For the Transformation of the World

Conference-wide event on Oct. 29, in Lincoln

The Great Plains Mercy & Justice Team invites you to spend a day encountering poverty and related issues.

The “Let’s Talk – For the Transformation of the World” event will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday Oct. 29, at First UMC (2723 N. 50th St.) in Lincoln, Nebraska. This event is priced to make it financially accessible to as many people as possible. The registration fee is a suggested donation of $5, which includes the day of programming and lunch. If the cost prevents you from attending, please contact the Rev. Kalaba Chali at kchali@greatplainsumc.org or 316-684-0266.

Besides worship and a panel discussion with outstanding leaders (the Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, the Rev. Dr. Charlotte Abram and the Rev. Mark Holland), there will be a variety of workshops that will be offered in the afternoon, read about them below.
 

Let's Talk Healthy Families Healthy Planet (45 minutes)

Facilitators: Gina Gile and Pauline Muchina
Description: The Healthy Families Healthy Planet project strives for a world in which every woman can plan her children, and every family experiences God’s promise of abundant life. The workshop will offer tools and resources that will educate, inspire and empower faith leaders to take on maternal health and family planning through advocacy and awareness.

Gina Gile is an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church, currently serving at Dakota City and Homer Nebraska churches and has served churches in Kansas as well. She is a longtime advocate for women and children including implementing poverty initiatives and recent work in Global Maternal Health. Through her work as a Healthy Families Healthy Planet advocate she has facilitated workshops, organized letter writing campaigns to state representatives and senators and traveled to meet with members of Congress in their Washington D.C. offices as well as in their local state offices.  

Pauline Muchina comes from the Rift Valley Province in Kenya, where her family still resides. She has a master’s degree from Yale University Divinity School and a Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary. She is the director of Healthy Families, Healthy Planet at the General Board of Church and Society. Previously, she served as the senior partnership advisor for UNAIDS for seven and a half years. Pauline serves in several boards and advisory groups including Foundation for Sustainable Development and the Global Room for Women. She is also a member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians. In 2011, Pauline received the United Methodist Church Global Leadership Award. On March 8, 2014, the Huffington Post honored Pauline as one of 50 women powerful international religious leaders. Pauline’s goal in life is to challenge injustice that render women, girls and marginalized communities vulnerable – addressing policies, structural, cultural and religious teaching and practices that undermine their human rights.
 

Let’s Talk Race (45 minutes)

Facilitator: Glory Kathurima
Description: What are the challenges faced by people of color in our Midwestern communities? Is there a connection between race and poverty? Explore  individual roles in identifying and confronting racism in our social circles and explore ways to get comfortable with calling out injustices both loud and silent. 

Glory Kathurima is originally from Kenya but has lived in the U.S. for many years. She is an active member of The United Methodist Church and a healthcare professional with a lifelong passion for justice and equality. Years ago, as a high school senior, she won the Peace with Justice award given out through the former Nebraska Conference for her speech about migrant farm workers. In the last few years she has been using her voice within her work, church and community circles to start conversations about racial inequalities affecting our communities.  
 

Let's Talk Environment (90 minutes)

Facilitator: Bonnie McCord
Description: What does the scripture say about environmental justice? This workshop will focus on the scriptural basis of creation care and advocacy, contributing factors to the current environmental crisis and the intersection of environmental injustice and poverty.

Bonnie McCord is an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church serving in Chadron, Nebraska. She is married with two grown sons and three grandchildren. She was raised on a ranch in the Great Sandhills northeast of Oshkosh, Nebraska. Her love of creation stems from this earthy upbringing. She hold master's degrees in geography, with a minor in water resources, and in theology, with a social justice focus. She is a fellow in the GreenFaith program, which prepares persons for religiously based environmental leadership. Bonnie enjoys gardening, going for walks, canoeing, teaching and spending time with family. In general, she likes being out of doors so she can experience the beauty of God’s creation.
 

Let's Talk Gender Relations (90 minutes)

Facilitator: Margi Ault-Duell
Description: How are gender relationships in our communities? In this workshop look at how homophobia, transphobia and sexism shape people, and how to create safer spaces for a diversity of gender identities. Discussion will be both informative and participatory.

Margi Ault-Duell has been working for social change for 15 years, primarily as a social justice educator with youth and adults. She grew up in rural Kansas, later migrating to Arkansas, New Jersey, Arizona and finally back to Kansas. She has organized and collaborated on efforts to address climate change and ecojustice, immigrant rights, global economics and migration, gender justice, racial justice and health and healing within activist communities. She has learned how deeply liberating it can be to name our shared experiences and tell our stories as an act of resistance to oppression. During her five years in the borderlands of Southern Arizona as BorderLinks education director, she witnessed people committing incredible acts of courage in an environment of fear and hostility. She is an experienced interpreter/translator, facilitator, writer and speaker. She is actively involved with the ICT-Army of Artists and she serves as a board member of SoCe Life. She completed her Master of Divinity degree at Drew University in 2009.

Online registration is available. You can also register by calling the Wichita conference office at 316-684-0266.

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