UM & Global Collection on Mission and Food

A new UM & Global collection is now available. This collection examines the connections between mission and food: its production (through agriculture), its provision (in relief efforts), and its consumption (as a means of community-building and connection). The essays, reflecting contexts in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the United States examine various forms of food-related mission.

The collection includes ten posts by David W. Scott, Jack Amick, John Walter Ngoy, Caleb Kanyimb Mbaz, Nan McCurdy, Temba Nkomozepi, Maria Van Der Maaten, Jonathan McCurley, and Elliott Wright. As with other collections, there is a set of discussion questions at the end of the volume, intended to help church members, students, and others reflect on the ways in which the church should engage in food-related ministries.

Elliott Wright: Food Production as a Strategy for Sustaining the African Church

Today's post is by Rev. Elliott Wright. Wright has written for and about Global Ministries for half a century and was for 20 years its public information officer. He is a United Methodist elder of the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Annual Conference. This post is part of an occasional series on food and mission.

Pair “mission” and “food,” and one set of resulting images will include church food pantries and soup kitchens geared toward feeding the poor in response to biblical mandates, notably Mathew 25. While retaining the importance of the act of feeding the physically hungry and sharing table fellowship, another understanding of the importance of food to mission is emerging in Africa today. This is the linking of the humanitarian goals of food security with an economic strategy for sustaining the work of the church in mission on the continent. This brave effort arose from the vison of and bears the name of the late United Methodist Bishop John Yambasu of Sierra Leone. The Yambasu Agriculture Initiative (YAI) is an Africa-rooted mission enterprise in collaboration the General Board of Global Ministries.

Food Production as Church/Mission Economic Strategy
Agriculture was basic to the Methodist and other Wesleyan missionary presence in Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As congregations were planted, so were fields— of grain and cassava— in central and southern Africa and parts of West Africa, often on huge tracks of land given to mission agencies and churches by tribes or colonial powers—private or governmental. Farms were endemic to such notable mission stations as Camphor in Liberia, Cambine in Mozambique, Quessua in Angola, and hectare after hectare, many hosting small holder farms, in Zimbabwe. Provision of nourishment for the mission stations and their communities was the historic role of the church lands, with holdings passing from mission agencies to indigenous entities.

Today, Yambasu said in 2019, almost every rural United Methodist church in Africa has “access to vast land resources.” Unfortunately, much of the land, he reported, “has remained unutilized. Tragically, the church is fast losing huge portions of these lands to encroachers and wealthy people who use their wealth to challenge the church’s ownership.”[1]

Food Security and Church Sustainability
Yambasu’s eyes fixed upon the land as he searched for assets to address two contemporary challenges to African United Methodism: poverty/hunger and the need of financial resources to sustain the church in Africa. Some 278 million people in African experienced food shortage in 2021, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. While the church is growing in some areas, especially the French-speaking countries of central and West Africa, American mission money has for decades underwritten much of what is today African United Methodism. The possibility of this pattern of support continuing into the future was unlikely in Yambasu’ thinking, given the US membership decline and the dissention within the denomination.

The bishop called his idea a “therapeutic strategy”—commercial farming enterprises will “end poverty in the church, employment will be created, communities will be empowered and transformed and food security can be achieved.”[2]

At first brush, commercial farming as a “therapeutic strategy” for ending hunger and funding the church hints of religious communitarianism, which has a weak track record in the annals of both faith and economics. But there is a fundamental difference. The YAI is rooted not in communal living but in service to the community within and beyond the congregation.

He saw all of the 13 UMC episcopal areas in Africa taking part, and he was in a good position to lead the way. Bishop Yambasu was president of the United Methodist African College of Bishops, vice president of Global Ministries, and newly elected chancellor (chief ceremonial officer) of the United Methodist Africa University at the time of his death in an automobile accident on August 16, 2020. The university in Zimbabwe, whose chief operational officer is titled vice chancellor, opened in 1993 with two initial departments, theology and agricultural sciences.

The bishop set forth his therapeutic strategy in two papers, one in early 2018 at a gathering of African UMC leaders considering the theme “Visioning the United Methodist Church in the 21st Century,” and the second a year later in Johannesburg at an Africa Agricultural Summit jointly organized by the African bishops and Global Ministries.

Yambasu’s proposal gained traction with his colleague bishops, and one outcome of the Johannesburg summit was a plan for Global Ministries to provide grants for self-determined, sustainable pilot projects in the various conferences. Under the leadership of Roland Fernandes, Global Ministries’ directors made an initial special allocation of $3 million in the fall of 2020 for a grant pool and would in the spring of 2021 add another $3.5 million. The project was named for the bishop following his death. Thirteen grants in a dozen conferences were funded from the first allocation, and several new grants from the second allocation will be considered by Global Ministries at its board of directors’ meeting in October 2022.

Variety of Enterprises
The first YAI enterprises differ from place to place as determined by local or regional factors. Some are crop specific, such as maize and pigs, cassava and peanuts, and fish farming. Others concentrate on vegetables and fruit, general livestock, or chickens. One conference is developing high yield seeds. Another is putting its focus on increasing the capacity of 200 farmers in raising livestock. Some locales are cultivating inherited church land, while others are incorporating other acreage. Conferences in the following countries are involved to date: Angola, Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. Others are expected to join.

None of the pilots are yet mature enough to provide solid evidence of long-term contributions to either food security or church institutional financial stability. The first pilot was in Sierra Leone and enjoyed a first bountiful crop of rice in February 2022, most of its Global Ministries’ grant of $200,000 going for planting and harvesting equipment.[3]

Training is an essential component in the YAI ’s emphasis on sustainable agriculture. From early in the program, Global Ministries provided a technical advisor in the person of Dr. Kepifri Lakoh, who in August 2022 became director of the program, with a base in Sierra Leone. Lakoh holds a PhD in agribusiness and was for five years director of monitoring and evaluation of Global Ministries. A number of missionaries with academic and practical backgrounds in agriculture are involved in specific places, but most participants are new to agribusiness. In the autumn of 2022, the Initiative will sponsor three two-week training sessions relevant to the work for an estimated 80 conference staff and volunteers.

