While the words are not synonymous, there are some strong connections between the two concepts.  The ministry of Food for the Hungry is committed to providing churches, leaders and families with necessary tools for lifelong discipleship.   Here are three similarities between development and discipleship that will provide you with a better picture of what FH seeks to do in the field:

Walking with:  Pastors know that discipleship requires face time.   Assisting others to grow in Christ requires physical presence, spending hours, weeks and years with them in person, helping them understand the Scriptures and work through suffering. At FH, we are committed to doing our work of serving in the poor in a personal way.  Our staff are in the community daily, spending time getting to know the people and listening to their struggles.  Entering completely into their lives, we want to walk alongside them in breaking the cycle of poverty by introducing a biblical worldview.  This will mean plenty of late nights, tears wiped and joyous moments as we celebrate the faithfulness of our God.

Children in Indonesia

Embracing the basics: Imagine if you showed up to church next week and 50% of the people in the congregation had been involved in a car accident in which they were at fault.  Stories pour in about people running red lights, texting while driving and forgetting to use their safety belts.  The sanctuary looks more like a hospital than a house of worship.  In wanting to stem the tide of horrific accidents and prevent the loss of life, the church leadership quickly organizes a safe-driving class. While this might sound crazy, this is discipleship at a very basic level: helping others live a healthy life that is honoring to God in every way.

Food for the Hungry also addresses the basics of life, only in our sphere of work, this means providing families with advice on cultivating and preparing healthy meals.  It involves showing children the basic skill of washing their hands to prevent the spread of disease.  We revel and thank God for opportunities to have deep conversations about Christ and the forgiveness of sins, and we know that frequently the doors to those conversations begin with the basic elements of life.

Water Project in Indonesia

Working the roots: In seeking to shepherd their members, pastors spend most of their time at the root level.  It is not effective to simply “scare people” away from their bad behavior.  Fear and pride may motivate someone for a season, but it will not be effective for the long haul.

FH uses the same strategy as we help the poor.  It is not effective to tell a community that they should build a school and educate their children.  If we build them a school before they understand the root purpose, the community never utilize it for its intended purpose.  Our job is to help them understand the importance of education from a biblical perspective and then walk with them in creating opportunities for their children.

In many ways, we are just scratching the surface of these two important subjects.  Stay connected with the FH Blog for more posts about community development.

What is your understanding of development?  Can you think of other similarities between your discipleship journey and community development work?

The post 3 ways that development work is discipleship in disguise appeared first on Food for the Hungry Blog.

The Pentecost Festival is a gathering each year in London to celebrate the birthday of the Church, Pentecost Sunday. This Saturday, over 2,000 people will gather first in Parliament Square for a prayer gathering led by the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres along with our Board Member, Lord Paul Boateng. This event represents the launch of new efforts by Food for the Hungry in the UK.

At the festival, Food for the Hungry will invite participants to join as child sponsors to impact the lives of the most vulnerable children through our work in over 20 different countries.

Tim Smith with FH Sponsored Children in Guatemala

As we prepare for this event, I am reminded of the beginnings of great efforts through the engagement of donors to our work around the world. It is a combined effort through partners like the Pentecost Festival, our field work around the world and our marketing team. We have the chance to end poverty in our lifetime through these types of efforts. It has been my privilege to spend the majority of my life around generous donors.

There is something special about that moment when a person realizes they can make a difference in the life or lives of the poor. I love to be standing there when the light comes on… when the donor picks up that packet… when they see the face of a child whose life they can change… It is a rush to watch it all come together.

This Saturday will be a day like the experience I just described. The Pentecost Festival has set the stage, our marketing team has prepared the opportunity, our field staff have identified the children most in need of sponsorship. Now it just takes the donors to respond generously. I know we will see several hundred children sponsored. I hope I can stand close enough to watch the light come on!

What’s great is you don’t have to wait for an event like this.  You can sponsor a child right here. I hope you will pray for this great festival and for the many children who will benefit as a result of our efforts. With our joint efforts we can end poverty. Let’s do it together.

Watch a video about what excites Lord Paul Boateng about FH.

The post When the light comes on appeared first on Food for the Hungry Blog.

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 seven-day trip with FH to the community of Campat, Guatemala.  My wife, Kresta and I, were in our hotel getting ready to leave  for the village of Campat, when I read an email that one of my sponsored children had graduated from FH’s sponsorship program.

It was a great success. The child was moving away to study at a university. My wife and I decided that since one of our sponsored children had graduated, that we would take that opportunity – then and there – to choose a new child from Campat to sponsor.

