World Vision ACT:S is a network of young people committed to exploring what our faith says about poverty and injustice, using creative activism to bring issues to life and change hearts, and using our voices to advocate on AIDS, malaria, hunger, and child slavery.
If you are not already a member of ACT:S, we encourage you to check out our About page and join the ACT:S network for bi-weekly e-mail updates.
Below are the latest stories, resources, and campaigns. If you would like to contribute, e-mail acts@worldvision.org.
ACT NOW: AIDS, Malaria, and Hunger Funding Threatened
Did you know that the International Affairs Budget (which is just 1.4 percent of the total federal budget) provides critical, life-saving assistance to combat extreme poverty, hunger, child mortality and diseases like AIDS and malaria?
ACT NOW: These critical, life-saving funds are currently threatened in Congress! Send a message to your members of Congress. Ask them to support the president's FY 2011 budget request for the International Affairs Budget. There are few places in the U.S. federal budget where dollars translate so directly into lives saved.
Celebrating My Dependence
By Richard Stearns, President of World Vision US
Getting ready for July 4th? When I think of the required elements for the holiday—flags, food, and fireworks, picnics and parades—it strikes me that what we’re really celebrating is patriotism, not independence. After all, it has been 234 years since America broke away from British rule—we’ve become quite comfortable with self-reliance.
I’m rather comfortable with independence, myself. You might already know my story: I took my destiny into my own hands early on. When I was 10, I realized that my struggling, divorced parents wouldn’t be able to make things happen for me. Eight years, I remember thinking—that’s how long I have to make it till I’m on my own. I did it; I finished high school and got a scholarship to Cornell. And along the way, I became convinced that I didn’t need anyone, especially not God.
Now that the G20 is over: what needs to happen next?
“The success of the G20 can’t be measured by only economic indicators, which are meaningless unless human lives are saved and vulnerable families’ well-being improved, which in itself will increase global prosperity. In the G20 countries alone, 2.5 million children are dying each year before their fifth birthdays. That's equivalent to the entire population of Toronto, and almost 30 percent of the 8.8 million babies and children who die globally, most of preventable causes.”
- Robert Zachritz, Advocacy Director, World Vision U.S.
"The development and prosperity our leaders are striving for can’t be sustained if our children are dying and a third of those who survive can’t realize their full potential as a result of childhood malnutrition."
- Sue Mbaya, Advocacy Director, World Vision Africa
These countries are now the 21st century’s economic powerhouses, with 87 percent of the world’s GDP, yet many are still failing to address dire living conditions and lack of access to health services in their communities.
4 important freedoms and the responsibility of American citizenship
By Robert Zachritz and Shawna Templeton, World Vision
In his 1941 State of the Union address, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously articulated the "four freedoms":
Freedom of speech and expression
Freedom of religion
Freedom from want
Freedom from fear
On Independence Day, we celebrate these freedoms and recognize that we are afforded special privileges that much of the rest of the world does not know. But these freedoms also should impact how we view the rest of the world and how we live out God's calling to care for the poor. In Scripture, we are charged to:
Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. --Isaiah 1:17 (NIV)
How can we use our American citizenship to do this?
Get ready for next year! - The Vision and Calendar for 2010-11
"We are called to create a modern-day Book of Acts with our lives." That is the theme we will be exploring for next year! We just launched this new booklet across the country that explains Who We Are as a network and What We Are Doing this year on our campuses, in our churches, and within our communities. Check it out -- and this preview of next year's calendar!
THE YEAR AHEAD...CREATING A MODERN-DAY BOOK OF ACTS TOGETHER
OCTOBER 1 - Day of Prayer and Action
FALL STUDY - Acts + Calling – Study of the Book of Acts
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER - ACT:S to End Malaria
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER - ACT: on AIDS – Lives are on the Line
DECEMBER 1 - World AIDS Day
JANUARY/FEBRUARY - Human Wrong Initiative to Stop Child Slavery
MARCH/APRIL - Lent Study: Sacrificial Acts of Justice
APRIL 25 - World Malaria Day
SPRING - Summit on the Hill 2011 – Washington, DC
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Connect with us at: acts@worldvision.org or 1-888-876-2004.
ACT:S is the activism network for World Vision. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. |
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