Call to Renewal

www.calltorenewal.com 

Basic History
Call to Renewal is based on the founding document, written May 23, 1995, The Cry for Renewal: Biblical Faith and Spiritual Politics. Call to Renewal's current mission focus is its Covenant and Campaign to Overcome Poverty, which emphasizes the necessity of dismantling racism in conjunction with overcoming poverty. The two primary ways in which Call to Renewal implements its Campaign to Overcome Poverty are by providing a voice to influence national and local direction as well as public policy, and by networking churches and faith-based organizations' leaders to build a movement to overcome poverty.

Basic Beliefs
The persistence of widespread poverty in our midst is morally unacceptable. Just as some of our religious forbears decided to no longer accept poverty and its disproportionate impact on people of color. In the biblical tradition, we covenant together in a Call to Renewal. By entering this Covenant, we commit ourselves to:

• Prioritize people who are poor-both in our personal, family, and vocational lives and in our congregational and organizational practices-through prayer and dedication of our time and resources.
• Decide our financial choices in ways that promote economic opportunity and justice for those in poverty.
• Evaluate public policies and political candidates by how they impact people who are poor.
• Challenge racism, dismantle the structures of racial injustice and white privilege still present, and seek reconciliation among all groups in our society.
• Nurture the bonds of family and community and protect the dignity of each person.
• Organize across barriers of race, denomination, and social boundaries in common commitment and action to overcome poverty in our own communities, our nation, and our world.

Leadership
Convener and President - Jim Wallis
Director of Communications and Public Policy - Nathan Wilson
Membership Coordinator - Ralph Gunn

Basic Facts
Call to Renewal specifically develops and supports connections between the following constituencies:  Evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Catholics, Historic Black Churches (e.g. AME and PNBC), Historic Peace Churches (e.g. Mennonites and Quakers), Pentecostals and major faith-based organizations. The Call to Renewal's Cry for Renewal currently has closed to one hundred initiating endorsers, and the list is growing. 

Location
Call to Renewal
2401 15th Street Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20009
Phone (800) 523-2773
Fax (202) 328-6797