At the meeting of the Council of Bishops in Phoenix, Ariz., April 30-May 1, the bishops issued a new statement titled, "Community with Children and the Poor." It is a call to continue the "Episcopal Initiative on Children and Poverty" and invite the church to a closer relationship with those who are poor.

One way the church may build community with the poor is by establishing new congregations where they live. Originally, Methodism was a movement to evangelize the poor in Great Britain. If we commit ourselves to make disciples of the poor today, we shall recover an essential dimension of our heritage. Evangelism among the poor would strengthen our social witness: we shall be better able to speak for the poor if we are a church of the poor.

Established congregations should seek to actively involve the poor in their own congregational life. The poor should be treated not as objects of charity, but as indispensable members of the body of Christ.

The church may also build community with the poor who live around the globe. We who are in Florida have an exciting opportunity to construct the Bishop Cornelius L. and Dorothye Henderson Secondary School in Africa. The site for this school was visited recently by a team from the Florida Conference consisting of Dr. Anne Burkholder, Dr. Larry Rankin and Mr. Willy Blanco. They report that the school will be built in the pioneer town of Muxungue in Mozambique where there is no high school of any kind in a 240- to 275-mile radius! At the present time children walk up to 20 miles to sit under a makeshift tent to be taught. When it is built the Henderson School will include classrooms, dormitories, a kitchen and library that will serve more than 300 youth in grades seven to 10. An offering will be received at the Dare to Share Jesus 2001 Florida Annual Conference Event to help raise the $250,000 needed to construct the school.