By Justin Rabbach

Have you been looking for a way to engage groups and enhance volunteer activities? Check out this new resource from ELCA World Hunger!

Digging In: A Leader’s Guide to Service Learning is designed to help you plan your next service opportunity. This guide was developed in consultation with the Service and Learning Leadership Team, a group that has studied and worked on developing meaningful service learning experiences.  This guide is organized into four steps (Preparation, Action, Reflection and Celebration) and will walk you through how to make the most out of your group’s service project. Using this model will help guide your group to dig into the deeper learning that service opportunities have to offer. You will learn how to apply what you learn in other contexts, and how to share your learning with your congregation.

In addition to the leader’s guide, placemat resources have been developed that act as a worksheet and summarize the work of ELCA World Hunger. The placemat highlights areas of work and the comprehensive approach ELCA World Hunger uses to address the root causes of hunger and poverty. Then, flip it over and each participant can walk through the four steps of service learning as it applies to the specific service opportunity. Together with the field guide this resource is a great way to prepare for your activity, and to have a tangible reflection piece that will help you to share about your experience and how it relates to the collective work of the church to eradicate hunger and poverty through ELCA World Hunger. Order or download it now on the resource store at elca.org/hunger!

Justin Rabbach is the Youth Group Organizer for ELCA World Hunger.

We’ve asked Ryan Cumming, new Director for Hunger Education to introduce himself. Welcome Ryan!

I should tell you from the outset that I’m not very good at autobiography. When doing research, we are trained to remove ourselves as much as possible from our writing – to be objective or detached. Of course, that’s never really the case.  It’s not even ideal. Detached work of any kind is passionless work.  The most compelling work – whether it is writing or any other type – is the work shaped by personal experience, by the story of a person called to it.  (On this, I highly recommend the recent book Theologians in Their Own Words by Derek Nelson, Joshua Moritz, and Ted Peters.) As I have begun my new position as Director for Hunger Education for ELCA World Hunger, the most interesting part of my job has been listening to the stories of the hard-working, passionate people with whom I work. All of my colleagues bring their experiences, wisdom, and faith to bear on their work for the church, and I am fortunate to count myself among them.  Each of us has followed a different path that has led us to work in the church as community organizers, fundraisers, networkers, educators, pastors, and so on.

Maybe my story might include the various jobs I have had, from truck driver to factory worker to movie extra to college professor. None of these roles, though, is quite as important as the moment I “discovered” faith at Capital University, which might sound odd coming from a lifelong Lutheran involved in church activities since childhood. At “Cap,” I saw a faith that was far from comforting.  It was challenging, it refused to give all of the answers. This was a faith that accepted tension and that forced me to wrestle with it. It was the faith of St. Augustine, writing his Confessions, or Martin Luther making his stand. This Lutheran faith pulls us into a world filled with ambiguity, anguish, suffering, and injustice and tells us, “Find grace. It is here.”

In my work, it is impossible to ignore the sin that allows millions to suffer and die from lack of food or clean water or medicine. But it is equally impossible to ignore the grace that moves congregations to serve meals, that shapes our public advocacy, that supports new mission starts and global and local initiatives to confront suffering effectively.  This work is done by folks with diverse stories, who are drawn together by their faith and their commitment to accompany one another in confronting despair with hope, anguish with relief, marginalization with solidarity, and the reality of sin with the power of grace.  I am blessed to be part of our work together, and I look forward to hearing your stories and sharing in the work God does with our hands.

Ryan Cumming is the Director of Hunger Education for ELCA World Hunger.

By Brittani Lamb

As my time at ELCA World Hunger comes to a close, I’ve been thinking a lot about what this experience has meant to me. I decided to do this internship not only because it complements my social work education well, but also because I wanted to strengthen my connection to the church. As a life-long Lutheran, I’ve never been too far from the church. I was an active participant in my home congregation and synod growing up. I attended the National Youth Gathering in New Orleans and went as a voting delegate to the Churchwide Assembly in 2009. I chose St. Olaf in part because it is a Lutheran college. I also worked at a Lutheran camp for two summers. I strongly believe my life has only been enriched by these experiences, but I still felt there was a piece missing in my spiritual life.

I’m sure many of you have read the recent CNN article that has gone viral on Facebook and other sites titled “Why Millennials Are Leaving the Church.” While I am not one of the millennials who is leaving, I do see many connections in this article to my own feelings towards the church and the things I see among my peers. One thing that stood out to me the most was this: “We’re not leaving the church because we don’t find the cool factor there; we’re leaving the church because we don’t find Jesus there.” While I don’t agree with this statement, I definitely know of people who do. I have been blessed with rich opportunities such as this internship and others that have given me a chance to truly see Jesus in the church, but I can see how others don’t. There are places in the church where we don’t always act in a way Jesus would have.

One thing my generation (and others who are leaving the church) really wants to see is the justice that Jesus lived out. This is the piece that I felt was missing from my spirituality. Now, I have made that connection through ELCA World Hunger. This summer I have seen and become involved in what the church is doing to work for justice in the United States and across the world. I have also seen how things that don’t seem directly connected to justice (like fundraising or sitting in a cubicle responding to emails all day) are integral to justice work and equally important. Something I really appreciate about the church that I have seen here this summer is that everyone has the attitude that they are working for and with the church and are a part of God’s work. It is truly inspiring to see people living out their vocation every day.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has supported me this summer and all those who support ELCA World Hunger. Working here has truly been a blessing and I can’t wait to see where this experience leads me next!

This is Brittani  Lamb’s final post as an intern for ELCA World Hunger.