With so much information out there, it can be difficult to know the most accurate statistics for measuring hunger and poverty. But knowing the data about what is happening can go a long way to helping us talk about the issues accurately and craft effective, forward-looking responses. For those who share with their congregation information about hunger and poverty, these numbers can also be helpful in putting together presentations or workshops.

Below, we have compiled the data from the most reliable sources we have for official numbers on poverty and hunger in the United States and around the world. You can download the slides to put directly into a presentation or use the numbers in your communications and work. You can also download the entire Power Point presentation at the link at the end.

ELCA World Hunger relies on several sources for data:

• US Poverty – the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, compiled annually;
• US Food Security – the US Department of Agriculture’s annual “Food Security in the US” report;
• Global Hunger – the “State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” report compiled annually by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;
• Global Poverty – the World Bank’s reports on poverty worldwide

*One important note before we get started is that data are always for previous years. Below, we’ve indicated what years are being measured by the data. These are the most up-to-date statistics available from the sources. All statistics, graphs and charts come from the respective sources listed above.

U.S. Poverty

We’ll start off with data about the United States. Here are the thresholds used to measure poverty in 2017:

The poverty thresholds are reported here as averages for households by number of people. The Census Bureau takes into account the age of householders and the number of children to determine the threshold. So, for example, for a household of four, the average poverty threshold is $25,094. The range, though, is $24,944-$25,283, depending on the characteristics of the household. You can see another example in the slide under the household of a single person.

Another important point here is that the poverty thresholds differ from the poverty guidelines.

The guidelines are used to determine eligibility for certain government programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; formerly food stamps). The guidelines don’t vary based on age or number of children. The thresholds are used to measure poverty. The thresholds are based on three times the cost of a minimum food diet in 1963, adjusted for inflation.

To be considered “in poverty” in the US, a household’s income must be below the threshold.

To be considered eligible for some government assistance programs, a household’s income must be below (or below a certain multiple) of the poverty guideline.

The economy in the US has been growing in terms of employment and median income, but the data seem to point to some contradictions in this growth. Median household income has grown from 2016 to 2017, but real median earnings (wages) have declined. What explains the difference? It would seem that either people are working more hours or more people in the household are working. Both would make the household income increase while wages are decreasing.

One of the other worrisome trends is that there appears to be a good number of folks spending more money than they are making. The table above shows income before taxes, income after taxes and average annual expenditures. The red arrows indicate the comparison between income after taxes and expenditures for all households. It appears that for all income groups making less than $50,000 after taxes, their expenditures exceed their income. It isn’t until we reach the big red arrow (under the group making between $50,000 and $69,999) that the income starts to exceed expenditures.

It could be that people are misreporting their income, leaving off sources of income like government assistance. Or, it could be that people are drawing on more credit. But either way, it would appear that a great many Americans are unable to sustain their expenditures on their own income.

Here are the official numbers of people in the US with incomes below the poverty threshold:

We see a slight decrease nationally, though the number is still really high – about 39.7 million people living in poverty in 2017.

When we look at the education level of people in poverty, interestingly, the only group that saw an increase was people with at least a bachelor’s degree, though they still have the lowest rate of all people based on educational level.

U.S. Food Insecurity

Turning to food security in the United States, we can see a slight decrease from 2016 to 2017. The USDA uses the term “food insecurity” instead of “hunger” to capture more accurately the situation for most people in the US. Food insecurity means that at some point during the year, a household lacked access to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. Chronic hunger, the kind we’ll get to when we turn to global hunger, is relatively rare in the US. The phrase the USDA uses is “recurrent not chronic,” which means that households experience periods of food insecurity throughout the year, but this is usually not persistent day-to-day. For many, periods of food insecurity come at the end of the month (when benefits run out) or during seasons when work is harder to come by.

Child food insecurity in the US is really hard to measure for a couple reasons. First, children, especially young children, are usually the last people in a household to experience food insecurity. Often, adults or older children will give up their food to ensure the younger ones have enough to eat. There are also some programs specifically geared toward school-age children that can help, like the National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs. Because of the difficulty in measuring child food insecurity, the notes on the slide are carefully phrased. We can say how many children lived in households where children and adults faced food insecurity, though the data from the USDA don’t allow us to say for sure that every child in that household was food insecure.

Global Poverty

Global extreme poverty is defined as income below $1.90 per day. The numbers point to some tremendous progress since 1990, when about 35 percent of people worldwide were experiencing extreme poverty. The biggest contributor to this decline, according to the World Bank, has been economic growth, particularly in Asia. On the last slide above, you can see the poverty rate by region of the world shifting pretty drastically. In East Asia and the Pacific, the rate of poverty has gone from 60 percent in 1990 to less than 3 percent in 2015 (the most recent year.)

