Advent is a season of anticipation, but this anticipation is not passive waiting. Perhaps a better way to describe it is as a season of preparation — we prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of the Christ-child on Christmas. But more than this, Advent is a time for the church to prepare itself for the reign of God that “broke in” to human history on the first Christmas. It is a time to reflect on the year behind and consider the year ahead — and to evaluate both in light of the question: How well do the ministries of our church anticipate the coming fullness of God’s reign?

At a community meal at Unity Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, guests gather around long tables, sharing in the hot meal volunteers serve from overflowing warming trays. The room is full to bursting with families, couples and individuals. Among them are both neighbors dealing with hunger and homelessness and volunteers and visitors sharing in the evening experience. With the exception of the servers, it is impossible to tell at first glance who among the hundred or more diners is a member of which group. All dine together; every seat is an equal station in the room.

The situation in Paul’s Corinth was very different. The meal Paul writes about in his first letter to the Corinthians is a corruption of this kind of community supper. The early meal he refers to is a first-century version of Holy Communion, at which the church would share not just bread and wine but an entire meal. Historian Helen Rhee writes that this meal was a primary way the church served the community. The sacrament, while ensuring that each church member received the means of grace through the consecrated elements, also ensured that the community received the more mundane nourishment of food, particularly for those who were facing the first-century version of food insecurity.

But that wasn’t the way it was working in Corinth. The early church included both members of wealth and members in poverty, according to Rhee, and in Corinth, it appears that the former received their fill while the latter yet again were left wanting: “One is hungry and another is drunk,” Paul admonishes.

This isn’t the first time Paul has written about eating and drinking in the church. In his letter to the Galatians, by some estimates written in the year before the letter to the Corinthians, Paul recollects his brazen challenge to Peter, the apostle of Antioch: “I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned” (Galatians 2:11). Peter, who used to dine with both Jews and Gentiles, has begun to limit his gustatory activities to more exclusive parties, dining only with Jews. The reason for this, according to Paul, seems to be the presence of a group of Jews (“the circumcision party”) who felt that such intermingling was unbecoming of a Jew like Peter.

Paul disagrees — forcefully. Confronting Peter, Paul charges that his exclusive dining choices are a transgression against the gospel, which teaches that it is Christ alone who justifies and not circumcision. By refusing to eat with uncircumcised Gentiles, Peter is reverting to the belief that it is the law that proves a person worthy of a spot at the table and not the grace of Jesus Christ. And you thought choosing a lunch table in high school was hard!

For Paul, the table is a sign of the reign of God. The community gathered to eat and drink represents the community that will be gathered together in the full reconciliation of God’s coming kingdom. The church, witnessing to the “already-but-not-yet” reign of God, reflects not what is or what has been but what is to come — a banquet to which all will be welcomed and at which all will be filled. Peter’s transgression, like the error of the Corinthians, was to fail to see how the gospel they preached was to shape the life of the church here and now. For Paul, there was no clearer evidence of where the church stood on the gospel than where its members stood on meals.

Paul’s letters — and much of Scripture — invite us to think about the people who join us at our tables. But it would be too narrow a question to ask, who will dine with us this holiday season? For Paul, the dining table was a central symbol of who the church is, but there are so many “tables” at which we choose to sit — or choose not to sit. Our communities are filled with tables — places where we are invited to gather with neighbors, to stand with one another, to advocate for each other and to meet our common challenges together. Will we be like Paul, who envisioned tables as places of grace where all have a place and all are filled? Will we be like Peter, who abandoned the gospel by refusing to dine with unclean Gentiles? Will we be like the Corinthians, whose corrupted table perpetuated hunger?

The tables the church participates in reflect our beliefs about who the church is called to be and the transformation of the world God is enacting in our midst. As we look back on the year past and look ahead to the year to come, we are invited to reflect on the tables at which we sat — and the invitations awaiting us. Where is God inviting the church to be? Who is God inviting the church to be?

