The bishops of the Fellowship of SC Bishops (Lutheran, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, United Methodist judicatories) have come together in an ecumenical initiative to support a flourishing public education system in South Carolina. Our initiative is a state-wide effort by us as religious leaders to engage our approximately 1,600 churches and their 500,000 members in personal support of the poorest children in our state, so that they may receive the full benefits of a good education.
What is at stake for us is nothing less than our recognition of God’s image implanted in the life of every child regardless of the circumstances of his or her birth and our call to give every child the opportunity to develop and us their God-given gifts for their own abundance of life and for the health and wellness of the larger human community.
Our initiative is enrolling members as tutors, mentors and advocates across the state in every school district in South Carolina.
We learned that we can make a profound difference in the lives of literally thousands of South Carolina children living in poverty by supporting them and their parents directly in the educational project over a long period of time.
It has become equally clear that we cannot build or maintain schools, transportation networks to get children to their schools, or to provide salary structures in all districts that give these children access to the best teachers over a long period of time.
To facilitate our work we have engaged The Reverend Susan Heath as the statewide coordinator of our initiative, whom many of you know and who is becoming known to many across the state for her tireless efforts in support of this work.
Fellowship of SC Bishops Participating Member Bodies:
South Carolina Synod, ELCA www.scsynod.com
Episcopal Church in South Carolina www.episcopalchurchsc.org
Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina www.edusc.org
Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston www.catholic-doc.org
South Carolina Annual Conference UMC www.umcsc.org