This has led the World Bank to conclude that “extreme poverty is increasingly becoming a Sub-Saharan African problem,” since  Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of extreme poverty and is the only region where poverty seems to be increasing.

This does tend to miss another trend in global poverty, though. Fewer and fewer people are living today in what might be called “low-income” countries. What this means is that there needs to be more of an emphasis on poverty within middle- and high-income countries. It also means that governments and organizations can no longer focus solely on “poor countries.” For the World Bank, this shift has signaled the need to measure poverty from a higher line, since participation in a labor market in a middle-income or high-income is more expensive than in a low-income country.

As an example, to get a job in a low-income country, a worker might only need food and clothing. In order to get a job in a middle-income or high-income country, however, the same worker might need internet access, a cell phone or transportation. For this reason, the World Bank has also started measuring poverty at $3.20 per day and $5.50 per day. At these lines, the global poverty rate jumps to 26.3 percent (at $3.20) and 46.0 percent (at $5.50 per day.) An important note: these lines have not replaced the $1.90 per day threshold by which global poverty is still currently measured.

Global Food Security

Global undernourishment is where we see some very concerning trends. After years of decline, we have seen a rise in global hunger over the last couple years, as the data show. The growth is slight – about 0.1 percent between 2016 and 2017 – it’s still a big shift after so much progress. There has been a much greater increase in severe hunger over the same time, from 8.9 percent in 2016 to 10.2 percent in 2017.

One of the biggest drivers of this, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) is climate change.

Climate change impacts hunger in several ways. The FAO discusses four of these. Climate change decreases:

• Food availability – When droughts and floods destroy crops, there is less food to harvest;
• Food access – When agricultural workers lose their jobs because of climactic changes, they cannot afford the little food that is available in the market;
• Food utilization – When supplies become low (see food availability), costs go up at the same time incomes of farmers are going down. Moreover, with floods and warmer weather, the conditions are ripe for increased growth of mold and bacteria;
• Stability – The health and welfare of people is deeply affected by the climate. A lack of water due to drought can exacerbate kidney problems and increase the risk of heatstroke. With a limited variety of foods available, the nutritional needs of children and adults may not be met. And when resources are scarce, people may feel the need to migrate to other areas (making them vulnerable to hunger) or conflict can erupt between communities competing for the same resources (again, making hunger more likely.)

Finally, the FAO last year started measuring nutritional outcomes of wasting and stunting, which are defined on the slide. Stunting is more closely linked to long-term undernourishment, while wasting is more closely linked to immediate spikes in undernourishment, so they are a bit different. Both are serious outcomes, though, and can indicate immediate and future needs for children who are undernourished.

Together, the statistics point to some good news, like the continued decrease in poverty both worldwide and in the US, and some challenging news, like the rise in global hunger and the millions of children still affected by stunting or wasting. But the main message to take away from this is that great progress can and has been made over the years against poverty and hunger. Now, there is a need to re-focus energies and attention to continue this progress and, especially, to prevent the rise in global hunger from continuing.

Follow this link to download the full PowerPoint presentation.

Thank you for all that we do together to respond to poverty and hunger in our world!

If you have any questions about the data presented here, please contact Ryan Cumming, program director for hunger education with ELCA World Hunger, at Ryan.Cumming@ELCA.org.

 

Youth and adults from across the ELCA joined together in Houston this summer to celebrate Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and to state boldly, “This Changes Everything!”

At the ELCA Youth Gathering this year, we had the chance to be part of that change in the lives of smallholder farmers through ELCA World Hunger’s Global Farm Challenge. Together, our church raised more than $1.1 million to provide animals, seeds, tools, training and more to our farming neighbors around the world. Thank you!

ELCA World Hunger’s Global Farm Challenge Field Experience track gave youth and adults the chance to walk through one season with smallholder farmers and to learn about the challenges – and opportunities – they face.

Now, you can share this experience with your congregation.

The guide has everything you need to lead your own track. It has instructions for each of the stations on the track, tips from ELCA World Hunger staff and printable copies of the signs you’ll need to host your own “Field Experience.” The guide is available for download for free at ELCA.org/hunger/resources.

Farming communities face a lot of challenges, but farmers also have a lot of opportunities. Together, we can learn from our farming neighbors and be part of what God is doing to end hunger for good.

Want to stay in touch with ELCA World Hunger? Sign up here and receive news, information and the latest resources from ELCA World Hunger.