Questions for reflection:

• Read Galatians 2:11-21 and 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. What problems did Paul see with Peter’s practices in Antioch and the Corinthians’ practices in their community?
• Where have we been invited to be present with neighbors in our community? How have we responded?
• Where is God calling your congregation to be in the next year?

Prayer

Loving God,

you sent your Son to invite the world to the heavenly banquet, from which no one will go away hungry. Remember us in our hunger for union with you and fellowship with one another. Inspire us to join with our neighbors at tables together, where we may work together toward a just world where all are fed.

In your gracious name,

Amen.

Learn

To download this entire study, click on the cover image below. To see some of our other congregational resources, please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

Give

Gifts to ELCA World Hunger are acts of love towards our neighbors living with hunger and poverty both here and around the world. Together, we are creatively and courageously working toward a just world where all are fed.

Give now

Connect

Sign up here and receive news, information and the latest resources from ELCA World Hunger.

Advent is a season of anticipation, of waiting and of preparation. In faith, we prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of the Christ, joining the sacred journey of the holy family to the manger where the Savior will be born. Unlike the innkeeper in the Gospel of Luke, we know the guest who is coming, and prayerfully, we prepare for the Christmas morning arrival.

In the midst of this spiritual preparation, many families will be making the practical preparations for the arrival of kith and kin in their homes for the holiday festivities. The season is marked by careful planning — and lots of work! — to ready our homes for guests from near and far.

The hosting of guests in the home and at the table is a recurring event in the Bible. In one of the earliest stories, Abraham is cooling himself in the shade of the oak trees in Mamre when three strangers approach. Abraham immediately goes to meet them and invites them to stay and dine with him and Sarah. The three strangers — messengers of God on their way to Sodom — accept the invitation with a promise: Sarah, despite her advanced age, will bear a son.

It isn’t clear from the story in Genesis 18 whether Abraham knew from the start the identity of the guests he invited to his tent. For Martin Luther, the question isn’t significant. What is significant for Luther is that Abraham’s invitation is a central example of the distinctive hospitality of the people of God. Abraham’s ancestors, wanderers themselves as God brought them to the promised land, “treated all guests rather respectfully and hoped for occasions on which they themselves would associate with angels.” Luther saw in Abraham’s example a lesson for the church in all ages: In love, we are called to attend to the needs of strangers with “generous and bounteous” hospitality. To be church, for Luther, is to be “like some refuge of the exiles and the poor,” those whose well-being depends on the hospitality of others.

The uninvited guest at holiday celebrations can throw a wrench in the best-laid plans. Another place at the table must be set, another plate must be prepared. Sometimes their presence is a welcome surprise. Often, their presence is a problem that must be addressed.

How often do we treat the unexpected stranger as a problem to address rather than as a welcome surprise? Much of the rhetoric about neighbors in need makes it easy to miss the humanity of the stranger in our midst. A neighbor living in poverty becomes a statistic, a member of “the poor” whose poverty must be managed. A family seeking refuge in a new country becomes yet one more set of “migrants,” the growing numbers of which must be “dealt with.”

Around some tables this holiday season, guests will find their names written on handcrafted cards indicating their place at the table. This seemingly simple act is a powerful symbol of welcome. Here, at this table, you have an identity. You have a place. Crafting and displaying nametags is a simple yet profound act of hospitality. Hospitality, at its root, is a witness to the identity and inclusion of each person at the table. Wanderers at Mamre become “lords” at Abraham’s table. “Exiles” in Luther’s Germany become guests worth serving and protecting in the refuge of the church.

Luther links Abraham’s hospitality with the well-known line from Hebrews: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). By showing radical, abundant hospitality to the three strangers, Abraham and Sarah opened themselves up to the strangers’ revelation of their full identity as messengers of God — and to the promise of God they bring. We may not encounter angels in our community this season, but by remaining open to the strangers God sends into our midst, by keeping our spiritual “inns” open to the guests who come to our door, we can prepare for God to be revealed in the unexpected neighbors we encounter.

Hospitality means more than being polite. It means remaining open to what God is revealing to us through our neighbors — and it is a witness to the world that every neighbor is welcome at our table.