The success of YAI will depend on multiple factors including weather, markets, financial and social capital, and church commitment.  Bishop Yambasu was convinced that commercial farming can resolve poverty and provide a stable economic future for the United Methodist people of Africa and their churches. It is a bold vision, but one not outside the realm of faith reflected in Psalm 144’s images of barns filled with produce and fields with sheep, or the promise of no more hunger in Revelation 7:16.

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[1] Yambasu, John. “The Church and Agriculture in Africa—A Call to Action,” address to Africa Agricultural Summit, Johannesburg, South Africa, January 13, 2019. Typescript, pages unnumbered.

[2] Ibid.

[3] As reported by Jusu, Phileas, “Bishop Yambasu Agricultural Initiative Harvests First Crop,” United Methodist News Service, February 22, 2022. https://umcmission.org/february-2022/bishop-yambasu-agriculture-initiative-harvests-first-crops

Recommended Readings: Methodist Church in Britain on Agriculture in Zimbabwe

This blog has been running an occasional system of posts on mission and food throughout this year. In that vein, several recent blog posts from the Methodist Church in Britain's Global Relationships team on agricultural project in Zimbabwe. Andrew Ashdown, MCB's Partnership Coordinator for Africa, has been visiting Africa and the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (an autonomous church from the British tradition). Part of the joint work between the MCB and the MCZ has involved agricultural projects. Ashdown has written about such projects in the following posts:

Mission through Education, Agriculture and Development. Waddilove Schools and Farm. Zimbabwe

Income generation for Education and Church growth. Moleli Goat-rearing Project

The hardships of rural ministry in Africa. Mbembesi Chicken Rearing project. Matabeleland, Zimbabwe

Jonathan McCurley: FoodLife - Life and Food at the Asian Rural Institute in Japan, Part II

Today's post is by Rev. Jonathan McCurley. Rev. McCurley is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church serving through Global Ministries as a missionary in the community life of the Asian Rural Institute in Nasushiobara, Japan. This post is part of an occasional series on food and mission.

At the Asian Rural Institute, the whole school community daily participates in the practices of foodlife work. From the sowing of the crops and feeding of the livestock to the food processing and meal preperation, the community comes together to give of their lives to create food that will sustain life. Not agriculture, or farm work, but this is foodlife work. It reminds us that food is the life God has given us and that our work is part of the process to bring life to the whole world.

Foodlife gives community members of ARI a spiritual experience of connecting and reconnecting to each other, even amidst the conflicts and misunderstandings of everyday life. The ARI Training Handbook states, “Foodlife is a vital activity for human beings to maintain their lives and it connects God, the earth, and human beings – working as a medium for reconciliation and peace building.”[1]

Behind this word foodlife is an understanding of the world and of God.

Foodlife is a term that ARI says was coined by Rev. Dr Toshihiro Takami, or Tom as he was affectionately known by many. Dr. Takami is often known as the founder of the Asian Rural Institute (ARI) and in fact was our first director. For many of the original supporters of ARI, he was also often the face of ARI.

Dr Takami coined the word foodlife in that he took two words that while connected deeply, have become increasingly separated in modern society and joined them into one.

When talking about the reason for coining a new word, Dr Takami talks about agriculture and what it has become. He says:

“Agriculture in a broad sense of the term may be the only human enterprise which would help sustain our planet’s food chain. Almost all other industries are destructive of natural environment. Industrial products as we know them today, especially petroleum based ones, do not help nature’s recycling process. Modern agriculture using science and technology makes agriculture destructive of nature like most other industries. Agriculture destructive of nature is destructive of life. Food produced by destructive agriculture is destructive of human lives. Modern technology which is detached from the art of science is making agriculture destructive.

“Food producing is fast becoming part of big industry on a global scale, and consumers and farmers are being alienated from each other and from the act of food production. Food in this case is no longer a linkage between human beings and nature or creation, nor between consumers and farmers. Food is becoming an agent of alienation.”[2]

That was said almost three decades ago, and in reality, if we think about life today, if you go into a grocery store in almost any modern city in the world, especially in the Global North, you will find a plethora of food. Much of it either has no visual connection to the life it came from, or it has been perfected to the point that it looks more plastic than edible. This 21^st century reality is not just about disconnection in the sense that the ARI philosophy speaks of, but it is also a major cause of environmental degradation, the lack of food security in many places, and even regional violent conflict.

For ARI, the reality of the world all comes down to our understanding of food and life. What is the relationship between the two and how are we as humans supposed to relate with them? Genesis tells us God’s ideal. We see humans naming animals, getting their food from the land, being told to subdue, control, or as we say at ARI, be stewards of the world. In God’s ideal world, we see humans interacting with creation in order to see life flourish.

According to Dr Takami, what we call agriculture did not seem so much interested in seeing life flourish anymore. As countries of the world have sought to use technology and business in order to respond to the wants of the consumers of the world, the focus is no longer on life. Instead, he was worried that the work to create food was becoming more and more disconnected from life. He says in the same article:

“When this kind of scheme of meeting the food needs of the world population establishes hegemony, the already energy-intensive agriculture (which would destroy the food chain), will become increasingly energy intensive not only in the method of production but also in transportation, distribution, preservation, processing and consumption. All matters concerning FOOD would become an integral part of giant monopolistic industries controlled by the powerful few. When such takes place, no human person makes profit but only inhuman world wide trading systems make profit. We would do great injustice to the present and future generations and to the whole creation if we allow this to happen.”[3]

Dr Takami ends by saying what an injustice it would be to the future and to all of creation if we allowed this to happen. This then becomes the question before us.

Through its fifty years of practice, ARI has sought to offer an alternative view of how food, life, God, and creation should be connected and how each and every one of us can relate. I believe that in that connection, there is the deep meaning of foodlife. Dr Takami’s question is really a call for you and me, all of us, to participate in the practice and process of foodlife. So, what do you think? How can we best join in the work of creating food that sustains life for tomorrow? We as part of creation have a responsibility to God, ourselves and the rest of creation to respond to this question.

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[1] Asian Rural Institute, “The Heartbeat of Takami: A book of Toshihiro Takami’s words”, (Japan, Asian Rural Institute, 2018), 58.