 

Applying for citizenship or the right to extend your stay as an immigrant in the United States has never been the easiest process, but it’s about to get much harder for many families. This week, the United States Department of Homeland Security proposed a change in the way visas and green cards are handled. The proposed change would alter the definition of what constitutes a “public charge” and may have significant effects on our immigrant neighbors in the US.

What is a “public charge”?

Under current policies, immigrants seeking to come to or stay in the US and non-citizen residents must demonstrate that they are able to sustain themselves financially. The “public charge” rule is designed to exclude immigrants who are likely to become “public charges,” that is, who may have to rely on public assistance to support themselves and their families. Participation in certain programs is understood to be evidence that someone is likely to become (or already is) a “public charge.” Under the current policy, these programs include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, which provides a modest cash benefit to people in poverty), government-funded long-term institutional care, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI, which primarily goes to people with disabilities.)

What is the proposed change?

Under the proposed change in “public charge,” participation in many other programs will be included as negative marks against applications for admission into the US and for the extension or change in visas. If enacted, immigrants who have used the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; formerly food stamps), non-emergency Medicaid, and housing assistance (including Section 8) in the 36 months prior to application can be deemed a likely “public charge” and have their application denied. (This will be in effect after the rule is implemented. People who have used these programs prior to the rule change will not be affected.)

What will be the effects?

The consequences of the rule change could be vast. What is likely to happen is that immigrants who need the support of programs like SNAP, Medicaid, or Section 8 will not use them out of fear that it will hurt their chances at extending their visas or renewing their green card.

What is important to remember is the wide swath of residents this applies to. It’s sometimes easy for US citizens to forget the broad diversity of immigration statuses, including student visas, employment visas, and families with citizen children and non-citizen parents. Individuals and families in any of these groups potentially could be impacted by the change.

Who uses SNAP?

SNAP is one of the most reliable federal safety net programs for helping people facing food insecurity get through tough economic situations. About 11.7 percent of people in the US rely on SNAP, according to the US Census Bureau. Contrary to rhetoric that suggests people receiving public assistance don’t work, about 79 percent of households receiving SNAP in 2017 had at least one person working in the year they received benefits. By contrast, of the households which did not receive SNAP in 2017, about 86.1 percent had at least one worker. The difference is far from huge. Often, households rely on SNAP to supplemental insufficient income or to pay for food when there is no work, such as during seasonal down-times.

In terms of citizenship status, in 2017, 11.2 percent of native-born US citizens relied on SNAP, while 17.1 percent of foreign-born non-citizens received SNAP. It’s important to remember that undocumented immigrants are not eligible for SNAP benefits, and most documented non-citizens working in the US pay taxes that fund SNAP.

Learn More

As people of faith, we are called to remember our own migration (Deuteronomy 10:19) and to treat other immigrants with the same concern we would show citizens: “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:34). This proposed rule change will directly harm our neighbors as they work to build new lives in the US.

Join ELCA Advocacy and ELCA World Hunger for a webinar on Wednesday, September 26, at 3 PM ET/2 PM CT to:

• Understand Public Charge and the repercussions of the proposed rule change for immigrants;
• Hear why Lutherans are engaged on the issue; and
• Learn how you/your ministry/congregation can submit public comments.

Register for the webinar here.

 

ELCA World Hunger supports ministries around the world and here in the United States that are committed to ending hunger and poverty for good. Nothing quite captures the stories of God’s work in these communities quite like videos where viewers can hear directly from the participants and leaders.

 

Videos are also great tools for education forums, temple talks or Sunday School. To help with this, we have put together video discussion guides on ELCA World Hunger’s two newest videos: “Robyn’s Story” from Massachusetts and “Kanchan’s Story” from India.

Each guide features discussion questions and an outline of a “think-pair-share” model for conversation that can deepen your time together. Each guide also features snippets from ELCA social teaching documents that can help your group connect the stories in the videos with their Lutheran faith.

The guides are designed for study group sessions of up to 45 minutes, though they can be adapted for shorter sessions. The information in them can also be used to guide short temple talks to highlight the work our church supports together through ELCA World Hunger.

Robyn’s Story – Northampton, Massachusetts

Hunger and poverty are symptoms of a deeper brokenness within communities that leaves many of our neighbors without access to the resources they need. Ending hunger in the long-term means both providing food now – and restoring supportive, mutual relationships for the future. At Cathedral in the Night, a ministry supported by ELCA World Hunger, guests come together for worship, prayer and food to be fed spiritually and physically.

In this video, military veteran Robyn describes how the community at Cathedral in the Night has helped him rediscover and grow his gifts. In the process, he is able to meet his needs and emerge as a leader within the community.

