August 23, 2005

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. – At the semiannual meeting of the General Board of American Baptist Churches USA in June, National Ministries' Executive Director Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III made a presentation urging the Board to adopt "A Declaration of Importance for American Baptists on the Issue of Children in Poverty." To obtain a copy of the presentation in the mail or electronically by e-mail contact Sue Peterman, program administrative assistant, at 1-800-ABC-3USA/x2422 or susan.peterman@abc-usa.org.

In his presentation Wright-Riggins cited 2003 U.S. Census Bureau statistics indicating that more than one in six American children – 12.9 million – were poor by U.S. government standards. He said Jesus' statement that "you will always have the poor among you" (Matthew 26:11) means that people will "always find Christians near enough to the poor to reach out with caring ministries." The declaration, adopted unanimously by the General Board, calls upon American Baptist churches and mission partners "to make the issue of children in poverty a priority of prayer advocacy, ministry and stewardship."

American Baptist News Service