We literally had minutes in the hotel lobby to find another child before our bus left for our trip into Campat.

So we looked through several different child packets and selected a little boy by the name of Julio. We held onto our new packet and communicated back to FH that we were signing up to sponsor him. A few minutes later, we jumped on our bus and headed into the community. It was about an hour ride up a very broken and bumpy mountain road. Once we arrived, our van was swallowed up with the laughter and playfulness of what seemed to be hundreds of precious little children from the community.

Ryan and Kresta Horn with Julio.

The children took our hands and led us into their school yard. Within the hour, the whole town was on the school grounds. We were being seated to witness a community celebration welcoming team leaders and officials of Campat. With just a few minutes to go before the official kick-off of the ceremonies, I looked up from my seat and saw a little, precious boy standing several feet  in front of me. The boy stared  me in the eyes. I knew that little face.

I looked down and saw the picture of my new sponsored child on my packet, and then looked back up. There was Julio – standing right in front of me! It was amazing. I pointed and with a loud voice, I said, “It’s Julio!”

His little eyes got really big, and he smiled even bigger. The next few days, we had such amazing, God-filled experiences spending time with little Julio, his family and community.

I encourage you to sponsor a child.  In fact, go one step beyond and get your church to support a community. Then plan a trip with FH to go and visit your church’s community. It’s an experience that you’ll never forget. You’ll be blessed beyond any expectation that you could ever imagine.

The post Julio’s story: Starting a new child sponsorship appeared first on Food for the Hungry Blog.

A mother-leader teaches other mothers how to keep their children healthy by washing their hands.

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 their context that they cannot imagine a world without it.

Our cultural context permeates who we are. Most often, we can’t detect our cultural presuppositions. What we say. How we say it. And therein lies the potential—no, certainty—for misunderstanding.

One of the most helpful experiences I’ve had has come though the Coalition on the Support of Indigenous Ministries (COSIM). In a different take on the usual way that Western organizations work in the developing world, they focus on empowering others to proclaim and act out the Gospel.

Their conference, “LISTEN: Deepening the Conversation in Cross-Cultural Partnership,” starts tonight, and I’m excited to be going. The kickoff speaker will be Brazilian Alex Araujo of United World Mission.

Two years ago, Araujo challenged COSIM attenders by questioning Westerners’ paradigm for helping others. His metaphor contrasted motor boating with sailing.  Westerners are prone to motor boating—setting out on a voyage using expensive technology, fueled by money, driven on by persistence. It works but gobbles resources in the process.

But as we listen to successful leaders in the developing world, we find that they are skilled at sailing. They know their environments better. They don’t let setbacks of weather dissuade them from their goals, though their courses might meander. They often have to demonstrate patience, waiting for the right conditions. But they know how to accomplish their goals using far fewer resources. Because they can undertake more projects by working in harmony with their environments, they often accomplish much more than Westerners using Western methods.

FH lives in both worlds. Our contract work on behalf of the U.S. or other government agencies often proceeds on the motorboat model. We set goals, buy resources and use them according to the plan approved by many reviewers and supported by reams of documentation. And we’re good at it.

But we also employ the developing world’s sailing model. One such innovation that works for us is care groups: Groups of local people, often women, who are training others about health or agricultural practices. To the Western mind, it might be tempting to arrive with a bullhorn and a movie projector, which we could report reached a large audience at the same time. But it wouldn’t work as well. It might not even work at all. Empowering local people to train their peers is far better. Go here for more information about transformation.

I’m going to COSIM tonight expectantly. I’ll be listening. And that’s what FH does with our indigenous partners around the world.

The post Learning to sail appeared first on Food for the Hungry Blog.

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 pastor said. “We just went through a four-week study on it called Poverty Unlocked.”

I had to smile. “Really?” I exclaimed. “I wrote that curriculum!”

The pastor hadn’t realized that Poverty Unlocked was affiliated with Food for the Hungry. That’s because it’s a curriculum that we provide free of charge, focused on the Bible’s teachings on poverty, through a free download.

The local class that went viral

When I first wrote Poverty Unlocked, I thought it would be just for my own church. Our missions pastor, Mike, had perked up when he had heard that I was interested in teaching about the biblical response to poverty. He asked if I would take a crack at teaching a month-long class on a weeknight.

Needless to say, God had other plans. Soon other churches were asking to use the curriculum. We placed it online as a free download. Today, hundreds of churches have used Poverty Unlocked, with many thousands of people discovering the message.

