I really am still a printed page person; I'm not much of an Web explorer, but I'm getting braver. So the first resource I'd like to recommend is the place where my Internet explorations started. Then I'll tell you what my explorations turned up.

The General Board of Church and Society publishes Christian Social Action, a wonderful magazine that provides great ideas and background for justice issues. For $15.00 a year, you get six issues of the magazine and the newsletter, Off the Front Page. To subscribe, contact:
Christian Social Action Magazine
100 Maryland Ave., NE
Washington, DC 20002
www.umc-gbcs.org

Christian Social Action contains articles and information on a wide variety of justice issues. For example, the January-February 2002 issue contained an article by Bishop Kenneth Carder on "Market Idolatry," a litany and resources for Earth Day Sunday, a piece on how children are affected by toxic environments, and an emphasis on farm/food issues. May-June had a special section on the Middle East.

Each issue of Off the Front Page concentrates on a particular topic. For example, the April 2002 issue dealt with hunger and included stories of hungry children, a game called "Feeding the Family" (from Bread for the World), and a list of resources for teaching children about hunger. The article sent me to several online information sources.

• Go to www.bread.org/howtohelp/church/sundayschool.html for information and links, and/or to order the booklet Make Hunger History: Teaching Children about Hunger.
• Go to www.churchworldservices.org/resources.html and click on "Online Educational Materials" for "Build a Better World" children's curriculum (1-10 copies, free of charge). Other free materials include downloadable maps, crafts, and activities. Church World Services also has excellent fact sheets/study guides (single copy, free) for adults on issues such as AIDS in Africa, landmines, child labor, and hunger.
• Go to www.cropwalk.org, Crop Walk, for excellent information and hunger activities for churches and communities.
• Go to www.feedingminds.org for multilingual, age-graded (primary, intermediate, secondary) materials on world hunger. Topics include why we need food, why people are hungry, and what we can do.
• At Heifer Project, www.heifer.org, and Read to Feed, www.readtofeed.org (special website for kids K-6), read about the program, sign up for an electronic newsletter, and order free program materials (at www.heifer.org/forms/giving_getinfo.cfm).
• "Kids Can Make a Difference," an educational program for middle- and high-school students, focuses on the root causes of hunger and poverty, the people most affected, solutions, and how students can help.

I recently ran across information about "The Lion and Lamb Project": www.lionlamb.org, 43000 Montgomery Ave., Suite 104, Bethesda, MD 20814; 301-654-3091. The website is devoted to promoting peace through eliminating violent toys and games for children. It includes a list of Top 20 Toys (for peaceful play) and the Dirty Dozen Toys, as well as how to organize a "violent toy trade-in." This sounds to me like a great Sprouts group justice project.

The Lion and Lamb Project reminds me of another possibility, Peace Poles. Many churches and schools have erected Peace Poles with the inscription, "May Peace Prevail on Earth," in English and several other languages. There are many websites about Peace Poles. Begin at www.worldpeace.org/peacepoles.html. We'll publish an article soon about a Sprouts group that has raised a Peace Pole at their church!

Check out the General Board of Discipleship page (www.gbod.org), which includes a variety of good stuff, such as information on Small-Group Ministries (www.gbod.org/smallgroup) and Children's Ministries (www.gbod.org/children).

If you're familiar with other helpful resources, let us know so we can share them. Contact Steve Manskar (smanskar@gbod.org, toll-free 877-899-2780, ext. 1765) or Edie Harris (321-723-0966, sproutsedie@juno.com).

Edie Harris is the Volunteer/Casework Coordinator for St. Laurence Chapel: Caring Center for Homeless People, Pompano Beach, FL, where she also serves on the Methodist Federation for Social Action Board of Directors. With Shirley Ramsey, she co-authored Sprouts: Nurturing Children through Covenant Discipleship.

Source: Fall 2002 Covenant Discipleship Quarterly

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