New YouVersion Bible Study

YouVersion has published a Bible study by Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon in partnership with TearFund. The study is a step-by-step journey with Jesus from apathy to advocacy. We can tend to be apathetic about brokenness in the world when we live apart from others. But Jesus calls us to engage, to respond, and to allow our hearts to be broken as we pursue a path toward biblical engagement and advocacy.

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Social Justice

An Award Winning Resource for a Better World

Mae Elise Cannon provides a comprehensive resource for Christians like you who are committed to social justice. She presents biblical rationale for justice and explains a variety of Christian approaches to doing justice. Tracing the history of Christians in social engagement, she lifts out role models and examples from the Great Awakenings to the civil rights movement. A wide-ranging catalog of topics and issues give background info about justice issues at home and abroad.

This handbook includes dozens of practical exercises for taking action, as well as profiles of key figures and movements like William Wilberforce, the Salvation Army and Bono, highlighting how Christians and churches can make a difference. Also included are spiritual practices and resources to help us move from immobility to advocacy.

"This is a cookbook for plotting goodness and stirring up holy mischief. Take a look and find a recipe for revolution. Then let us take it to the streets--interrupting injustice with grace, surprising the world with joy and whispering God's love to a broken world."

- Shane Claiborne, activist, author and lover, www.thesimpleway.org

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Spiritual Formation

How Faith Practices Fuel Social Action

Activist and historian Mae Elise Cannon explores the direct connection between Christians' personal relationship with God and outward actions of kindness, mercy, compassion and advocacy. She looks at how notable Christian leaders were able to face societal challenges because of the rich depths of their spiritual practices.

For example:

Mother Teresa's practice of silence compelled her to service.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer's prayer life equipped his discipleship.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s beloved community empowered his proclamation.
Oscar Romero's discipline of submission prepared him to face martyrdom.

Biographical profiles of these and other key figures from around the world give us concrete examples of how activism and advocacy can be sustained over the long haul.

"Jesus' gospel is a call to action. The gospel requires us to right wrongs, to heal the broken places of this world. Mae Cannon is doing just that. Read this book for its rich wisdom that fuels activism like Mae's—the kind of activism needed in our world's toughest places."

- Richard Stearns, president, World Vision, author, The Hole in Our Gospel

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Beyond Hashtags

Liberation

Holy Land

Christian Perspectives on the Holy Land

A Land Full of God gives American Christians an opportunity to promote peace and justice in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It shows them how to understand the enmity with brief, digestible, and comprehensive essays about the historical, political, religious, and geographical tensions that have led to many of the dynamics we see today. All the while, A Land Full of God walks readers through a biblical perspective of God's heart for Israel and the historic suffering of the Jewish people, while also remaining sensitive to the experience and suffering of Palestinians. The prevailing wave of Christian voices are seeking a pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, pro-peace, pro-justice, pro-poor, and ultimately pro-Jesus approach to bring resolution to the conflict.

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Holy Land

Bio

Biography

Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon

Cannon has served as Executive Director with Churches for Middle East Peace since 2016. An ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), her ministry and professional background includes serving as the Senior Director of Advocacy and Outreach for World Vision-US, the executive pastor of Hillside Covenant Church (Walnut Creek, California), Director of Development and Transformation for Extension Ministries at Willow Creek Community Church (Barrington, Illinois), and as a consultant to the Middle East for child advocacy issues for Compassion International.

She earned doctorates in History (Ph.D) and Spiritual Formation (D. Min). Her Ph.D focused on American History with the minor in Middle Eastern studies from the University of California – Davis, focusing her dissertation on the history of the American Protestant church in Israel and Palestine. Cannon’s Doctorate of Ministry in Spiritual Formation is from Northern Theological Seminary. Cannon holds an M.Div. From North Park Theological Seminary, an M.B.A. from North Park University’s School of Business and Nonprofit Management, and an M.A. in bioethics from Trinity International University. Cannon completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Chicago in History, Philosophy, Social Studies, of Science and Medicine.

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Leading Advocacy for Peace in the Middle East

Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) is a coalition of more than 30 national Church communions and organizations working to encourage U.S. policies that actively promote just, lasting, and comprehensive resolutions to conflicts in the Middle East.

Recent Articles and Recordings

Religious Freedom; Violence

Violence Against Christians: Degradation of the Sacred and the Holy in Jerusalem

Do Justice

September 8, 2023

He was spat upon when coming out of a worship service

Humanitarian

The Worst Famine Today Is Largely Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Christians for Social Action

June 27, 2023

One of the most devastating food crises in the world is mainly out-of-sight-out-of-mind for Americans. Most Americans probably could not easily find...

Women; Armenia

The Unknown Saint of Armenia – The Devout and Beautiful Hrispime

Prayers4Peace Blog

July 26, 2023

My favorite piece of Armenian history is that of Saint Hripsime (pronounced Rip-se-may). Hripsime lived during the third century, a beautiful woman who escaped from the clutches of an evil emperor

Justice; Palestine

Allahu Akbar - Finding God in Umm El Kheir

Do Justice

May 1, 2023

Over the past decade, every time I traveled to the Palestinian bedouin village of Umm El Kheir in the South Hebron hills, I was greeted by the village Sheik