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Finding
alternatives to Halloween locally
GodSong
grows as it reaches 1-year-old
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Assisting the push for peace |
Church provides spiritual and physical assistance
for people in need as a means of promoting peace |
By Schellene Clendenin, Newberg
Graphic reporter
E-mail Schellene at sclendenin@eaglenewspapers.com
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“The teachings of Jesus, the whole spirit of
his gospel and the provision of his grace call us to live at peace
with all men. We feel that war and violence are not consistent with
the Christian holiness to which we are summoned in Christ. We
encourage our members to find alternative ways in which to achieve
civil justice and to work within civil society for the redress of
wrongs.”
Although this statement was produced by the Northwest Yearly
Meeting of Friends in 1970, it accurately describes the goal of its
Social Concerns Committee, one of several committees at North Valley
Friends Church, said Brenda Jolliff, committee clerk.
The idea behind the committee – providing spiritual and physical
assistance for people in need and promoting peace and equality – has
been a part of the church since Quakers began to gather, she said.
For example, locally, the group is affiliated with ministries such
as Newberg F.I.S.H. (Friends In Service to Humanity), Habitat for
Humanity, Faith in Action (formerly Interfaith Volunteer
Caregivers), senior meals program, the pregnancy counseling center,
Love INC and a clothes closet at the church. In addition, they
recently conducted an urban outreach to provide food for people in
Portland.
On a broader scale the committee believes in sharing the world’s
resources and is part of an organization within the Friends church
that provides loans to developing countries.
Right now the group is focusing on a food drive for F.I.S.H.,
Jolliff said. Requests for food are at their highest in the winter
and the committee plans to help by setting up a contest between
people under age 20 and those older than 20 to see who can collect
the most food. The response has been positive.
“The tables are sagging under the weight of the food,” she said.
Called “Focus on Hunger,” the groups are working to include kids
ages 2 to 10. A couple of youth involved in the church have heaped a
shopping cart full of food. Kids can buy any item out of the cart
for 25 cents and place it on the table.
“We want to get everybody involved,” Jolliff said. “One of the
biggest ways to provide for the world is to care for physical needs.
F.I.S.H. has a pretty desperate need for food from the community.”
The committee is also collecting items to place in shoeboxes to
send to people in Third World countries. Items include:
toothbrushes, candy, toys.
“It’s a care package,” said member Russ Ragsdale. “We are
intentional in the ways we get involved with the community.”
Ragsdale said he joined the committee because it allowed him to
become involved in other peoples’ lives, to get to know people and
feel closer to them.
“The seeds of war can be sown in the way we live our daily life and
in our possessions,” Jolliff said. “We are trying to equalize the
wealth of the world. Quakers are pretty well known for their peace
testimony, but working for social justice ...”
Part of Jesus ministry involved working with the physical needs of
people, Jolliff said. “That’s why we do what we do,” she added. “The
members of the committee are drawn to it because of a personal tug
to help the needy and oppressed.”
She said people tend to think of anyone who opposes war as doing so
to avoid dealing with it. But an essential part of the gospel as a
way Christ would respond is to take war seriously, and to take an
active part in trying to help.
“The main emphasis in our committee is to create a climate of
justice so that wars do not take root,” she said. “We’re peacemakers
and not just war protesters.”
As for helping people, Jolliff suggested “beginning with what’s
around you. Otherwise you’ll get too overwhelmed. Look around you:
there (are) people in need.” |
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From
Oct. 23, 2004, Newberg Graphic
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