This video discussion guide focuses on Robyn’s story and the challenges faced by many military veterans, who are often denied access to the services and support they need to thrive after their service.

Kanchan’s Story – Madhya Pradesh, India

Hunger and overall health are closely tied together. Without sufficient nutrition, children, especially, are at much higher risk of illness and death. Without sufficient healthcare, illness and injury can take time away from work and other productive activities, putting families at higher risk of hunger. Through Padhar Hospital’s Tripti project, healthcare professionals and community members are working together to end this cycle for good.

Kanchan, one of the participants in the project, shares how the project helped her get the care she needed for her son and learn how to best care for him. The video also features staff from the project sharing what their work means for the community at large.

This video discussion guide focuses on the connections between health, education and hunger by diving deeply into Kanchan’s story and the Tripti project – and helps study groups discern together the tremendous impact ministries focused on health can have.

You can find both of these guides – and other video discussion guides – at ELCA.org/hunger/resources#Stories.

For questions on the video discussion guides or other ELCA World Hunger resources, please contact Ryan Cumming, program director of hunger education, at Ryan.Cumming@ELCA.org.

 

St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church’s Lunchtime Ministry offers a warm meal, hospitality and community to neighbors in Hoboken, New Jersey. This important work is supported in part by a Domestic Hunger Grant from ELCA World Hunger. Stanley Enzweiler is the Program Manager of St. Matthew Trinity’s Lunchtime Ministry and has worked with the ministry since 2016. Below, he shares more about what this ministry means to the people of Hoboken. To apply for a Domestic Hunger Grant to support your ministry, visit ELCA.org/DomesticHungerGrants.

Everyone’s life, at some point, takes an unexpected body blow. An accident, an addiction, the loss of a job or family member. These forces come out of nowhere, and for a while, it seems like the world is against you. However, eventually someone throws you a lifeline—a good lawyer shows up, a friend makes a job offer, or time spent in the stability of everyday life heals that wound.

 

Lots of people who have come back from having their feet kicked out from under them believe that those in the worst shape—people who are homeless or living in poverty—are either lazy or helpless. “I helped myself, so why can’t you?” moralizes one person, while another shakes their head, saying, “I’ve been so fortunate, and all these poor people are just down on their luck. No one actually wants to be homeless.”

As anyone who has worked in a social service will tell you, both perspectives take it too far.  Many people in poverty have gotten the wind knocked out of them, but, unlike those in more fortunate situations, they haven’t had lifelines thrown their way. They often don’t have a stable job to begin with, or their family and friends are unable to give them a loan or a place to stay.  On the other hand, many people have simply rejected or misused the lifelines thrown to them.  And yes, some people do want to be homeless.

What I love about St. Matthew Trinity Lunchtime Ministry, a soup kitchen and drop-in center operating out of St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church in Hoboken, New Jersey, is that we don’t care about that stuff. Of the 65 or so people we serve every day, some are looking for work, some are waiting on their benefits to come in, some are about to lose their housing, and some enjoy living on the streets. But we do not screen our guests based on why they are in need. We don’t ask for your fingerprints or your ID or your immigration status. Our only requirement is respect for the people and space around you. We’ll give you a warm meal, a fresh pair of socks, and a listening ear no matter what you did last year or last night. Whatever your story is, we will welcome you.

And here’s the really amazing thing. Even if you break the rules at Lunchtime Ministry and have to leave our community for a few days, we will always welcome you back. Everyone messes up a time or two, but no one is beyond forgiveness. We are one lifeline that never goes away.

Len (pictured at left), one of our longtime guests, was generous enough to share his story with us. Born in Jersey City in 1959, he attended technical school in Texas before getting deployed to California to work as a forklift driver for the U.S. Air Force. After his honorable discharge, he stayed in California until his father died, and he returned to New Jersey to take care of his mother. She died in 2011, leaving him with nowhere to go. Although he stayed at other county shelters, a few bad decisions got him kicked out of these for life.

Len came to Lunchtime Ministry as a last resort. Although we are not an overnight shelter, he is able to get a few hours of sleep on our benches or floor during our open hours. Like many of our guests, he helps out when needed by cleaning tables, taking out the garbage and posting event flyers. He also attends church services, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and Bible study. Most of all, he is known for encouraging our volunteers with one-liners such as “This is the best food in town…and I’m not just talking about the prices!”

Like many social services, we are a community effort.  We welcome volunteers from all walks of life and enjoy partnerships with numerous other social services. Our financial support comes from various sources, including ELCA World Hunger’s Domestic Hunger Grant, whose recent gift toward our food and supply costs will assist us in continuing to dish out delicious and filling meals every day.