Questions for reflection

• How does Abraham’s story shape our understanding of hospitality?
• In what ways do our church and our larger community show hospitality toward strangers? do our neighbors experience our church as a refuge welcoming them in or as a fortress keeping them out?
• How can the practice of hospitality be a witness to the value and dignity of all our neighbors?

Prayer

Loving God,

you welcomed people into relationship with you while we were still sinners, stranger to your promise. Guide us to show hospitality to the neighbors in our midst, that our church may reflect the grace and love you first showed us. Let out open table give rise to open hearts that witness to the dignity and worth of all of your creation. In your gracious name, we pray.

Amen.

Learn

To download this entire study, or to see some of our other congregational resources, please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

Give

Gifts to ELCA World Hunger are acts of love towards our neighbors living with hunger and poverty both here and around the world. Together, we are creatively and courageously working toward a just world where all are fed.

Give now

Connect

Sign up here and receive news, information and the latest resources from ELCA World Hunger.

December 1 is World AIDS Day, an important occasion to remember those who have died because of this disease, to re-commit ourselves and our church to accompanying people living with HIV or AIDS, and to raise awareness to continue the fight against HIV. This World AIDS Day, Pastor Joe Larson of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Fargo, North Dak., shares his story of hope in the midst of darkness and the congregation’s ministry among neighbors living with HIV and AIDS in Minnesota and North Dakota. Their work is supported by a grant from ELCA World Hunger.

“Bringing Hope into a Dark World”

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is a favorite Advent hymn that puts into words the feelings that many of us face this time of year:

O Come, O Dayspring, come and cheer

   our spirits by your Advent here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

   and death’s dark shadows put to flight;

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

   shall come to thee O Israel.

This is an old hymn. Back in the Middle Ages, an unknown monk penned these words during a dark time. Humanity was threatened by the Black Death, wars and ignorance. Yet, out of the darkness came a beautiful song. Its haunting melody and poetic verses convey the mixture of sadness and hope that go hand-in-hand with a disease like HIV/AIDS.

I know what it’s like to create hope out of darkness. Thirty years ago, I lost a partner to AIDS. Since then, I’ve spent most of my career with programs for people living with HIV/AIDS. For 14 years, I served as executive director of the Aliveness Project, an AIDS service organization in Minneapolis that provides hot meals, a food shelf program, integrative therapies and other supportive services for people living with HIV/AIDS.

When I started serving St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Fargo nearly three years ago, I felt God’s call to continue in ministry among people living with HIV, so I reached out to Minnkota Health Project, a volunteer-led program that offers support groups and food assistance to HIV-positive individuals living in rural Minnesota and North Dakota.

Many of the group participants struggle daily with isolation, depression and chemical dependency. Some mourn loved ones who have died. Others have been rejected by their families because of their HIV status and sexual orientation. They come to the monthly meetings for the support and compassion that they cannot find anywhere else.

This year, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church received a Domestic Hunger Grant from ELCA World Hunger to provide grocery gift cards for Minnkota group members. Many of the group members lack the resources needed to cover the cost of rent, food, utilities, and medical expenses. For them, the assistance makes a tangible difference.

At their monthly meetings, I try to offer a sympathetic ear and a personal connection to St. Mark’s community. This Christmas season, congregation members are providing gifts to individuals in the group. When I asked our congregation for help, their response was immediate.

December 1, 2018, marks the thirtieth year of observing World AIDS Day, a day to remember those who have lost their lives, celebrate the progress that has been made in addressing HIV and AIDS, and to re-commit ourselves to the work that still needs to be done to reduce the prevalence of HIV and AIDS and accompany our neighbors who are living with HIV and AIDS. The people of St. Mark’s and the participants and volunteers in the Minnkota Health Project, work together to find light in the midst of the darkest nights. Their faces reflect the light of God that shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it.

Worship

Consider including pieces from the World AIDS Day worship resource in your liturgy on Sunday, December 2. You can find the ELCA World AIDS Day worship resource, bulletin inserts and more at ELCA. org/HIV.