[2] Sharing Food is Sharing Life: In Search of a Genuine Life was a speech given on June 29, 1998 at the United Nations Dialogue on the Impact of Globalization in New York, New York. In this speech, Rev. Takami shared the above words. A copy can be requested from the Asian Rural Institute by contacting info@ari-edu.org

[3] Sharing Food is Sharing Life: In Search of a Genuine Life.

Jonathan McCurley: FoodLife - Life and Food at the Asian Rural Institute in Japan, Part I

Today's post is by Rev. Jonathan McCurley. Rev. McCurley is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church serving through Global Ministries as a missionary in the community life of the Asian Rural Institute in Nasushiobara, Japan. This post is part of an occasional series on food and mission.

“Kids, it`s time to eat! Get dried off and come in here!”

Those were words I fondly remember my nana saying when my siblings and I would stay with her and my grandfather in the summer as children. Coming in from the backyard pool, a table spread with her wonderful cooking would be prepared there on the back porch.

I also remember that behind the pool, there was always a small garden that my nana kept up and would even ask for help in weeding or harvesting. I remember picking the tomatoes or cucumbers together with my nana and felt such pride at the harvest.

Little did I know as a child that my nana was teaching me about much more than delicious tomatoes or the importance of eating together. As an adult I have come to know that actually, in her own way, she was teaching my siblings and I about the importance of food to our lives.

Food is something that brings people together and creates a time for us to share with one another. We do not only share the fruit of the harvest though, sharing food also often becomes the means for us to share about our life with one another.

Fast forward twenty some years to Japan and a young couple getting married and moving to Nasushiobara, a small city found right outside of the outskirts of metropolitan Tokyo. Here I found myself at the Asian Rural Institute.

The Asian Rural Institute (ARI) is legally a technical school located in Eastern Japan, about 100 miles outside of Tokyo in Tochigi prefecture, but in reality, it is much more than that. It is a vision, it is a process, it is a work of repentance and reconciliation, and it is a community. Founded in response to requests from Christians in Asia, ARI brings people from around the world together to live and work together, seeking to build a world where all may live together.[1]

At the center of the life of ARI is God, the giver of life, and the creation that He so graciously gives. People at ARI learn that living together is not human centered, but at the core living together is about relationships. It is about our relationship with God, our relationship with other humans and our relationship with all created things.

At ARI, this is called the three loves and is the focus of all that happens.[2] Much of the process of ARI is learning how to share love. In a practical sense, it is how to create food that will give life and how to live within and with the creation that God has put all around us.

To understand the process of creating food that sustains life, ARI has a unique understanding, that is a term coined as “foodlife.” The process of foodlife then is not called agriculture or farming, but foodlife work.

“Foodlife is a special word used at ARI to express the reality that food and life cannot be separated; both depend upon each other. God has given us the gift of creation so that we can sustain our lives by making food. Human beings cannot survive without food, so we work to sustain life through a healthy relationship with nature. At ARI people make an effort to create foodlife in which the soil becomes richer as food is produced and human relationships become more beautiful.

“In fact, it is a joyful experience for community members when they can produce food through their labor in the morning and evening. They also gather to receive the food, giving thanks to God and to the people who labor to produce and prepare the food. Foodlife believes that when we enjoy a meal together of the food we produced and prepared, then we can experience the blessings of God and the heart of the community.”[3]

What does this look like? At ARI, the food we eat is the food we grow on the farm. Over 90% of the food we eat together, we grow together, meaning that we value a high rate of food self-sufficiency. To do this, over 60 varieties of crops and vegetables are planted, and the community keeps livestock - primarily pigs, chickens and goats.

Our foodlife is about cooking, processing and preparing meals as much as it is about growing crops or raising livestock. In fact, members of the ARI community spend one hour of foodlife work every morning and evening, dividing themselves into several groups.

Daily morning and evening foodlife work is managed by all members of ARI including participants, staff, volunteers and even visitors on a rotational basis. Waking up at 6:30 every morning, foodlife work happens before breakfast, facilitated by the leadership of the Participants of the Rural Leaders Training Program. Some go to the farm to cultivate land, some harvest vegetables, some feed livestock, while some cook breakfast.

All of this work is hard, but it is spiritually rewarding because it is all for the sake of the entire community to live healthily and peacefully.

The basic philosophy of foodlife at ARI is the full utilization of space and resources that we have. It also involves the integration of all parts of foodlife. For example, we utilize pig manure as an energy source and fertilizer, dry leaves for nursery beds and leaf compost, kitchen garbage for animal feed and compost.

We regard the forest as an important part of foodlife as well. While the forest protects land from landslides, soil erosion, typhoons and earthquakes, it provides us with fuel, dry leaves, natural pesticides, microorganisms, wild vegetables, and timber as well as increasing the biodiversity in nature. This is essential to create a balanced eco-system. This is the philosophy behind foodlife.

Actively participating in foodlife, the whole cycle of food production and consumption, helps to understand the philosophy, practical skills, and knowledge of what many would call organic farming, as well as the importance of food and food self-sufficiency, and the dignity of labor.

But more, it gives the community of ARI a sense of wholeness. The cycle of preparing soil, sowing seeds, saving seeds, caring for, harvesting, eating, sharing, and recycling clearly shows us where we are from, how life is sustained and where it will end. This gives a sense of security and a meaningful existence on this earth.

As I think back to my childhood, I realize that helping in the garden and eating together the food we harvested was not just a job to do or a habit that was important. Actually, I can now see how my nana was teaching me and my siblings about foodlife and what it means to be part of God’s creation and in relationship with others. I am thankful now more than ever for those experiences and the meaning found in them.

