World Food Day
Youth from Warner Memorial Church glean potatoes for distribution to food pantries.
In 1969, Presbyterian churches declared hunger to be a major mission focus. Decades later, as the Presbyterian Hunger Program marks its fortieth anniversary, many Presbyterian congregations have made hunger ministry an integral part of their life and mission.
Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church in Kensington, Maryland, is one of them. “Let’s see,” says Pastor Kirby Lawrence. “Some members deliver meals; others serve meals at the shelter. We collect food for the food pantry, and our youth glean potatoes each summer. Last year, our vacation Bible school focused on hunger, and our children performed an original musical. We study hunger issues and write letters to Congress as part of Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters. We serve fair trade coffee from the Presbyterian Coffee Project and support the moringa tree project in the Congo, and ...”
Like many PC(USA) congregations, Warner Memorial Church receives a 2 cents a meal offering each month — a continuation of a nineteen-year tradition. That offering has provided over $45,000 to the Presbyterian Hunger Program, Bread for the World, and a number of local hunger ministries.
Jesus was always concerned about poor and hungry people, and he expected his followers to do the same. No doubt the feeding of hungry people was part of the good news being preached to the poor that Jesus tells John’s disciples to report to the inquiring prophet (Matt. 11:5). World Food Day is a good time to take inventory. How does your congregation proclaim good news to hungry people?
—The Rev. Gary Cook, director, church relations, Bread for the World
PC(USA) General Assembly Staff
Elder Norma Sayago, GAMC
Karen Sayers, BOP
Lisa Sayers, BOP
Jesus, with a few loaves and a couple of fish you fed the hungry multitude. Feed us with your power so that in feeding those in need, we may declare your love to a hungry world. Amen.
Ps. 130, 148 Ps. 32, 139
Jer. 38:14–28
1 Cor. 15:1–11; Matt. 11:1–6
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