Church members to fast, pray for debt forgiveness for poor nations

October 11, 2007 By AIDemocracy

By:Christine McCluskey, Journal Inquirer
10/11/2007

MANCHESTER – For 24 hours this Friday and Saturday, members of Emanuel Lutheran Church will fast and pray for the cause of debt forgiveness for poor countries.

But the church’s advocacy for debt forgiveness is much more than a 24-hour commitment. It’s part of a national 40-day campaign, and church members have been working on this issue for most of the past year, the Rev. Dr. G. Scott Cady of Emanuel Lutheran Church said.

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Cady said a group of “very excited lay people” came and asked him whether they could get the church involved in the campaign for debt forgiveness, and he agreed right away.

Over the past few years, the Evangelical Church of America has been moving more toward an advocacy role on such issues of public policy, Cady said.

Emanuel Lutheran Church has been serving free trade coffee during its coffee hours for a while, he said, and three members of the church recently took a trip to Mexico.

“There’s been this growing interest in how policies affect people,” Cady said.

Sometimes, when a church moves toward discussion of issues with political overtones – though Cady says debt forgiveness is not really a partisan issue – some members aren’t happy about it, Cady says, but he says he’s “heard very, very little grumbling about that here.”

“The congregation seems eager for more information,” he says.

Emanuel Lutheran Church has joined with Jubilee USA, an interdenominational group that is urging members of Congress to support legislation that would offer debt relief to 67 of the world’s poorest countries.

Many members of congregations and other groups affiliated with Jubilee USA have since Sept. 6 been fasting for a day or more and then sending notes written on empty paper plates to their representatives in Congress urging them to support the debt-relief act.

Members of Emanuel Lutheran Church met with Sen. Christopher Dodd’s staff in Hartford on Tuesday to talk about the legislation.

Pastor Julie Reuning-Scherer said besides this weekend’s event, the church’s activities on this issue have included a dramatic play last month that showed how poor countries prioritize debt payments over food, clean water, and other needs of their citizens, and sermons linking the church’s faith with advocacy on this issue.

“For us this is a real matter of personal faith and witness,” Reuning-Scherer said.

The event Friday will start at 7 p.m. with a talk by Seth Green, founder of Americans for an Informed Democracy, on the topic of debt forgiveness. There will then be a prayer service and a 24-hour vigil including prayer and fasting.

Emanuel Lutheran Church is at 60 Church St.

Anyone may attend the event. For details call the church office, 43-1193, Reuning-Scherer, 45-0683,or coordinator Gary Hart, 683-0820.

For details on Jubilee USA visit