Four weeks of discovery

The course takes audiences through God’s heart for the poor, the narrative of Scripture in regard to poverty, and best practices in world missions. It’s full of fun, memorable activities that engage participants in the theology of poverty.

Each week has a focus that contributes to the participants’ understanding of God’s work among the vulnerable—and their place in His response.

Week 1: From Paradise to Poverty: How God’s World Got this Way

Week 2: Roots of Poverty

Week 3: Sustainability: Change that Lasts

Week 4: Walking Like Christ

Handouts are provided for each session, and the writing is straightforward so that anyone can teach it.

Here's a banner from Poverty Unlocked at my local church, ROCKHARBOR, back in 2010.

And now, you’re invited

It has been exciting for me to see the way that Poverty Unlocked has taken off. Every day, pastors, church leaders, and small group leaders are downloading these teaching materials to use in churches across North America and all over the world. I hear from many of them who write to me sharing how their churches have responded. Many teach small groups or Sunday School classes. Some pastors use the stories and concepts as sermon outlines on poverty. Trip leaders use the course as their team training for mission trips.

If you haven’t checked out the four-week class yet, this is your invitation! Visit the Poverty Unlocked website and start your free download.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, I am still teaching the Poverty Unlocked course regularly at my own church! (If you live in Southern California, contact me. I’d be delighted to have you join the next class. )

The post Free teaching materials for pastors appeared first on Food for the Hungry Blog.

Senior Policy Advisor Lucas Koach with children at a Food for the Hungry community.

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 advisor for Food for the Hungry and an Anglican priest and spiritual director.

I often get a gracious, “Huh.” Followed by, “How does that work?”  Such a reaction, I think, points to a tension we all wrestle with: how do we integrate our spirituality with our public life?

As we progress in spiritual maturity, we learn faith is more than just what we do. But rather, who we are – at the core of our being – dramatically informs all that we do.  If I’m not careful, I measure my Christian maturity merely by the number of things I am doing for God, rather than first seeking to have my heart and soul more lovingly yielded to God (Eph. 2:8-9).

St. Therese of Lisieux (Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s namesake) is the Catholic patron saint for missions.  She gained this distinction—not because of the stadiums of people she preached to—but because she actually lived a very humble and short life as a cloistered nun dedicated to God in her native France.

She coined what she called “the little way.”  Rather than doing a lot for God, she focused on doing very little things for God with great love.  And herein lies the critical missiological principle: our missionary enterprises are only as efficacious as pure faith, hope and love are found at their foundation (1Cor. 13).  Such a “little way” is not a means to effective ministry, it is integral to the core of mission itself.  As Oswald Chambers says, “We pray for the work, but the work is prayer.”

Perhaps you have seen this principle played out.  Maybe a mature pastor or mentor comes to mind.  We often don’t look up to such persons by virtue of their great abilities and accomplishments.  But rather, their wisdom is apparent in their concentrated life and presence.  A mere thought, piece of humble advice or simple prayer from such a person can cut right to our hearts and drive us to action far more than any erudite and germane theological treatise.

It’s often faithfully doing little things with great love that is all the difference.

Yet how do we practically live our lives more in this manner?  Before we ask others to do more (however virtuous and necessary such things may be) the real question is how are we inviting others, and indeed ourselves, to become more with God’s love?  Before rushing in with our critiques and suggestions, let us be drawn further ourselves in prayer and God’s loving presence amidst such situations and circumstances.

In my work as a public policy advisor for Food for the Hungry and as a Christian, there is a host of things I want leaders to do for the world’s poor.  But if my sole aim is to see a member of Congress sponsor a bill to address global hunger, than my aim is too small.  Rather, my chief desire must be to see leaders fundamentally impacted by the love of Christ and their hearts broken for the things that break His heart.  Now that’s a game changer!  And may such work begin in me first.

Many of us are engaged in wonderful and necessary enterprises, from powerful board rooms to our kitchen tables.  As we seek to find the intersection of our spirituality and our public lives, may we walk “the little way,” and find the transforming love of Christ increasingly infused in everything we do for His greater glory.

The post Live each moment with God’s love appeared first on Food for the Hungry Blog.

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 year in Burundi, which didn’t leave Gerard much daylight for studying. So he did his homework under the dim, flickering shadows of a kerosene lamp. When his family couldn’t afford kerosene, he studied by the light of the kitchen fire. “It was so hard,” Gerard said. “I was getting tired quickly, and then had to wake up very early in the morning to review my notes.”