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[1] More information about the founding of ARI can be found on page 2 and 3 of 40 Years of Walking with Grassroots Leaders https://ari-edu.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/40-Years-of-Walking-with-Rural-Leaders.pdf

[2] The three love movement is said to have originated with Kristen Kold (1816-1870) of Denmark and spread throughout Japan through the Ainokai (love farming group). An explanation in English of one version of the three loves and be found here: https://www.san-ai-kai.jp/philosophy/english.html

[3] This is the explanation offered in section B, Curriculum, of the Training Handbook of the Asian Rural Institute, which is used to orient members of the community as they arrive and begin their stay. A copy can be requested from the Asian Rural Institute by contacting info@ari-edu.org

Recommended Reading: Wespath on Food, Agriculture, and Biodiversity

Ryan McQueeney, Sustainable Investment Stewardship Analyst for Wespath, recently wrote a Wespath blog post entitled, "Why Investors Should Care About Food, Agriculture and Biodiversity." In the post, McQueeney explains the economic significance of the food and agriculture sector and therefore the sector's importance in Wespath's efforts to pursue a missional vision of "an economy that promotes environmental health, long-term prosperity for all and social cohesion." McQueeney then explains what investment strategies and approaches Wespath is taking in the areas of food and agriculture as part of their "impact investing program, which seeks the dual outcomes of market rates of return and measurable positive impact." This post may be of interest to readers who have been following the occasional series on this blog about food and mission.

Maria Van Der Maaten: With Bread

Today's post is by Dr. Maria Van Der Maaten. Dr. Van Der Maaten is a sociologist of food and agriculture and community development expert. She is also a United Methodist layperson, clergy spouse, mom of two, and currently serves as the coordinator for the Iowa chapter of MFSA. This post is part of an occasional series on food and mission.

Food has always been important to my family: my grandma was famous for her Sunday lunches, my parents’ dinner parties are always amazing, and now, as a parent, I’ve been learning to make my mother-in-law’s rice-dough tamales for birthdays, Christmas, and New Year’s celebrations. As humans, many of us tend to see food as not just nourishment for our bodies, but our souls, connecting our emotions to what we put into our bodies. When our household celebrated All Saints Day for the first time, I knew the one thing that was missing wasn’t Mexican sweetbread, which is something many other altars had, but instead my grandmother’s saucisjes (a type of Dutch-immigrant food) or some almond patties (a Dutch letter-like pastry).

As someone who grew up eating most meals as a family, the idea that sharing a meal was something special or unique to holidays always surprised me. Perhaps it was because sharing a meal is such a familiar act to me, but mealtime is my favorite piece of the Sister Parish experience: I love to try new foods, I love to eat, and I love to talk with people (win, win, win).

For more than twenty years I have been involved in the work of Sister Parish, Inc. as a delegate, staff member, board member, and supporter. Sister Parish is an international non-profit organization that partners communities of faith in the U.S. with communities of faith in El Salvador or Guatemala to establish long-term relationships based on solidarity, ecumenism, reconciliation, and consciousness-raising.

These relationships focus on fomenting mutual understanding and a commitment to peace and justice among partners in both countries. Although other more traditional mission projects (i.e., construction, education, outreach) may follow once a relationship is well-established, creating and maintaining connections is the sole purpose of Sister Parish; any other projects are meant to further the community-to-community relationship, not replace it.

Sister Parish delegates travel North and South, staying in one another’s homes as an essential component of enhancing awareness and understanding and nurturing these personal relationships. As a staff person and delegate, one of the greatest privileges of Sister Parish experience and model was to be invited to someone else’s table. It was at the dinner table where I would learn more about the lives and histories of delegates and host families and see the connections between their seemingly dissimilar lives be forged, clarified, and relationships solidified.

At the Sister Parish dinner table, I learned intimate details about how families in El Salvador survived the armed conflict and the simultaneous suffering they endured; how they experienced the stages of grief and loss as their family members migrated to the U.S., but also the gratitude and relief at these family members’ sacrifice for them; I also learned how to make some of the foods they have shared with me, the time, effort, prayers, and luck that goes into planting and harvesting the corn that ultimately makes the tortillas; and how sharing a meal is an act of radical love and hospitality.

This act of radical love and hospitality, inviting someone unknown (or hardly known) into your home, your kitchen, to try your cooking, is hard to replicate in other ways. Understanding this has also given me a new appreciation for the words “compañero” or “compañera,” which are usually translated as “companion” or “friend.” As I learned more Spanish, I also learned more about the Latin roots of the words: com = with, pan = bread.

I have a deep appreciation for the Spanish word “compañero,” because it is a friendship that goes beyond simply being one’s neighbor or fellow committee member or colleague; there is an intimate relationship that comes from having broken bread together. I don’t know that we have a word with the same depth of meaning in English. Or maybe, sadly, in our hurried U.S. culture, in which shared meals are reserved for holidays and special events, we simply don’t understand what true compañerismo could mean.

While many of us continue to isolate awaiting vaccines for young children and lower rates of transmission, we miss participating in these extended family gatherings and celebrations that include food. Sister Parish delegations were moved to a virtual platform for everyone’s safety as well. There is a sense of loss and a need to mourn the connections we previously shared and opportunities to learn, even if temporary.

However, this hiatus also serves as an important reminder of the joy of a simple, shared meal and deep conversation, especially with people who would have otherwise been strangers. Because those who are part of the Sister Parish family understand the transformative power of food. Once we break bread together, we aren’t strangers, but compañeros.

Temba Nkomozepi: Mission and Food – The Mujila Falls Perspective

Today's post is written by Temba Nkomozepi. Nkomozepi is a Global Ministries missionary and an agriculturalist at Mujila Falls Agriculture Center in Kanyama, Zambia. This post is part of an occasional series on food and mission.

Mission and food are inseparable, and the interaction between them is inevitable. A study of the early Church in Corinth found that sharing food was significant as a way to show love and helped to displace former conceptions which tolerated inequality and uneven distribution (Blue, 1991).

Often, missionaries would have to give out food to the poor after delivering sermons. Instead of giving out food, many missionaries introduced and demonstrated new techniques to improve the local agriculture. From as early as 1822, in the tribal hilly areas of Odisha in India, a group of missionaries introduced the sloping agricultural land technology which allowed locals to sustainably grow crops and harvest good yields on steep slopes, which was previously attempted without success (Nayak, 2018). In the 1920s, Emery Alvord, an American missionary, successfully promoted the use of the plough and integrated crop-livestock farming in Zimbabwe. More recently, another agricultural missionary, Brian Oldrieve, through Foundations for Farming, is a proponent for a technique known as conservation agriculture based on crop rotation, minimum-tillage and retention of crop residues (Baudron et. al, 2012).