It’s easy to list the things that make Lunchtime Ministry unique—the food donations from restaurants as diverse as Qdoba Mexican Grill and Schnackenberg’s Luncheonette, the free haircuts on Mondays, the cardboard barn in which we collect spare change for ELCA World Hunger, the “billritos” that our chef Bill makes from scratch on Wednesdays, the guitar music half an hour before we close. But when we’re asked why our program is necessary to Hoboken, there’s only one answer: respect. For many people in town, we are the one place where they can spend a peaceful morning, the one place where they have a forgiving community, the one place where they can go when they have burned all their other bridges.  In Len’s words:

“A little respect goes a long way.  A lot of respect could be eternal.”

This week, ELCA World Hunger and ELCA Global Mission staff are visiting with companions in Malawi, learning more about the great work local volunteers and leaders are doing with support from ELCA World Hunger. Below, David Mills, the program director for budget and operations on the Diakonia team in the ELCA’s Global Mission unit, shares one of the stories he has heard during the visit.

Alppha Banda, Kristina Stephano, Dorothy Ngamira, Irene Banda, and Martha Kamphata all have children attending the Chibothel Lutheran Nursery School, operated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi. This school, with an enrollment of 42 students, serves as the base for a feeding center for children supported by ELCA World Hunger.

Every school day, Alppha, Kristina, Dorothy, Irene and Martha show up as volunteers to cook for nearly 70 children aged six months to five years who travel to Chibothel from the surrounding ten villages. Pooling resources, they prepare food that has been donated, cup by cup, from the families of the children.

And because of ELCA World Hunger, food is provided not only when families have enough to contribute, but year-round, even during the months of October to January when food is most scarce in the region.

When we asked Dorothy what inspires the group to devote themselves in service to these children, she said, “Each and every child here is everyone’s child through the bond of love.”

When you support ELCA World Hunger, your support does not stand alone. It buttresses the sacrificial efforts of women like Alppha, Kristina, Dorothy, Irene, and Martha (and their fellow community members) who work relentlessly to ensure that every child in their community has opportunity.

The support we offer together through ELCA World Hunger isn’t about instilling determination, nor compensating for a lack of ingenuity or motivation among our neighbors. Rather, it is a reflection of the ELCA’s commitment to walk alongside communities in Malawi and around the world through our companion church partners, knowing that we will go further together, and that we can only be transformed in relationship with one another.

You can learn more about how to support ELCA World Hunger projects supporting health and wellness in Malawi through ELCA World Hunger’s “40 Days of Giving” by visiting the site here: http://elca.org/40days.

As we journey toward Easter, ELCA World Hunger’s “40 Days of Giving” is an important opportunity to remember that we do not journey alone.

 

After a lifetime of Sundays, worship can seem so rote, so mechanical. Sermon lessons blend together, and we can float through liturgy on autopilot. But as I was reminded this weekend, once in a while something as simple as a children’s sermon can catch us off-guard, grab us, and force us to pay closer attention.

This Transfiguration Sunday, in preparation for Lent, the congregation I was with watched as the pastor gathered the children in front of the altar. Posted on the railings were hand-written signs proclaiming “Alleluia.” The pastor clutched her guitar while talking with the children about the meaning of the word and asked them about when they had heard it before in worship. Then she explained what would happen this week, when “Alleluia” is excised from our sacred speech as we journey through Lent.

She presented them with a box and invited them to remove the signs and place them therein. Then, she rose and began strumming an “Alleluia” verse as the children placed the colorful signs in the monochrome chest, burying the “Alleluia” until Easter.

This wasn’t new or novel. Lutheran churches around the world will do the same this week. The children’s sermon and that final ritual was seasonally appropriate, liturgically relevant. Catechetically sound. And it was also one of the saddest sights I have seen on a Sunday morning. Each child carefully laid a handmade sign in the box, and on that Transfiguration Day, the signs became lifeless, the box like a tomb. In that moment, the death toward which we will accompany Jesus this season became real, and with it the many deaths that have come after Jesus’ own.

The simple act of youth during that children’s sermon was a powerful ritual, made all the more poignant by the lilting tune the pastor strummed and sang. It was as if the juxtaposition of the happy tune and the grave act encapsulated all the tension and paradox within Lutheran faith. It was profoundly solemn and somber, even as the pastor held out hope for the opening of the box on Easter. It was a sermon for the disciples in the shadow of the cross, who lose their innocence as their Messiah is tried and convicted. It was a sermon about the deep sorrow of Lent, and the deeper sorrow of God for a fallen world. It was a children’s sermon for people who can no longer be children.