But this past February, due to the generosity of partners in Canada, the primary school in Mufumya installed solar panels to power overhead lights. Gerard joined more than 40 elementary and secondary school students from the community, studying at night in a well-lit classroom.

By the end of March, Gerard reported his GPA had improved by 10 percentage points, and he had moved from 23^rd to 15^th in his class of 72 students. “I expect to improve performance as I continue to use the solar panel light,” Gerard said.

Fellow student Renovat is in 10th grade, and praying fervently that he’ll be promoted to 11^th grade. But before the solar panels were installed, he was failing math, geography, biology and physics. Like Gerard, he studied at home with a kerosene lamp or a candle. After just a few weeks of studying at Mufumya Primary School, with the solar lighting, he’s now passing biology and physics, and moving up to 11th grade looks possible.

And the solar panel has another benefit – household savings. “With the solar panel, the money that my parents were using to buy petrol [for the lamp] is used to meet other family needs,” said Renovat.

The solar panel is also generating revenue for the school. Principal Evariste Havyarimana reported that community members are charging their cell phones at the school, for a small fee. “The school was able to earn 4,000 Burundian francs [about $US 3] in three days, which means that on average, the school will be earning $90 monthly,” he said.

It’s amazing to me how partnerships between churches and communities change lives, with small adjustments and investments. If you’re interested in changing lives of young people like Gerard and Renovat, consider sponsoring a child in Burundi or another country where FH works. For about a dollar a day, you could give a child opportunities to reach their God-given potential – passing math, graduating from high school – that they would not enjoy otherwise.

The post Let there be [solar] light appeared first on Food for the Hungry Blog.

I love to journal.

Beginning when I was 17 years old, I’ve now transcribed thousands of pages of my emotions, thoughts, ideas and prayers.  Okay, so yes, a number of those entries were dedicated to detailing my aspiring love life, or lack thereof.  Thank you Carrisa (my wife of almost 5 years) for taking a chance on me . . . my journal has appreciated the beauty of our journey together!

A friend of mine had encouraged me to journal and I remember asking him, “So, will journaling make me a better person?” He responded, “No guarantees, but it has the potential to change your life.”

In a way, the ministry of Food for the Hungry (FH) is like journaling.  We cannot go into impoverished communities and make outlandish promises of overnight transformation.  Our staff humbly enter into a community, build relationships and invite the churches, leaders and families to participate in a difficult, but worthwhile journey of discovering their God-given potential.  FH will consistently introduce and explain biblical ideas, invest resources and walk with the community to address the dangerous cycle of poverty that is tearing at the fabric of their community.

Children in communities where FH works

But, we cannot guarantee results.

Natural disasters and political upheaval, among other reasons, can circumvent the ministry of FH. But if you recall, our fuel for serving the most vulnerable is not based on our earthly abilities or success.

Our unstoppable guarantee: the cross

When the unexpected disrupts our hopes and plans, we panic.  We can see this reality play out in the lives of the disciples.  They were expecting Christ, the Messiah, to establish his kingdom using military and political authority.  As it became clear that Jesus Christ was going to be arrested and crucified, they started to unravel. Peter denies knowing Jesus three times.  Simon Peter attempts to battle a band of soldiers to protect Jesus.

But Christ was calm and collected as he moved towards the cross.  His journey to Jerusalem began long ago and he is in control through every step.  Pilot and Herod are perplexed about how to handle the accusation of Jesus.  While he is the one on trial, Jesus is the one who is in complete control of the outcome.  Even while enduring the humiliating walk to be crucified, he expresses compassion towards the women who are mourning for him.

Jesus embraced the cross, fulfilling the Scripture, knowing that his death and resurrection would mean grace and mercy for all who call on his name in faith.

Unstoppable hope

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.

The cross is the real guarantee of hope for a community.  Serving alongside the faithful local church, Food for the Hungry has the high privilege of declaring and demonstrating the majesty of our crucified and risen Savior.

The post The cross . . . our unstoppable guarantee (Part 2) appeared first on Food for the Hungry Blog.

Women leaders sing of peace in South Sudan and play an important part in caring for the upcoming generation.

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 now a sophomore at Yale University in Connecticut.

In his infancy Paul’s family was caught in the middle of the civil war in Sudan. During this time, Paul contracted tuberculosis and was on the verge of death.  His parents had to make a choice that no parents should ever have to make. They walked with their 6-year-old Paul across the Kenyan border to Kakuma refugee camp where he could be medically cared back to health. Sadly, that was the last time they all saw each other, as his parents returned to family in South Sudan and died before they could be reunited.

