The Presbyterian Hunger Program, PC(USA) is celebrating the faithful work of Presbyterians responding to the biblical call to alleviate hunger and end its causes. We wish to acknowledge the work you are doing to end hunger, and to be mutually inspired to deepen and broaden our ministries.
Hunger Action Congregations Covenant:
As disciples of a loving God who inspires us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God, we commit to faithful action to end hunger and address its root causes.
The purpose of the Hunger Action Congregation process is to acknowledge and celebrate the faithful work of Presbyterians happening around the country to alleviate hunger and end its causes, and to encourage these ministries to be even more holistic and justice-oriented.
Church Garden, Towson Presbyterian Church
Yours is a Hunger Action Congregation if you are doing an activity in one or more of six areas. For congregations that are doing one or more activity in all six areas, you can be a Certified Hunger Action Congregation. All of the Hunger Action Congregations will be celebrated on October 16, World Food Day.
- Hunger Alleviation: providing and/or sharing food in a dignified way with an eye to long-term structural solutions
- Development assistance: addressing the root causes of hunger and poverty through equitable and sustainable development
- Hunger Education: learning about systemic causes of hunger, leading towards faithful action that is informed and directed by directly affected people and partners
- Lifestyle Integrity: adopting sustainable personal and corporate lifestyles to restore justice and protect all of God’s creation
- Corporate and Public Policy Witness: advocating and campaigning for changes in policies and practices to end hunger and its causes, promote self-development, and care for creation
- Worship: incorporating prayer, education, and preaching about ending hunger and its causes into worship
How to Become a Hunger Action Congregation
- Form a Hunger Action Team (if you don’t already have a similar team or committee to steward this work)
- Gather church members – including children and youth – who are passionate about addressing hunger, poverty and related injustices. Decide how often you’d like to meet to assess and grow the church’s practices in this area.
- Together, review the Covenant below. You will likely want a record of your application, so please download the Word version of the Covenant at http://bit.ly/HACyourcopy and fill it out. This will be your church’s copy of the Covenant.
- Then, you will be ready to cut-and-paste from your Word document into the form below, which is the official application that PHP receives.
- Covenant to become a Hunger Action Congregation | There are two levels: Covenanting and Certified
Covenanting: If you are doing hunger-related work in one or more of the six areas (see below), check the activities you are currently doing. Be sure to invite children and youth to participate. You can submit the covenant anytime, and September 15 is the annual deadline so the Hunger Action Congregations can be announced in time for World Food Day on October 16.
You will be recognized on the PHP website as a Covenanting Hunger Action Congregation for three years. PHP will communicate with you periodically with updates, opportunities, and stories from other congregations to encourage you to increase or broaden your hunger ministries into other areas.
Certification: If you are doing activities in all six areas, after submitting the completed Covenant, you will be certified for three years as a Certified Hunger Action Congregation and will receive a certificate to post in your church. You can renew certification by describing a new area of work or by submitting a story about your work for publication on social media and for possible use in the PHP Post justice journal. We will send you a reminder before the 3 years have expired.
Ending Hunger and Its Causes: Six Areas
- Hunger Alleviation: providing and/or sharing food in a dignified way with an eye to long-term structural solutions
- Development assistance: addressing the root causes of hunger and poverty through equitable and sustainable development
- Hunger Education: learning about systemic causes of hunger, leading towards faithful action that is informed and directed by directly affected people and partners
- Lifestyle Integrity: adopting sustainable personal and corporate lifestyles to restore justice and protect all of God’s creation
- Corporate and Public Policy Witness: advocating and campaigning for changes in policies and practices to end hunger and its causes, promote self-development, and care for creation
- Worship: incorporating prayer, education, and preaching about ending hunger and its causes into worship
- Use your version of the covenant form and go online to fill out and submit the covenant at bit.ly/hungeractionform
Learn about current Hunger Action Congregations
- Read about the launching of the Hunger Action Congregations program in 2017 here.
- Find a list and a map of current Hunger Action Congregations here
Resources
- HAC Bulletin Insert – include your congregation’s information and use to assess interest within your church
- Word version of the HAC Covenant to discuss with other church members http://bit.ly/HACyourcopy
- To fill out and submit the Covenant, please go to: bit.ly/hungeractionform
HAC Flier – encourages churches become Hunger Action Congregations
Stories from Hunger Action Congregations
- Ministering to the hungry: Pleasantville Presbyterian Church practices outreach
- ‘Imagine No Hunger’ a cornerstone program for New Mexico church
- Preteen tackles homelessness concerns in her community
- Vacation Bible School project helps hungry neighbors in Illinois