It recalled to me the millions of children who must keep their own “Alleluias” buried all year round:

• In 2016 (the last year for which we have data), children in nearly 300,000 households across the United States didn’t know where their next meal would come from.
• On a single night in January 2017, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s point-in-time count found nearly 110,000 children living with families that were homeless. Another 4,800 children under age 18 were unaccompanied by any adult and homeless.
• The World Health Organization estimates that malnutrition was a factor in 45 percent of the 5.6 million deaths of children under the age of five in 2016.
• UNICEF estimates that 50 million children around the world are “on the move” – fleeing violence, disaster, and poverty as refugees or migrants.

As we bury the “Alleluia” in our congregations this week, as we journey through Lent with its sacrifice, repentance, and critical self-examination, our world longs for the “Alleluia” that will not remain buried. Seeing this ritual play out so vividly at the foot of the altar this Sunday, I was reminded why we do this – why we accompany our neighbors in need, why we strive for a world where all are fed, and why we refuse to believe that this is an impossible goal. We do this because we know we must know we cling in faith to that promise that the “Alleluia” must not, cannot, and shall not stay buried forever. That in life, there is death, and in death there is life. We do this because we know that, outside the rhythm of our liturgical season, the “Alleluia” has been released forever by the resurrection of Christ, so that no shout of joy ought to be stifled by hunger, silenced by injustice, or hidden by pain. We know that God’s intention is for our “Alleluia” to resound – forcefully, loudly, boldly – now, in this world, in this time.

As we reflect on the buried “Alleluia” this Lent, we also remember that grace continues to abound in our world through God’s continued work through our church and our neighbors:

• Through the Lutheran Church in Rwanda’s “Integrated Child Support and Welfare” project, more than 130 vulnerable children received the financial support they needed to continue their education in 2017;
• Last year, 25 beehives provided by the Lutheran Conference and Mission Home produced over 660 pounds of honey, which Roma families in Hungary used to earn stable income and provide for their children;
• In 2016, Boise Rescue Mission Ministries in Idaho served nearly 350,000 meals to people in need and helped 600 individuals transition from homelessness to independent living. This life-changing work will continue in 2018.

All of these ministries – and nearly 600 more – were supported last year by gifts to ELCA World Hunger. And all of them bear prophetic witness against the injustice and exclusion that can bury cries of joy beneath mounting need.

Even as we reflect on sin, death and our dependence on God in Lent – even as we ritually bury the “Alleluia” in our sanctuaries, we know that God’s work in the world continues. The work of ending hunger goes on with faith in a promised future where all will be fed. We share in God’s work with hope, joy and faith. And we do this work because we know by faith that when it comes to the seemingly insurmountable problems of hunger, poverty, and human need, God will have the final word. And that word will be “Alleluia!”

Ryan P. Cumming, Ph.D., is the program director of hunger education with ELCA World Hunger. He can be reached at Ryan.Cumming@ELCA.org.

 

³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)

This is probably going to sound odd coming from someone who works for an anti-hunger ministry, but I cringe nearly every time someone cites Matthew 25. It’s impossible to avoid, much as I try. It isn’t that I have anything against the author of the Gospel (though, really, isn’t Mark more exciting?) But the chapter is cited uncritically so often that it becomes tedious, like the cloying relative who corners you at every holiday, leaving you searching for distractions anywhere and everywhere. Yet, in the last month, I have heard not one but two presenters draw on this troublesome chapter and, through their words, force me to re-think my distaste for it.

Some of the problems with the passage are intrinsic to the words themselves. “The least of these”? Really? We should feed people who hunger, clothe people who are naked, give drink to those who thirst and fellowship to those ill or imprisoned because they are “the least”? The “least” what? The least deserving? The least important? The least powerful? No one in their right mind wants to be considered “the least of these.”

Then, there’s the whole problem of whom Jesus is talking about. Most often, modern uses of Matthew 25 seem to imply that “the least of these” includes anyone in need (or, anyone who might be considered “least” by any measurable standard, however idiosyncratic it might be.) But there are some reasons to believe that Jesus didn’t mean “anyone in need” here. Many biblical scholars point out similarities between Matthew 25 and Matthew 10, noting that Jesus may be referring here to how people are to treat his disciples. So, this passage might have more to do with how we are to treat followers of Jesus than it is about how we are to treat neighbors who are hungry, thirsty, naked or imprisoned. (Or, it might not. That’s how biblical interpretation rolls.)