The Mujila Falls Agriculture Center (MFAC), a United Methodist Church mission center also promotes and demonstrates good agriculture practices and works to promote rural development. This purpose of this article is to present the fusion of mission and food from the perspective of us at the MFAC.

The Mujila Falls Agriculture Center lies in a typical rural area at about 50 km away from a small district town called Mwinilunga in the North – Western Province of Zambia in Southern Africa. (11°29'34.8"S 24°48'27.6"E). The region is predominantly occupied by the Lunda people. The area receives high rainfall and has high temperatures that are suitable for most crops and livestock.

The project started in 1999 when its founder, Rev. Paul Lee Webster was evacuated from Musokatanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo following civil strife. The project’s motto is derived from the second part of John 10:10 that says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. The initial objectives were to increase access to food with high protein and vitamin content, but later morphed to include rural and church development.

The interactions of mission and food at the MFAC have been multifaceted as a result of the diverse skills of the missionaries and the circumstances surrounding the formation of the project. One of the biggest successes to date has been the teaching and demonstration on growing maize. Despite that maize is the staple in Zambia, cassava is the staple food in the vicinity. For years, locals had been unsuccessfully trying to farm maize without much success. It was only after training and demonstration on critical factors such as seed selection, land preparation, weed control and harvesting that the yields grew and more people were encouraged to cultivate maize as a cash crop. Over the years government also increased support in input supply (subsidies) and marketing.

Mujila has been successful in providing fresh milk and eggs. The project provides the community with over 80 liters of fresh milk and between 1,500 to 2,700 eggs per day. The eggs are sold at an affordable price, while the milk is distributed free of charge as a response to the need and requests from several health practitioners. Efforts to have the local farmers produce their own milk and eggs are hindered by lack of access to improved cattle and chicken breeds, poor road network, support services and lack of funds for investment.

In addition, Mujila has seen both success and failure in introducing various appropriate technology and types of small livestock and vegetables. For example, in appropriate technology, the bicycle frame cultivators were a big success largely because they are effective and old bicycle frames are widely available without much utility.

On the other hand, introducing the use of animal draught power was not adopted much because of the high entry cost barrier. Even those who can afford cattle rear them long distances away from their homes and fields. Similarly, experience has also proved that vegetables or foods that go along with the main starch (Nshima) such as cabbage are usually accepted, whilst those that do not like rhubarb/beetroot are not easily adopted. Experiencing local food has helped the missionaries at MFAC to develop cross-cultural understanding and intelligence (Sterkenburg, 2013)

MFAC does not only help with food practices as practical decisions influenced by nutritional needs but sometimes in ways that are fundamentally social or cultural (Reddy & van Dam, 2020). An example is how the Mama Roxanne Day Care center was introduced as an intervention for child safety and protection.

The mission center received reports of incidents where minor children under the watch of older siblings would injure themselves trying to heat or prepare food. In most cases, the mothers who are normally the primary caregivers to children would be out preparing cassava flour. Processing cassava has not changed much over the last few decades; it is laborious and time consuming which involves soaking, chipping, drying and pounding (Alamu et al., 2019).

On the surface, it is unclear why families prefer to use the old ways to process cassava, also why they chose cassava to be a food security crop and maize to be a cash crop. Key informants have revealed that the reasons are largely traditional and are also linked to the status of a wife or family. It is against this background that MFAC started a day care center where children between the ages of 4 and 7 can be looked after while receiving basic education.

Similarly, MFAC has also strengthened local congregations by providing opportunities to the church and church members through employment or income generating agricultural projects. The work done at Mujila provides a platform where people who gather for any program such as training and employment can be part of religious services led by missionaries. The advantage is that it makes it possible to reach to people who would not normally respond to an invitation to church.

Overall, the interactions of mission and food at MFAC are complex, and the approach is distinctive because of the diverse skill set of the missionaries and the uniqueness of the local area. Food provides a platform for exchange because it can be used to mark religion, ethnicity (or tribe) and gender (Bonnekessen, 2010).

Furthermore, understanding the food value chain; what a society eats; how it is produced and processed, how it links to tradition and status can also help mission centers to bring much needed interventions such as the Mama Roxanne Day Care Center. On one hand, the missionaries train and demonstrate how people could possibly eat better and earn a little more, while on the other, they also teach how people may have life, and have it abundantly!

References
Alamu, E.O., Ntawuruhunga, P., Chibwe, T. et al., 2019. "Evaluation of cassava processing and utilization at household level in Zambia." Food Security, 11:141–150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-018-0875-3

Baudron, F., Andersson, J.A., Corbeels, M., Giller K.E., 2012. "Failing to Yield? Ploughs, conservation agriculture and the problem of agricultural intensification. An example from the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe." The Journal of Development Studies, 48 (03):393-412. 10.1080/00220388.2011.587509. hal-00807097.

Blue, B.B., 1991. "The house church at Corinth and the Lord’s Supper: Famine, food supply, and the present distress." Criswell Theological Review, 5(2):221-239.

Bonnekessen, B., 2010. "Food is good to teach: an exploration of the cultural meanings of food." Food, Culture & Society, 13(2):279+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A236333285/AONE?u=googlescholar&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=0b3da1fe. Accessed 19 May 2022

Nayak, S., 2018. "Role of Missionaries in Development of Sloping Agricultural Land Technology in Odisha: A Historical Study." The Researchers' International Research Journal; Jharkhand, 4(1): 27-32.

Reddy, G. & van Dam, R.M., 2020. "Food, culture, and identity in multicultural societies: Insights from Singapore." Appetite, 149, 104633.

Sterkenburg, D.R., 2013. "Teaching Cultural Awareness Through Food Traditions." Business Administration Faculty Presentations. 21.

Nan McCurdy: Give Ye Them to Eat: Christ’s Mission to End Food Insecurity

Today's post is by Nan McCurdy. McCurdy is a Global Ministries missionary of the United Methodist Church in the state of Puebla, Mexico with Give Ye Them to Eat (GYTTE), a ministry with impoverished rural people that works in community-based health, sustainable agriculture, church and faith development, community development specializing in appropriate technologies and also with mission delegations from the US and Mexico called AWARE – Alternative Work-Study and Reality Experiences. Nan is also the editor of the weekly on Nicaragua, NicaNotes. This post is part of an occasional series on food and mission.

