News From the Minnesota Council of Churches

• Prayer at the Fair
  Sundays, August 24 & 31, 2008, 9:15 – 9:45 AM, State Fair Bandshell
  Going to the Fair doesn’t have to mean skipping church. Celebrate the abundance of life in Minnesota and all of God’s creation at a special worship service sponsored by the Minnesota Council of Churches. The casual service contains both the familiar forms of church including hymns, prayers and a sermon and also gets into the fun spirit of the Fair with our “bulletins on a stick." Celebrants represent the many denominations that make up the Minnesota Council of Churches, making the service a celebration of Christian Unity.


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  Funding for Churches in Greater Minnesota
  Get resources to help you serve the critical human needs in your community through the Compassion Capital Fund Project. The focus of the training and grants to greater Minnesota community organizations is capacity building in leadership, program design, financial sustainability, infrastructure and community engagement. Rural Churches-Rural Communities partners with the Compassion Capital Fund of the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches and Fairview Health Services to make funding available to faith- and community-based organizations in Greater Minnesota. Click here to learn more or contact Lynne Holman at (612) 230-3211. Deadline is July 15, 2008 for Mankato area.

• Join Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Efforts
  Faith-based disaster recovery groups are key players in the immediate and long-term recovery from disasters. Links to denominational disaster response groups can be found at http://www.mnvoad.org/member_organizations.htm. Current opportunities include:
  ü Ongoing recovery from the 2007 floods in Winona County
  ü Donating a Disaster Recovery Kit to Church World Service
  ü Training to become a disaster recovery volunteer
  ü Donating money
  ü Organizing or volunteering at a Camp Noah for children who have experienced a natural or human-caused disaster.
  ü Helping in the recovery from other national and international disasters

• Volunteer with A Minnesota Without Poverty
  Join A Minnesota Without Poverty, a statewide, ecumenical, interfaith movement to end poverty in Minnesota by 2020.
  · Add your name to the 5000-plus people of faith who have signed a declaration of support for “A Common Foundation: Shared Principles for Work on Overcoming Poverty.” To add your name, go to http://www.mnwithoutpoverty.org/ and click on “Sign Foundation.”
  · Volunteer to assist with data entry.
  · Connect with a workgroup that is leading the way in various aspects of building the movement to end poverty. All of the workgroups are active and would welcome additional interested people. Topics include arts and education, child well-being, business, public policy and communications.
  Please contact Nancy Maeker at (612) 230-3222 for more information.
  
  
  
  The Minnesota Council of Churches manifests the unity of the body of Christ and builds the common good in the world in partnership with 24 member Protestant, Historic Black, and Orthodox judicatories representing more than 2,000 congregations and their 1 million members.