Meghan Kraley

Hi Jack,

CRWRC and OSJ have teamed up the last few years to offer a congregational grant (Green Grant) to churches who are doing interesting things with creation stewardship. We get a lot of responses from churches who do community gardens - several of theeir project ideas can be found on the grant application website: http://www.crcna.org/pages/osj_greengrant.cfm.

I might have more info on a specific church if you want to know more, otherwise feel free to contact them directly! It'd be cool to have a mentorship model if you're just getting started.

Meghan

I create multimedia presentations for the Office of Social Justice - we use a lot of cool freebie web tools that don't take a lot of time or skill, but give great results.

Two of my favorites are prezi.com, an online presentation editor, and animoto.com, which creates mashups of photos, video, and music.

Here's an example: http://www.crcna.org/pages/osj_presentation.cfm

Just to clarify, the Micah Network and Micah Center are two completely separate organizations. The article you cite also makes clear that the Micah Center is not officially sponsored by the CRCNA.

Doug,

This statement in particular was co-written by OSJ staff and the Office of Race Relations in accordance with the recommendations from Synod 2010 that we educate and advocate on comprehensive immigration reform. If you visit the pledge website, you'll see the recommendations in bullet-point format. 

Your second question is much more complex. As a follow-up to the aforementioned pledge, the OSJ and Office of Race Relations are offering a more in-depth curriculum for congregations wanting to take a closer look at the issue of immigration. The curriculum is being piloted among a few churches this winter, and will be available for broad use this spring.

My church doesn't, but I certainly wish they did! I'm in the twenty-something bracket you described, and hardly ever carry cash. I'd much rather give to my church electronically - if I could contribute monthly at the same time I pay for my phone, gym, mortgage, etc. it'd be a lot simpler. I bet giving would even go up, if people are able to build it into their monthly budget planning. Interesting idea.

I've heard talk of promoting Crescent Project's DVD curriculum, which includes info on basic Islamic beliefs, how they compare with Christianity, how to better understand and embrace our Muslim neighors, etc.

Unfortunately I don't have much more information than that, but it's another resource to look into if you're interested.

I've been hearing a lot of buzz about Grand Rapids Christian Connect - might be a useful crowdsourcing tool, at least locally.

And for what it's worth, I think you hit the nail on the head in your second paragraph.

This really resonated with me - thought I'd share!

http://www.catalystspace.com/content/read/MAY11--14_things_older_leaders_should_know_about_younger_leaders/