"58: The Film" premieres in Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids, MI is one of the locations selected to premiere 58: The Film, a documentary that invites audiences to discover the incredible work of God through His people in our hurting world. Meet ordinary people, hear their stories, and see their struggles and their victories as 58: shows the relentlessly loving God at work through His Church bringing hope to the darkest challenges of our day. Experience eye-opening reasons to lift our expectations of the future.

Woven with Biblical truth, this film draws audiences into life-changing examples of the True Fast of Isaiah 58 – a young British woman prevailing over the pressures of consumer society, Ethiopian Christians working to restore their environment, an American business owner promoting Fair Trade coffee and connecting his local community with the work of ending poverty, a local pastor in India working to be a Good Samaritan to those enslaved by bonded labor, and the sacrificial generosity of New York youth giving up their own food for the sake of those with even less. These impatient revolutionaries and ordinary prophets present viewers with an empowering vision of the Church rising up to its remarkable potential to end extreme poverty, by bringing God’s words through Isaiah to life in our time, in our day.

Grand Rapids was chosen in part because it is the location of CRWRC's U.S. headquarters. CRWRC, with 50 years of experience in international community development, is one of ten anti-poverty organizations that comprise the 58: Council. Live 58: seeks to reduce global poverty by helping developing countries build a broad range of capital—natural, human, social, financial, and leadership—and combining them with fair access to markets that can stimulate growth. The strategy’s “engines of investment” combine the work of three societal sectors--government, business, and faith-based structures—as for the strategic framework. The alliance’s goal to reduce extreme poverty from 26% in 2005 to 1% in 2035 is based in part based on World Bank Data that indicates a 24% drop in the number of people living in extreme poverty from 1981to 2005. (2009 World Development Indicators, World Bank)

Church leaders and those interested in how the church can get involved in fighting poverty are invited to attend 58: The Film. Tickets are free but quantities are limited and must be reserved online.