Greetings Hunger Leaders,
Below you will find ELCA World Hunger resource suggestions for the 2026 season of ELCA Synod Assemblies and congregational engagement! Please feel free to order printed copies or create a QR code with these resources for download. Please read to the end; there are many valuable resources here!
Lifelines
o For the World Hunger annual report please see the 2025 Fall Lifelines issue, now available for download, as a PDF and interactive flipbook, and also available for order as a physical copy. 2026 Spring Lifelines should also be available by April.
Print/Digital Resources
o If you are interested in starting a feeding ministry, this guide provides tips and strategies for planning, sourcing food, engaging volunteers, and much more. If you’re part of an existing feeding ministry, you’ll find ideas for growing, expanding or reimagining the work you’re already doing.
o This helpful guide contains tips for starting a backpack hunger relief program in your community. It was developed in partnership with ELCA congregations already engaged in backpack buddy programs across the country. Approaching your local elementary schools is also an effective way to begin identifying specific needs in your community.
Know Your Neighborhood: Worksheet and Guide
o This guide provides suggestions for finding data related to several areas that impact food security: housing, employment and food access. Data can help you and others know more about the challenges our neighbors face and the assets available in a community.
o “At the Table” is ELCA World Hunger’s 2025 VBS curriculum, inviting your community to learn how storytelling can make a difference in your neighborhood and the world.
“En la Mesa”/”At the Table” Bilingual English/Spanish VBS
o For the first time ever, ELCA World Hunger has a bilingual VBS. Designed to be either a traditional VBS or an intergenerational program, each day offers large- and small-group activities, crafts, games, snacks and more.
o This overnight program brings youth together to learn about the role they can play in eradicating hunger and poverty in the world.
Generation Zero-Hunger Interactive Journey Guide
o With your youth group or congregation, experience the challenges faced by a family in Nepal as they seek a sustainable livelihood with this interactive roleplaying guide. The setup is based on how ELCA World Hunger designed the track for the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering. For an intergenerational activity, consider asking a group of youth and young adults to run this experience for your community.
Many other resources can be downloaded here.
Videos
“Intersections: Justice Ministries with ELCA Partners” — an ELCA World Hunger Documentary
o “Intersections” was created to introduce the ELCA and its communities to the overlapping causes of hunger. Using the M.E.R.G.E. (Migrant, Economic, Racial, Gender, and Environmental) justice acronym as an illustration, the film follows the stories of three ELCA companion ministries and explores how the church is working at poverty’s tangled roots.
o Consider playing this video at your table or running a discussion session at your synod assembly based off the documentary. If you are interested in putting on running a discussion around the film, and have any questions, please contact Peter McLellan at peter.mclellan@elca.org.
- “We live in a hungry world” w/ Bishop Michael Rinehart
- “ELCA World Hunger in Puerto Rico” w/ Everidys Concepción
Online Course: “What is a Hunger Leader?”
- https://bit.ly/hungerleader— This 20-25-minute online learning resource introduces prospective, new, and longtime advocates to ELCA World Hunger’s ministries and invites them to join us. Through brief reflections and videos, this tool helps people in your network see themselves in the work of ending poverty. Share “What Is a Hunger Leader?” with your neighbors of any level of familiarity with anti-hunger ministry!
- Print the attached flyer to display at your synod assembly tables.
How to Order Printed Resources
- See attached flyer for how to order!
How to Create a QR Code
- Click here for a YouTube tutorial on how to create a QR code using Google Chrome web browser or Canva.
Please send us photos of your synod assembly table displays!
Thank you, and have a wonderful time at your assembly and engaging your congregations!