Too often, this story of war, sickness, family separation and death would end on a similar note. But thanks to networks of caring individuals—primarily through churches and schools—Paul’s story is being written differently.  In his case, the list of people who walked, helped and inspired him is long.

In the camp, his Ethiopian science teacher introduced him to the Lutheran-run refugee library and the Christian-run Alliance High School. Nicholas Kristoff wrote in The New York Times piece “From South Sudan to Yale,” about Paul choking back tears when remembering the people who helped him from fellow refugees (called lost boys) to the German nun who helped pay his school fees and cared for him like a mother. Another was a driver in Juba, South Sudan, who welcomed him into his humble home while Paul got his passport to the U.S.

Now, Paul is now a sophomore at Yale. When Paul graduates, his plan is to return to South Sudan and help strengthen the network of schools and churches that bring hope and change.

Paul’s story has inspired me to see the importance of Food for the Hungry’s emergency response team’s work in South Sudan—where FH is expanding, through a network of relationships—our agriculture, health and education programs.

These programs impact not only families through better food security and health, but also boys and girls, young men and women through education for a future.  With the leadership of our South Sudan Country Director Yves and his team with their network of partners, including churches and schools—my prayer is that in the future families like Paul’s won’t have to cross borders looking for work, school or health, but instead can find a future right in South Sudan.

The post Network of love from South Sudan to Yale appeared first on Food for the Hungry Blog.

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 church. As Martin points out, many pastors are rightly looking for their churches to grow in numbers and for their members to grow in discipleship. The desire is godly–to bring new believers into the flock, and to grow believers’ relationships with God.

However, Martin says, the methods used to pursue discipleship are not always effective.

We continually tweak the mode of our worship in an effort to connect more deeply with God. Surely a new song, an ancient hymn, a new form of worship, or an old rite will give us that sense of connection we crave… Our willingness to examine our forms of worship is well-intentioned and often good, but it can produce a tendency to become entirely focused on these things to the exclusion of the clear commands of our Father.

Those are sobering words. So what are the clear commands of our Father?

Discipleship through justice

God tells His people how to get close to Him in Isaiah 1.

When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood…

Learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow  (v. 15, 17 NRSV).

Through doing the work of justice, we gain intimacy with God.

Better fuel for justice and discipleship

One of my favorite parts of Martin’s book—the section I bookmarked and read to my staff team at Food for the Hungry—had to do with what fuels us in our work for justice. Martin relates his typical experience of receiving phone calls from church leaders who are outraged by the injustices that they hear about, and who want to be part of the solution right away. As easy as it would be to capitalize on their outrage and impatience, Martin takes a step back and points out a profound fact.

“The stark reality is that the outrage and impatience many of us feel upon our introduction to these issues does not prove lasting fuel for the justice journey. The good news is that there is better fuel to be had.”

The better fuel, of course, is a deep, abiding relationship with God. As my friend Josh Kienzle points out, it’s the cross.

And so discipleship becomes both the fuel and the outcome of doing justice!

So what?

In many churches, “mission” work is far separated from discipleship. It’s common to pigeonhole missions or outreach work under the job description of one church staff member, highlighting justice and mercy causes just once or twice each year. Meanwhile, the role of discipling church members is seen as the role of the teaching pastor, Sunday school teachers and small groups.

What if, instead, mission work was seen as a discipleship opportunity for the entire church? Here are a few ideas for maximizing the synergy between justice and discipleship at your church.

1. Share child sponsorship. Invite every person and family in your church to sponsor a child. Through prayer, giving and letter-writing, your congregation’s relationship with God will dive deeper.

1. Weave stories into sermons. When you’re looking for an illustration of answered prayer, living by faith, or God’s provision, ask for stories from members of your church’s latest short-term mission trip.

1. Focus on the vulnerable during worship. A number of songs or hymns already on your church’s playlist are certain to have themes that praise God’s care for the broken. Ask your worship leader to lift up a prayer for a vulnerable population before beginning one of these songs, and then ask the congregation to focus on God’s heart toward this group as they sing.

1. Ask for help. Do you have church members who frequently approach you about world missions? Pull them aside to ask about their discipleship journey. Chances are good that they are passionate about the cause because God has worked powerfully in their spiritual lives. Learn from these members’ journeys, and see how you can apply the lessons for your whole church.

How have you seen justice and discipleship work together at your church?

The post Justice or discipleship? appeared first on Food for the Hungry Blog.