Advocate

You can advocate for policies and programs that support prevention, testing, treatment and other important services for people living with HIV. Take action today to advocate for programs that support global health, including PEPFAR and the Global Fund.

Give

Through your gifts, ELCA World Hunger provides crucial support to ministries like St. Mark’s grocery gift card program for Minnkota members. You can support this important work by making a gift for HIV and AIDS ministries through ELCA World Hunger.

 

 

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

Every school day, Alppha, Kristina, Dorothy, Irene and Martha show up as volunteers to cook for nearly 70 children aged 6 months to 5 years who travel to Chibothel from the surrounding 10 villages. Pooling resources, the women prepare food that has been donated, cup by cup, from the families of the children.

Whether it’s daily meals of sustenance or occasional feasts of celebration, there is something special, something intrinsically communal about preparing a meal. In the 1987 film “Babette’s Feast,” the title character is a French refugee as a live-in maid and cook for two sisters. Dutifully, she prepares their austere, simple meals day-in and day-out, until one day, Babette learns she has won a lottery, making her a wealthy woman. In celebration of her newfound fortune and in thanks to her two hostesses, she prepares an elaborate meal featuring the complex and sophisticated dishes of her native French cuisine. The meal itself is almost comical, as the modest diners nervously try turtle soup, quail and caviar.

The meal is the climax of the film, but the story is as much about the preparation as the eating. Gathering the ingredients requires substantial planning and expense, including arranging for shipments of meats and cheeses from Paris. Babette has labored in the sisters’ kitchen for months, but the work she puts into preparing the feast is different. It is a performance of art, a labor of love and a pouring out of herself. Each dish reflects an aspect of the life she left behind and an element of her history that she will share with the dinner guests.

To prepare a meal is to conjure elements of our own selves and our history of family recipes and cultural tastes and to share these in the creation of something new — a new table, a new experience for guests. It is to invite them into our past, to experience our memories of family dinners from years gone by, and into our present, to see part of who we are. Sharing a meal is sharing a piece of our stories as a gift to others.

For the fictional character Babette, the meal is an invitation into her past and an expression of love and welcome to the other characters in the film. For the women of Chibothel Lutheran Nursery School, the pooling of ingredients from across the community and the careful preparation of the students’ repast is a witness to the love for and support of the students. As Dorothy describes it, “Each and every child here is everyone’s child through the bond of love.”

For many of us, Babette’s feast is a luxury we cannot afford. Juggling unpredictable work schedules and limited finances often means family dinners are more functional than formal. Without access to the food we want, we must use what we have — or what we are given. Meals eaten in the many households facing food insecurity may  meet caloric needs, but they often leave other needs unfulfilled — the need for self-expression through cooking, the need to share and to share in our own history, and the need to pass on our traditions.

The privilege of making meaningful choices about our food is one way hunger affects more than just nutrition. Without adequate access to food, we lose a key avenue for sharing part of our history and our story. On the other hand, by supporting ministries to end hunger with an eye toward the importance of food as a symbol of our history and community, we can create opportunities for real feasting.

The women at Chibothel Lutheran Nursery School know this. Their morning routine meets the nutritional needs of the children, but as anthropologist Pat Caplan points out, “food is never ‘just food.'” The meals at the nursery school are a symbol of the care, love and concern of the community for its youngest members. The promise of God for the day when we will all feast together at the banquet is more than a promise of adequate nutrition. It is a promise of a time when God will reconcile our stories, our histories and our communities together.

As we anticipate the coming of the Christ-child this season, with all the opportunities it carries for preparing food together, we look forward to this day, preparing family recipes, mixing familiar ingredients, and plating dishes for a meal whose “significance can never just be nutritional.”

Questions for reflection:

• What types of food or meals bring up special memories for you? How do they reflect part of your “story”?
• What other needs — besides nutrition — can meals shared with others help fulfill?
• How can ministries responding to hunger address needs beyond physical hunger?

Prayer

Gracious God,

in your loving care, you bring forth good things from the earth to sustain and nourish your people. We give you thanks for these gifts and for the community that you gather to feast together this season. Open our hearts to our neighbors facing hunger that we may with love remember both those at the table and those absent from it. Preserve us and accompany us this Advent season as we await with eager anticipation the salvation of the world.