US congregations take Jesus’ words and actions seriously: in 2018, 48% of churches had their own food ministry or supported efforts run by other churches or organizations such as food pantries or food banks. These faith-based ministries often provide immediate help to hungry people with no requirements, unlike government programs. And more than two million people volunteer at a food pantry, soup kitchen, emergency shelter or after-school program in the US, working more than 100 million volunteer hours a year, according to “Hunger in America 2014,” a study conducted by Feeding America.

This wave of charity recognizes a serious problem in the United States: despite being a wealthy nation, food insecurity remains high. One in four people in our nation, the richest nation on earth, do not have adequate access to sufficient nutritious food needed for a healthy life.

In the US, the average percentage of households with food insecurity stayed between 10 and 15% from 1995 until 2020, when the numbers shot up. Despite volunteer and government food aid, hunger grew 9% from 2019 to 2020, when 38 million people were hungry.

In research by the Census Bureau in the week before Christmas 2021, 81 million people experienced food insecurity, and 45 million reported not having enough food. Families with children suffered most: the rate of hunger has been 41% to 83% higher for households with children than adult-only ones.

Twice as many Black households experience hunger than white households. During the pandemic, 19 to 29% of Black homes with children have reported not having enough to eat; 16 to 25% of Latino homes and 7 to 14% of white homes reported the same. 43% of Black households with children have experienced food insecurity during the pandemic – the highest rate in recorded history.

In the face of this pervasive food insecurity, Americans turn to a variety of sources for help.

More than 42 million people rely on SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. During Covid, the USDA increased the purchasing power of the plan by 21% for the first time since 1975. There were also emergency allotments that increased the amount of food stamps people got.

In 2019, 35 million people relied on food charity. Undocumented immigrants are more dependent on food pantries because they are excluded from government programs. Church-related food programs make a big difference for these people’s lives, especially for their children.

80% of households receiving food stamps had at least one worker, which indicates that millions of people do not earn a living wage.

US-Related International Food Insecurity
Hunger issues in the United States are connected to hunger issues elsewhere. US foreign policy has had a major effect on hunger and nutrition in developing nations for many years. US agricultural policy aggressively promotes creating markets for our farmers by promoting international reliance on US food exports.

The US subsidizes its own farmers to the point that products like corn and rice are actually sold below what would be the real price. In this way, we put small and medium-scale corn and rice producers out of business in developing nations. Most small farmers end up having to sell their land, leading to more large export-based farms – many now owned by US corporations.

Small and medium-scale farmers plant the food that local people eat like corn, beans, rice, vegetables, fruit, and they also raise farm animals in a much healthier way than corporations. But US policies have contributed to concentrating that land into the hands of large landowners and corporations. The US influences national policies so that it is very difficult for small and medium-scale farmers to get loans or any other kind of government assistance.

US loan policies are never aimed at the food security of the population of developing nations; instead, they promote production and export of products such as bananas, sugar, and coffee to the point that many developing nations are producing and exporting the same things. Thus, the international price stays artificially low which benefits people in wealthy nations, while people in developing countries benefit little from these exports. This whole process also leads to much more migration out of these countries.

An Example of Food Sovereignty for the United States and Other Nations
The small nation of Nicaragua in Central America has worked on ending poverty for the last fifteen years. One of the most important strategies has been to develop food security, and today they have reached approximately 90% food security.

This means that small and medium-scale farmers are producing 90% of the food that Nicaraguans eat. Their population is much more food secure in times of crisis, whether it be a climate-related crisis or a political crisis. There are no factory farms of cattle, pigs or chickens. There are large and corporate producers of export crops like sugarcane; but even coffee production for export is held more in the hands of small and medium-scale producers.

They had a major land reform in the 1980s that put land in the hands of nearly a million people. During three governments by and for the wealthy from 1990 to early 2007, much of that land returned to the wealthy. But government policies are helping poorer people legalize land for free, receive technical assistance and low-interest loans, and little by little more land is returning to small farm families.

Because of current Nicaragua policies that benefit the people instead of US corporations, the US has been doing many things to destabilize Nicaragua politically and even directed and financed a coup attempt in 2018. Although it didn’t fly, it cost the economy billions of dollars, and the US continues to try to destroy the excellent example Nicaragua is giving to the world. Just visit Nicaragua and you will see that another world is possible and that we could be employing similar food sovereignty policies in the US.

Corporate Profits Limit Food Security and Health in the United States
The Nicaraguan example requires envisioning agriculture beyond corporate monoculture. Monoculture production of grains on a large scale is not good for the land and requires enormous amounts of fertilizers and pesticides. Whereas sustainable farming practices control weeds, insects, and other pests with ecosystem management, farmers who monocrop are dependent on pesticides. Pesticides are linked to multiple health problems, including neurological and hormonal disorders, birth defects, cancer and other diseases.

Production of cattle, pigs, and chickens on a corporate scale is terrible for the environment, and there are many cases of water sources being polluted. Bacteria, viruses and nitrates can enter the supply; the community can be exposed to disease and nitrate poisoning. Nitrate poisoning is dangerous to infants, can lead to birth defects and miscarriages, and has been associated with esophageal and stomach cancers.

The volume of animal waste produced on factory farms is much greater than that of human waste. Animal waste is often stored in lagoons and applied, untreated, as fertilizer to farm fields. That excrement has pathogens such as E.coli residues of antibiotics, animal blood, bedding waste, cleaning solutions and other chemicals. Manure pit gases with hydrogen sulfide, ammonia and methane fill the air.

There is great overuse of antibiotics on factory farms – 80% of antibiotics sold in the world today are for corporate farming. Antibiotic overuse leads to the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria. These bacteria can jump to humans, causing pandemics. Pandemics are also associated with viral mutations promoted by crowding of animals in very small spaces.

Conclusion
In the United States, along with food charity, it is essential for Christians to become involved in changing food production policies that would support more small and medium-scale farmers who would be encouraged to use sustainable practices through loan policies, for example. We would also need an agrarian reform plan and laws to limit how big a farm can be so that we prioritize the health of our population instead of prioritizing the profits of corporations.

