St. James on the Parkway kicks off its MDG campaign

Nearly 20% of the 0.7% pledge goal from this diocesan MDG pilot congregation has been reached

Lucinda DeWitt of St. James on the Parkway, Minneapolis, adds her "ingredient" to the church's Big Red Pot.
Photo: Kurt Hall

by Kate Hennessy

The big red soup pot at St. James on the Parkway in Minneapolis began filling with “ingredients” on Sunday morning, February 10, as the congregation kicked off their 2008 Lenten Campaign for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The pot, which is the graphic the congregation’s leadership team has chosen to represent campaign pledges, is off to a healthy start. Project Coordinator Kurt Young reports that ten pledges of 0.7% of income toward an MDG project — or nearly one-fifth of the congregation’s goal of 53 pledges — were made on this kick-off Sunday.

The morning at St. James included a personal narrative shared at the sermon during both services by congregant Julie Brauninger. Rector Theo Park provided a context for this campaign- based personal narrative sermon stating, “There are times when it is entirely appropriate that the “stuff” of reflection be the offering of our hearts and lives, as individuals and as a congregation. This MDG Lenten Campaign is one of those times. As each of our speakers shares the story of their call to end global poverty they are a continuance of what has come before — God acting through history in the lives of men and women — and they stand before us as icons of Christ, windows through which we see the light of God’s reign established for all people.”

Julie’s narrative, in which she told the congregation that her motto is that she “came into the world to live out loud,” was a powerful testimony about the difference that one person can make, and she challenged her church community to join together to make a collective difference in this MDG Campaign.

During coffee hour the MDG parish leadership team provided information about the MDGs and the collective decision making process the parish will use to determine how to spend the pledge money at the end of the campaign.

"The Magnificent 7/10%" MDG pot at St. James on the Parkway, Minneapolis.
Photo: Susan Barksdale

St. James is one of four parishes throughout the Diocese participating in a pilot for this campaign throughout Lent 2008. The overall goal in each parish is to have half of the members pledge 0.7% of his or her income to an MDG project. At the end of the pledge period, each person who pledges will have equal voice in a collective decision-making process to determine the project itself.

Click here to read other MDG news from our diocese.

The Rev. Kate Hennessy is a local priest at St. James, Marshall.