Worldwide campaign to reduce poverty launched

WASHINGTON — A worldwide campaign of evangelical Christian churches and relief organizations has been launched to urge governments to reduce the levels of poverty by half by the year 2015.

The Micah Challenge anti-poverty campaign was formally announced Oct. 15 at the United Nations by Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, South Africa.

World Evangelical Alliance, an Edmonds, Washington-based umbrella group of churches in more than 100 countries, and an additional network of 260 Christian relief and development agencies are leading the campaign. Baptist Aid, the relief arm of the Baptist World Alliance, is among the participants.

National related efforts are being created in the United Kingdom, Australia, Peru, Canada, Bangladesh, India and Zambia. Their efforts aim to hold United Nations members to their pledge to reduce by half the proportion of people who live on less than a dollar a day between the years 1990 and 2015.

“Christians can play a vital role in helping global leaders meet their commitments,” Ndungane said.