Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

I recently heard a provocative interview with the Rev. David Beckman, Lutheran minister, President of Bread for the World and this year’s recipient of the World Food Prize, a prize frequently described as the equivalent of a Nobel in the field of food and agriculture. The interview begins with some startling figures: 14% of Americans are currently living in poverty (more than at any time since the 1960s) and that in 2008 one million kids went hungry. This number has almost certainly risen since although exact figures will only be available later this month.

As a person of faith, what I find compelling about this interview is how Rev. Beckman connected his advocacy work to the many passages in the Bible which describe hunger as a key area for concern; I was also struck by what he saw as the lack of “an organized give a damn” in national politics (he gave this interview on November 2). This, he points out, despite the fact that a good quarter of Americans show up regularly to houses of worship week after week.

Is domestic hunger on your parish’s agenda? Have you heard a great sermon recently on the hungry mouths next door?

Since hearing this interview, I’ve begun to research how Episcopalians are getting hunger on the agenda - in their parishes, in the wider church, and as a priority in our domestic policy. One great example comes from Episcopal Community Services in Kansas and West Missouri whose board in 2008 made the bold decision of focusing on domestic hunger as their top priority (see this article by Melodie Woerman). The fruit of this decision can be found on ECS’ great website andFacebook page and in the great stories from Kansas about parishes who are active on this issue. There you can find recent news, resources, and how parishes can become involved.

There are many additional resources for parishes seeking to address domestic hunger: check out the following news feed of stories on poverty & hunger from around the Episcopal Church; there’s also this excellent podcast for those seeking an in-depth analysis of hunger and Census data from Bread for the World. Of course, this is by no means a comprehensive list, and I would love to hear from you about resources and ministries you are currently engaged in. You may also want to share these in the Your Turn area of the ECF Vital Practices website. I look forward to hearing from you about how we can get domestic hunger on the agenda.