Caleb Kanyimb Mbaz: You Give Them Something to Eat

Today's post is by Rev. Caleb Kanyimb Mbaz. Rev. Kanyimb Mbaz is the head of the South Congo and Zambia Episcopal Area Disaster Management Office. This post is part of a series on food and mission.

Text: Matthew 14:16: “But Jesus said to them, ‘There’s no need to send them away. You give them something to eat.’”

In my evangelism course at Africa University, the late Professor Kurewa defined mission as a set of activities that accompany the gospel, including the establishment of schools, vocational centers, hospitals, orphanages, nutrition centers, women's mentoring centers for culinary programs, farms and so on. In this article, we will dwell on the relationship between mission and food. The Bible speaks to us through this text of a case of lack of food to feed 5000 people, not counting women and children. Food insecurity is a great and formidable weapon that is decimating our communities in these days.

Food insecurity
The food insecurity of the masses was sometimes in the Bible one of the great opportunities that God seized to convey his message of salvation in ancient times. It could go so far as to make people a refugee or even a slave of others because food is one of the basic necessities of life. A community can only become settled and productive when it reaches self-sufficiency in general and in particular with respect to food. Science proves to us that a population, a family or even a person who cannot feed themselves becomes unstable mentally and also physically.

Our country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, is classified among the food deficient countries. According to the latest IPC (Integrated food security Phase Classification), published on November 10, 27 million people in the DRC experience high levels of food insecurity between September and December 2021, which represents approximately 26.5% of the Congolese population.

According to the World Food Program, the number of people in a situation of acute food insecurity amounts to 27 million, making access to food a daily struggle for a significant part of the Congolese population. An estimated 3.4 million children suffer from acute malnutrition. It is possible for more people to eat only once a day compared to the three meals intended for each person. And often the meal on the table does not reflect good nutrition. The DRC is one of the biggest hunger crises in the world.

What then is the role of the church and its mission in the world where these symptoms are raging? What were the contexts of the introduction of the Christian religion in our communities?

Mission
In our villages at the entrance of the missionaries, certain commodities such as salt and sugar were effective means of clearing the way for the gospel. During our first food distribution in Kapanga to survivors of the Kamwina Nsapu conflict, done with a grant from UMCOR, we were faced with an indescribably large crowd that let us see the need, the lack, and the hunger. We had distributed the rations for the planned 3 days and people came from distant villages to come and get food, and we had neither the time nor the desire to preach because the distribution of the rations was itself the preaching.

In the United Methodist Church world in Africa, agriculture, however crucial, was one of the major programs that rarely responded to food or nutritional emergencies, on the one hand because of weaknesses including inadequate road infrastructure, low production in the face of overpopulation, as well as the lack of sustainability. All this has not made it possible to convey the gospel with full success and thus strengthen the mission of the church. We need many more programs with activities to nurture our communities and this seems to be one of the great responsibilities of the church in mission. These programs must be direct in terms of food production by strengthening agro-processing or establishing distribution points for those who cannot do agricultural activities. Because it should be mentioned that the elderly, children, pregnant women, the sick, those with disabilities, and even old widows cannot go to cultivate or work for their survival while social security is almost non-existent. What is the message we preach to the hungry?

Resolving urgency leads to sustainability
For some time, preaching has centered its message on work, saying that he who does not work does not eat. This is a very good thing because God has blessed the work of humans. However, in a context where famine is acute and creating malnourished people in our communities, can we still talk about work in the foreground? Which precedes the other – eating or working? For a community with a large percentage of minors versus a low percent group of men and women capable of looking for work? These are the questions our communities face and need to be answered. But then, it happens that many preachers talk about work, forgetting to mention that in order to work, one must have eaten. I find this theology discriminatory because it targets a class of people and encourages them to do better, forgetting those who are not physically able to work. Food cannot be a slogan, neither a promise nor an incentive in our communities but an urgent reality of putting it on the table first, after which the production program can follow.

You give them something to eat
However, there is a connection between mission and food. A link that has nothing to do with food intervention as corruption but as a need to be filled because “a hungry stomach has no ears,” as they say. In our experience, this connection is direct. Christ then said to them with these words: " You give them something to eat."

It is these gospel terms that speak to the connection between mission and food. In reference to our experience in responding to disasters, food was the most appreciated intervention in all the communities where we intervened, including environments considered agricultural. All this because food is not only precious, but also difficult to find considering the cost of living. In both rural and urban areas, the population has difficulty obtaining food that can bind together the two ends of the month. According to statistics, in Congo and in Katanga province, people could go for a long time without eating because of lack, and this is so horrible. In relation to the question of human rights, food is first on the list of basic needs, and we talk about adequate food.

A punctual intervention of food to the needy not only reinforces the mission of the church but also maintains its continuity. In a purely food-deficient context, as shown by the biblical text quoted above – “You give them something to eat.” – an emergency imposes itself; it does not wait for an agricultural program so that it is very important and sustainable though. The food emergency in our community is glaring. It is like the hunger of a child who will not wait for his father to go to work to come back to him with something to snack on, but demands an intervention that is here and now, "Hic and Nunc.” We found in the territory of Kipushi families who take turns eating; that is to say when some eat today, tomorrow they will not eat and so on.

The way forward
We would like to encourage programs not only on food production through agriculture but also to strengthen the mechanisms for the availability of basic food products through specific programs, among others, for street children, widows, orphans, those displaced from wars, food refugees and so many others because even asylum seekers living in the Congo end up suffering in one way or another from food insecurity.

The United Methodist Church needs to take the initiative to train nutritionists and to mentor and equip them to help our communities not only to select nutritious foods but above all to follow programs that support adequate and tangible food interventions.

During the Global Ministries agricultural forum held in South Africa in Johannesburg, the resolution to seek arable land for sustainable agriculture programs is to be encouraged, and yet it requires another element, that of initiating at the base the idea of cooperatives of small farmers, especially for women. This should be done because women will be able to participate in their own development by responding immediately and directly to their food needs and those of their families, since in Africa women are still at the center of the domestic economy. It is also desirable to be able to design food education awareness programs and thus include food programs in our schools, as in the old days when food was offered in schools and training centers to strengthen the health of students. With this program hunger is fought at the source in favor of those who have left home without having had the chance to eat something.