Still, even these are not the things that trouble me the most when I hear Matthew 25, especially among Lutherans. The biggest problem I have is how quickly we turn from the gospel message of grace back to the law. Matthew 25 is too often set up as a legalistic charter for determining who gets saved and who doesn’t.

The passage itself seems to set this up – you’re either a sheep or a goat. And as the old children’s song goes, “I don’t wanna be a goat – nope…I just wanna be a sheep – baa.”

 

The goats are destined for afterlife apart from God, while the sheep will enjoy eternal fellowship with the Savior and Creator. Which side we’re on will be determined, it seems, by how or whether we do the stuff Matthew’s Jesus tells us to. How quickly we slide from saying that the Christ event reveals God’s grace to us, who have been convicted by the Law and freed by gift, to saying that there still exists a litmus test of obedience that determines our salvation.

We don’t get to have it both ways. We don’t get to say we are saved by grace and then say that if we don’t act in a certain way, we won’t be saved. It doesn’t work like that.

But does that mean that none of the works listed in Matthew 25 matter? Of course not. Jesus is clear that as we encounter the neighbor in need, we are encountering the Christ. There is something here about how we see the face of God, how we serve God, how we participate in God’s being in the world. And that’s worth paying attention to, though maybe not in the ways we have paid attention to it in the past.

Being saved by grace, as Martin Luther made clear, doesn’t free us from works but from false ideas about works, namely the false idea that works can save us. Too often, we lose sight of this when it comes to Matthew 25, and we start tossing it around as a new law. But it isn’t a new law or to-do list for the anti-goat crowd. Matthew 25 is not a Carnegie seminar for getting into Heaven. It’s a treasure map for finding God. If we are to stay true to the message of the gospel, indeed, the message of all of Scripture, the key is that God is to be found in places of need and among people in need. Maybe “least” here means “least expected.”

 

Grace impels us to seek God in our midst. St. Augustine characterized love as the pursuit of the object of our love. We pursue what we love. The beloved draws the lover to it. Love of God means being drawn to God – and to all that God loves. We moderns then ask the question, “How can we love what we cannot see?” Matthew’s answer is rather straightforward: you can see God! You see God every time you see your neighbor, especially when you see your neighbor in need. In a strange parallel to the preteen Jesus, I imagine the resurrected Christ saying in exasperation, “Didn’t you know I would be out on my Father’s streets?”  Where else would we find the crucified God than among the “crucified people”?

Seen this way, the passage makes much more sense to me. It stops being about whether we’re sheep or goats, or whether we’re “least” or “more.” Those kinds of hierarchies make it difficult to envision ministry as mutual. It also makes it difficult to encourage authentic service of our neighbors that goes beyond begrudging obedience. But if we start with grace and then do our interpretation, there is so much more to be gained. (Ain’t that always the truth?) Grace changes our service from begrudging acceptance of a task to joyful embrace of a mission. It transforms the neighbor, too – from a tool for our own salvation to a complex reflection of Emmanuel (literally, “God with us.”)

If we read Matthew’s chapter through a lens of grace and allow it to shape ministry in such a way that we see our neighbors as visible manifestations of the living God, maybe there’s hope for this passage yet. And maybe there’s hope for us, as we learn ever-deeper ways to live out our faith in an increasingly needy world.

 

Ryan P. Cumming, Ph.D., is the (often ornery) program director of hunger education for ELCA World Hunger. He can be reached at Ryan.Cumming@ELCA.org.

 

It’s hard to believe, but summer is just around the corner, and ELCA World Hunger is happy to announce that “God’s Good Creation,” our new Vacation Bible School program for 2018, is now available!

“God’s Good Creation” is a free resource available in both print and as a download. The curriculum invites children of all ages to explore the many gifts God has given our world – and the ways these gifts can help end hunger. Each day focuses on a different animal that is part of the more than 200 projects supported by ELCA World Hunger around the world, including chicks, goats and bees. Rooted in Lutheran theology, children will learn how God has called them to use their gifts to help their neighbors. In addition to daily plans for up to three hours, the program also includes sample schedules, tips for including children of all abilities and song suggestions.

Themes for Each Day:

• Day One – God created the world, and it is good (Genesis 1:31).
• Day Two – God can use you whatever size you are (Matthew 13:31-32).
• Day Three – God Made everyone different and important (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
• Day Four – Jesus uses us to bring miracles to life (Matthew 14:20).
• Day Five – Working together, we can change the world (Ephesians 4:11-12).

