100 Million Signatures for Peace
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Published On: February 14, 2022 March 27, 2022
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Seventy years is enough. End the Korean War. That’s the message of the recently launched global campaign called the Korea Peace Appeal (where you can sign the online petition).
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The goal of the appeal is to collect 100 million signatures for peace by 2023, the 70th anniversary of the armistice. The ultimate goal is peace.
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The Korean War began in 1950. While open clashes ceased in 1953 with the signing of an armistice, a peace treaty has not yet been established and the war is not over. For more than 70 years the Korean people have endured a constant state of hostility and war, which has solidified the division of the peninsula.
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For more than 30 years your gifts through Mission & Service have supported justice and peace work in Korea through the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK). The NCCK supports women’s programs, human rights, and peace and reconciliation efforts.
The NCCK has challenged The United Church of Canada to add 10,000 signatures to the Korea Peace Appeal by the summer of 2022. The request is urgent. Please join the Moderator and others by adding your signature today.
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“The point of the campaign is to urge an end to the Korean War and establish a peace agreement,” says Patti Talbot, the United Church’s team lead for global partnership. “Sometimes it can be hard to know how to take action on large global issues. By adding our signature to this campaign, we can take a tangible step to help create a world free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threat and break the vicious cycle of the arms race.”
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Your support through Mission & Service actively supports peace-making in Korea. If you would like to take another step to help, please consider signing the petition. Add your name to those calling for peace. We are stronger together.
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Rebuilding after Loss: Lisa’s Story
https://youtu.be/yO6Az28-Sew
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“ORA, just like other outreach ministries we have, is a tangible way of showing faith in action.
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Published On: December 17, 2021 March 20, 2022
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Nothing prepares us to lose the people we love most in the world. Lisa’s husband Steve was in and out of palliative care for years.
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“It was a difficult journey. He wasn’t ready to leave this life,” Lisa says. “The week before he died he said, ‘I’ll surprise you yet. You’ll see me walking around that circle with my cane.’ But that didn’t happen.”
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After Steve died, Lisa attended a widows’ support circle facilitated by ORA, a Mission & Service partner. ORA, named after a Maori word meaning “life,” helps people move through grief and loss using workshops and support circles.
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“Hearing the stories and wisdom shared, the laughter and the tears, brought me to a place where I felt comfortable in sharing a bit of my own pain and my own journey. And there was this sense of solidarity in our pain. Because being a widow is a different kind of loss than losing a parent, a child, or a friend,” Lisa says.
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In the widows’ group, there was an understanding that surpassed words.
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“The support helped me work through things like ‘What do I do with the wedding ring now?’ Do you still wear it? Do you not wear it? And on a practical level, do you change the sheets because you can still smell your partner on the sheets? The first time you have to check that box on the government form, that you are no longer a Mrs. but a widow, I just burst into tears. ORA, just like other outreach ministries we have, is a tangible way of showing faith in action.”
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Your gifts through Mission & Service help people like Lisa rebuild their lives after loss.
“At one of the most difficult times of my life, your generosity through Mission & Service provided care, love, and comfort. Indeed, we are not alone. We live in God’s world. Thank you for your support,” says Lisa.
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Get Public. Intentional. Explicit.
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March 14 is National Affirming/PIE Day.
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Credit: Affirm United/S’affirmer Ensemble
Published On: February 14, 2022 March 13, 2022
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March 14 is PIE Day, and in church circles it has nothing to do with math. PIE is short for public, intentional, and explicit―the standards we hold ourselves to when we seek to live into being affirming, welcoming, and inclusive people and communities.
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PIE Day was co-founded by Affirm United/S’affirmer Ensemble and Affirming Connections. Every year, Affirm United invites the church to celebrate the full inclusion of LGBTQ2SIA+ people in faith communities and beyond. The day also reminds and challenges us to continue widening our welcome to embody love and celebrate gender and sexual diversity in all its forms. It’s critical that we do.
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Gender identity and sexual orientation continue to be used to justify serious human rights violations around the world. Same-sex sexual activity is a crime in 71 countries; in 11 of these the death penalty is at least a possibility or imposed. While Canada is now home to 1 million people who identify as Two-Spirit and LGBTQQIA+ in 2019, police reported 263 hate crimes targeting people for their sexual orientation, a 41 percent increase over the previous year and the highest total since 2009.
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Your gifts through Mission & Service sustain life-transforming advocacy and education work, including supporting refugees fleeing for their lives because they identify as Two-Spirit and LGBTQQIA+, safe shelters, community awareness education, human rights programs, and safe spaces.
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This work is vitally important. For some, it means the difference between life and death.
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Thank you for giving through Mission & Service. God’s compassionate love knows no boundaries. Your generosity shows ours doesn’t either.
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International Women’s Day: Geeta’s Story
ASWA supports single women in Rajasthan to defend their rights.
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Published On: February 14, 2022 Mar. 6, 2022
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March 8 is International Women’s Day, a day that is all about celebrating women's achievements and calling out inequality. Geeta’s story is one example of why marking the day is so important.
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When Geeta’s husband died she not only lost her life partner but also her home. Because she was no longer married her in-laws wouldn’t allow her to stay in their multi-generational residence.
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Geeta is just one of an estimated 72 million women in India who are not married—nearly double the entire population of Canada. In India, most women are expected to marry and then live with their husband and his family. Unmarried women, even those who are widowed, are often seen as dishonourable. Like Geeta, they may suffer abuse.
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Fortunately, Geeta was able to flee to her parents’ home with her two younger children, but many parents will not allow their newly single daughters to return.
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While Geeta and her younger children stayed with her parents, her in-laws stole her jewellery, changed the locks, and kept her two older children from her. That’s when she turned to Mission & Service partner Astha Sansthan’s Association of Strong Women Alone (ASWA) for help.
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ASWA supports thousands of single women from low-income backgrounds in Rajasthan to defend their rights. The organization has also shared their advocacy methods and experiences with other groups across India.
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Thanks to ASWA’s help, Geeta’s in-laws ultimately had to give back her jewellery, unlock her home, and return her older children to her care.
Today, Geeta is living peacefully with her children in her part of the house.
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Your generous support provides life-saving advocacy. It is one way your gifts address crushing inequality and help build a better world for all. Thank you!
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