greatly encouraged us.

Our mission is broad, but consists of three main foci: a feeding program that provides one meal per week to 10,000 orphans in Western Kenya, the second poorest province

in Kenya; a health initiative that provides free medical care to orphans and their care- givers at Maseno Hospital, which itself is a support project; and serving as principal at St. Phillip’s Theological College. Our advances include renovation of our maternity ward with a grant from the United Thank Offering; improvement and enlargement of St. Phillip’s and provision of some scholarships to students; the provision of improved health care to many impoverished persons in the densely populated community around the

The mission has been growing and expanding. Success has its costs, often greater than failure. We sorely need volunteers of every kind: medical, business/management oriented, clerical, communications/computer persons, and the list goes on.

Can You Help?

A month, two months, six months, a year? There has been no violence in our area in the past eight years and the community is welcoming. The lodging is comfortable; food is good and the cost for room and board is $15 per day. Travel ranges from $1,500 - $2,000. There is one warning: no one has visited for any length of time without experiencing a major life change! X

More information: www.masenomissions.org. Email: hardison@africaonline.co.ke. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8