This study is based on the United Methodist Bishops' Letter Community With Children and the Poor, it was prepared by the Task Force for the Bishops' Initiative on Children and Poverty.

The Bishops’ Initiative on Children and Poverty has three objectives: (1) reshape the United Methodist Church in response to God who is among “the least of these”; (2) provide resources for understanding the crisis among children and the impoverished and enable the Church to respond to them; (3) proclaim in word and deed the gospel of God’s redeeming, reconciling, and transforming grace in Jesus Christ to and with the children and those oppressed by poverty. The study guide has two goals: (1) to help congregations understand and explore the issues that are discussed in the document; and (2) to help congregations create opportunities for God’s grace to work in the lives of individuals and in the life of the church, the community, and the world.

This six-session study provides help for churches who are seeking to implement the goals of the Bishops' Initiative on Children and Poverty. Designed to be used in small group settings, the study challenges participants to examine the life of their own congregation and to stretch their vision beyond the local congregation to look at systemic and global issues in the light of the Scriptures as informed by our Wesleyan heritage.