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3 ways that development work is discipleship in disguise

By on May 13, 2013 in Church, World Poverty

In my frequent conversations with pastors, we often find ourselves stuck at the question of “so, what exactly is development?”  Rather than starting from scratch, I love to begin with a more familiar term: discipleship. While the words are not synonymous, there are some strong connections between the two concepts.  The ministry of Food for [...]

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Tim Smith with FH Sponsored Children in Guatemala

When the light comes on

By on May 10, 2013 in Church, Sponsor Impact, World Poverty

As I am writing this blog, I am on a trans atlantic flight to London. This weekend at Food for the Hungry (FH), we are launching a new endeavor with the Pentecost Festival as the  lead sponsor for this event. The Pentecost Festival is a gathering each year in London to celebrate the birthday of [...]

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Julio’s story: Starting a new child sponsorship

By on May 7, 2013 in Church, Sponsor Impact, Stories, World Poverty

My guest blogger today is Ryan Horn, a Food for the Hungry employee and child sponsor. Ryan shares what it was like to get news that his sponsored child had graduated…and then how he began another sponsorship with a different child…all of it happening right in Gautemala. A couple of years ago, I took a [...]

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Learning to sail

By on May 7, 2013 in Church, World Poverty

At Food for the Hungry (FH), one of our core skills is cross-cultural communication. After all, we work in more than 25 countries. And it’s hard. The late Philosopher of Communication Marshall McLuhan said, “We don’t know who discovered water, but we know it wasn’t the fish.” In other words, fish are so immersed in [...]

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Free teaching materials for pastors

By on April 26, 2013 in Church, World Poverty

A pastor approached our booth at The Justice Conference. He asked me about Food for the Hungry—what we do, and how we think about poverty. I shared that we believe that poverty is caused by broken relationships. And so we work through relationships, walking with communities to end poverty. “Our church believes that too,” the [...]

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Live each moment with God’s love

By on April 19, 2013 in Church, Stories, World Poverty

My guest blogger today is Food for the Hungry’s Senior Policy Advisor Lucas Koach, who shares (in the following paragraphs) how to unite your work and life as a Christian.     I have the most interesting cocktail conversations when asked what I do for a living.  I explain I am (both) a public policy [...]

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Men installing solar panel on school roof

Let there be [solar] light

By on April 17, 2013 in Church, Sponsor Impact

I never, ever thought to thank God for a light bulb. But for some students in Food for the Hungry’s Burundi program, a simple solar-powered light fixture is their key to a brighter future. Gerard is a sixth-grader in Mufumya, a small town in Burundi. Sundown comes before 6:30 p.m. on any day of the [...]

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The cross . . . our unstoppable guarantee (Part 2)

By on April 15, 2013 in Church, World Poverty

In the cross, Jesus gives us something that cannot be stolen by thieves, diminished by oppression or destroyed by natural calamity. As FH cares for impoverished communities, we cannot control the circumstances of hostile nations and groaning creation. However, we can lean completely on the unstoppable message of the cross and power of the Gospel to change lives and communities.

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Network of love from South Sudan to Yale

By on April 1, 2013 in Church, Disaster Relief, Stories, World Poverty

What do Sudan’s lost boys, an Ethiopian teacher, a Lutheran library, a Christian high school in Africa, a Catholic nun and a bus driver in Juba, South Sudan, all have in common? Each is part of a network of caring individuals that provided a pathway of hope for an orphaned boy named Paul Lorem—who is [...]

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The Just Church by Jim Martin

Justice or discipleship?

By on March 29, 2013 in Church

What’s more important—justice or discipleship? That’s the question Jim Martin asks in his book, The Just Church. Martin works for International Justice Mission, the excellent Christian organization that brings justice for victims of sex trafficking, slavery and other violent oppression around the world. The question of justice versus discipleship is an important one for the [...]

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