In your name,

Amen.

Learn

To download this entire study, or to see some of our other congregational resources, please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

Give

Gifts to ELCA World Hunger are acts of love towards our neighbors living with hunger and poverty both here and around the world. Together, we are creatively and courageously working toward a just world where all are fed.

Give now

Connect

Sign up here and receive news, information and the latest resources from ELCA World Hunger.

 

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.

 

With the 501st anniversary of the Reformation calling us out into the world, ELCA World Hunger is excited to announce the completion of our confirmation lesson series, “Hunger Catechisms.”

The Hunger Catechisms are intended to encourage understanding of the Small and Large Catechisms as they relate to our faith, our personal life and our public life for confirmation, high school youth groups and mentoring programs.

Each lesson begins with Martin Luther’s interpretations in both the Small and Large Catechisms and discusses their spiritual implications and social applications. At the end of each lesson is an example of how the ELCA is working alongside neighbors within the U.S. and around the world through the ministry of ELCA World Hunger.

Each lesson focuses on a variety of topics related to our call to justice:

• Economic justice
  • (1st Commandment)
• Food insecurity
  • (5th Commandment)
• Wage theft
  • (7th Commandment)
• Immigration rights
  • (8th Commandment)
• Gender equality
  • (9th + 10th Commandments)
• Environmental justice
  • (1st Article of the Creed)
• Food waste
  • (Daily Bread)

 

The ELCA defines confirmation as, “…a pastoral and educational ministry of the church that helps the baptized through Word and Sacrament to identify more deeply with the Christian community and participate more fully in it mission.”

It is our hope that these lessons encourage your ministry to dive deeper in your faith conversations and inspire the youth of your community to participate more fully in our shared mission of working towards a just world where all are fed.

Suggested uses

Although you know your ministry best, here are some ways that other folks have used this resource:

• Youth group discussion guide
• Leader’s script (turn the main points and facts into slides)
• Supplemental curriculum during Catechism instruction
• Youth Advent or Lenten study
• Adult forums
• Mentor conversations

Please contact us at hunger@elca.org and tell us how you used these lessons in your ministry!

Learn

If you’d like to learn more about other resources that ELCA World Hunger offers to congregations,  please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

Give

Gifts to ELCA World Hunger are acts of love towards our neighbors living with hunger and poverty both here and around the world. Together, we are creatively and courageously working toward a just world where all are fed.

Give now

Connect

Sign up here and receive news, information and the latest resources from ELCA World Hunger.

 

 

 

 

 

As Reformation Sunday approaches and the winter months ensue, do you find yourself already daydreaming about summer? ELCA World Hunger would like to encourage that habit by offering a sneak peek into ELCA World Hunger’s newest VBS program, “Who is My Neighbor?”

Based on the Good Samaritan story, “Who is My Neighbor?” engages participants in a week of fun, laughter and play while learning about how we are called by God to love and care for our neighbors within our communities and around the world.

Each day focuses on a different character from the Good Samaritan story, with Day 1 introducing the main character—the lawyer who asks Jesus the question, “Who is my neighbor?”

This full, five-day curriculum will be free and available in print or through download. You’ll find skits, family time, games, snacks, crafts and stories that will help participants explore what it means to be a neighbor in Christ by learning about neighbors in six parts of the globe!

Please enjoy this Day 1 sample and be on the lookout for the full “Who is My Neighbor?” VBS curriculum to be available in mid-November!

We pray that the children in your VBS will see the ways God has blessed them and their neighbors—and the role they can play in God’s promise of a just world where all are fed.

Learn

If you’d like to learn more about other resources that ELCA World Hunger offers to congregations,  please visit www.elca.org/Resources/ELCA-World-Hunger.

Give

Gifts to ELCA World Hunger are acts of love towards our neighbors living with hunger and poverty both here and around the world. Together, we are creatively and courageously working toward a just world where all are fed.

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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.