Each day begins with a large group opening, including a skit to introduce the daily theme and the animal of the day. This is followed by “family time” – small group sessions to dig deeper into the theme and bible verse for each day. Then, participants travel through five rotations: crafts, games, snacks, storytelling and a “simulation station” – a fun activity to learn more about hunger and how our faith calls us to respond. (Special shout-out to Lisa Cornwell of Christ the Servant Lutheran Church in Bellingham, Wash., for this idea!) At the storytelling station, children will hear about some of the ways animals are helping our neighbors fight hunger in their communities through projects supported by gifts to ELCA World Hunger. Each day ends with a large group session to recap the theme and lessons.

The program is designed to be flexible and can be used in full or in part for three- or four-day VBS programs. The stories and activities are also perfect for Sunday School, family faith formation and children’s sermons throughout the year!

Free posters and downloadable certificates for participants will be available soon!

If you have any questions about “God’s Good Creation” or ELCA World Hunger’s educational resources, please contact Ryan Cumming, program director of hunger education, at Ryan.Cumming@ELCA.org.

 

Witticisms about college students surviving on cheap noodles and coffee abound, but hunger on campus and off campus is no laughing matter. Just ask the student leaders at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.

With support from an ELCA World Hunger Education and Networking grant, students at Augustana, an ELCA-affiliated institution, launched a new effort to address hunger on campus and in the surrounding community in 2016. The Augustana College Campus Kitchen is affiliated with The Campus Kitchens Project, a national nonprofit and partner of ELCA World Hunger. CKP facilitates student-led initiatives on campuses across the country to target food waste and hunger. Students provide a way for excess food from dining services and other on-campus sources to be distributed to people in need.

At Augustana, the Campus Kitchen student leadership team saw early on that hunger is not just a problem off-campus. Many students themselves face food insecurity and often find it difficult to access the nutritious food they need to get through school and work. In fact, a 2016 study by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness found 48 percent of respondents reported being food insecure in the 30 days prior to being surveyed.

The Augustana College Campus Kitchen began their work by hosting community meals for fellow students. But they didn’t stop there. Below is an update from Lauren Clapp, a member of the leadership team, detailing some of the great work they have been doing the past year. Lauren is a junior majoring in Art History and Communication Studies and is the Education Coordinator for the Augustana College Campus Kitchen. Next year, she will be President of the chapter. Lauren designed and launched the Sticker Program with the help of the leadership team and advisory board and the support of faculty and staff on campus.

Hello from the Augustana College Campus Kitchen!

Community Meals

The meals we offer have been a great success so far and have made a big impact on campus. We have heard from some students that these meals are one of the few times they have access to healthy, sufficient food. We have had two already this year and are amping up for a third very soon. During our second meal we served a record number of 233 meals to students on campus, bringing our total number of meals served to 888 meals since our launch November 2016. Of those 888 meals served, 830 pounds of the food was recovered from our campus dining center! This next meal we are looking forward to hopefully breaking our previous record of 233 meals!

Campus Cupboard

This past term the student leadership team at Augustana launched our Campus Cupboard in collaboration with another organization on campus. So far the Cupboard has received 3,611 of pounds in food donations and given out 2,290 pounds. The cupboard is open 4 hours a week and averages about 36 students per week. As the cupboard’s presence on campus continues to grow we are excited to see what the future will look like!

#starvethestigma

We also know that the stigma about hunger on campus is significant, so we launched a Sticker Program to help raise awareness and reduce stigma. The sticker program is a 45-minute training program for faculty and staff of Augustana College. The program addresses what food insecurity is, what it looks like in the community and on campus, how to address the issue among students, and how to be a resource for those seeking help. Upon completion of the program the faculty or staff member receives a sticker to put on the outside of their office space to let students know they have been through the training and are dedicated to addressing the issue of food insecurity on campus.

This year, while studying abroad in England, I was able to take my Campus Kitchens Sticker Program sticker along and get some wonderful pictures in different locations that our team was able to use on social media and in advertising for the program.

 

In terms of the future, the Augustana College Campus Kitchens will be presenting the Sticker Program two more times this year to educate our faculty and staff on what food insecurity is, what it looks like on our campus and how they can be resources for the students. We are also looking into attending CKP’s Food Waste and Hunger Summit again this year in March and are hoping to send more than one of our leadership team members. After attending last year with ELCA World Hunger, I returned with enough enthusiasm and information that our entire leadership team is hoping to go and experience the fun!

Thanks to Lauren for sharing this update with us, and to the team at Augustana for their hard work in ending hunger! Check back for more updates to follow their work. 

Follow the Augustana College Campus Kitchen on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/CampusKitchenatAugustana/