We cannot end our remarks without mentioning some reflections that support our contribution based on our experience in the context of food insecurity. "Cultivating a field is good, but starting by feeding yourself is better." "A hungry producer cannot produce to eat.” And when he produces, he assures his sustenance, but when he eats, he ensures his survival. Making food available to the hungry is more than a spoken gospel.

So, food is the servant of the mission. It is still in our communities the feet of the gospel. Christ used it to convey the message of salvation by commanding his disciples. “You give them something to eat.” In the practice of disaster response in our context, food comes first – available food, not the seed, because the population could die with the seed in the ground or in the house while waiting for the rainy season in this context of global warming. Thus, the best mission is the one that takes action to preserve the community from hunger. The mission of the Church is based not only on preaching but on the response to vital needs and in our context, it is daily food for daily strength.

Caleb Kanyimb Mbaz: Donnez-leur Vous-même à Manger

Le message d'aujourd'hui est du révérend Caleb Kanyimb Mbaz. Le révérend Kanyimb Mbaz est le chef du bureau de gestion des catastrophes de la zone épiscopale du Sud-Congo et Zambie. Cette écriture fait partie d'une série sur la nourriture et la mission.

Texte: Matthieu 14:16 “Jésus leur répondit: Ils n’ont pas besoin de s’en aller; donnez-leur vous-mêmes à manger.”

Dans mon cours d'évangélisme a Africa University, le défunt professeur Kurewa a définit la mission comme un ensemble d'activités qui accompagnent l'évangile, entre autres la création des écoles, des centres professionnels, des hôpitaux, des orphelinats, des centres des nutrition, des centres d'encadrement des femmes pour les programmes culinaires, des fermes et j'en passe. Dans cet article, nous allons nous appesantir sur la relation entre la mission et la nourriture. La bible nous parle à travers ce texte d’un cas de manque de la nourriture pour nourrir 5000 personnes sans compter les femmes et les enfants. L’insécurité alimentaire est une grande et redoutable arme qui décime nos communautés en ces jours.

L’insécurité alimentaire
L'insécurité alimentaire des masses a été quelques fois dans la Bible l'une des grandes opportunités que Dieu a saisies pour bien véhiculer son message du salut dans les temps anciens. Elle pouvait aller jusqu'à faire d'un peuple réfugié ou même un esclave des autres car la nourriture fait partie des nécessités fondamentales de la vie. Une communauté ne peut devenir sédentaire et productrice que lorsqu’elle atteint sa suffisance en général et dans le cadre alimentaire en particulier. La science nous prouve qu’un peuple, une famille ou meme une personne qui n'arrive pas à se nourrir devient instable mentalement et aussi physiquement.

Notre pays, la République Démocratique du Congo, est classée parmi les pays à déficit alimentaire. Selon le dernier IPC (Integrated food security Phase Classification), publié le 10 novembre, 27 millions de personnes en RDC connaissent des niveaux élevés d'insécurité alimentaire entre septembre et décembre 2021, ce qui représente environ 26,5% de la population congolaise.

Selon le PAM, le nombre de personnes en situation d'insécurité alimentaire aiguë s'élève à 27 millions, faisant de l'accès à la nourriture un combat quotidien pour une partie importante de la population congolaise. On estime que 3,4 millions d'enfants souffrent de malnutrition aiguë. Il est possible pour un plus grand nombre de personnes de ne manger qu'une seule fois par jour par rapport aux trois repas prévus pour chaque personne. Et souvent le repas sur la table ne reflète pas une bonne nutrition. La RDC est l'une des plus grandes crises de la faim dans le monde.

Quelle est donc le rôle de l’église et sa mission dans le monde ou ces indices font rages? Quelles ont été les contextes de l’introduction de la religion chrétienne dans nos communautés?

La mission
Dans nos villages à l'entrée des missionnaires certaines commodités comme le sel y le sucre étaient des moyens efficaces pour frayer le chemin de l'évangile. Lors de notre première distribution alimentaire a Kapanga des survivant de Kamwina Nsapu sur subvention de UMCOR, nous avons été face a une foule très grande indescriptible qui nous laissait lire le besoin, le manque et la faim. Nous avions distribué les rations pendant les 3 jours prévus et des populations venaient des villages lointains pour venir chercher à manger et nous n’avions ni le temps ni l’envie de prêcher car la distribution des rations était elle-même la prédication.

Dans le monde méthodiste en Afrique, l’agriculture pourtant crucial fut un des grands programmes ayant rarement répondu aux urgences alimentaires ou nutritionnelles d’une part à cause des faiblesses incluant les infrastructures routières inadéquates, les faibles productions face aux surnombres des populations ainsi que l’absence de la pérennité. Tout ceci n’a pas permit de véhiculer a plein succès l’évangile et ainsi renforcer la mission de l’église. Nous avons besoin de beaucoup plus de programmes avec des activités pour nourrir nos communautés et cela semble être l'une des grandes responsabilités de l'église en mission. Ces programmes doivent être directes en termes de production alimentaire en renforçant l'agro-alimentaire ou en établissant des points de distribution pour ceux qui ne peuvent pas faire d'activités agricoles. Car il faut mentionner que les vieillards, les enfants, les femmes enceintes, les malades, ceux avec deficience et même les veuves avances en âge ne peuvent pas aller cultiver ou travailler pour leur survie alors que la sécurité sociale est presque inexistante. Quel est le message que nous prêchons aux affames?

Résoudre l’urgence, conduit à la pérennité
Depuis quelque temps, la prédication a centré son message sur le travail, disant que celui qui ne travaille pas ne mange pas. C’est une très bonne chose car Dieu a béni l'œuvre de l'homme. Cependant, dans un contexte où la famine est aiguë et que celle-ci crée dans nos communautés des malnutris peut-on encore parler du travail au premier plan? Qu’est-ce qui précède l’autre; manger ou travailler? Pour une communauté avec un grand pourcentage de mineurs, d'adultes contre un faible pourcentage d'hommes et de femmes capables de chercher un logement? Telles sont les questions auxquelles nos communautés sont confrontées et auxquelles il faut répondre. Mais alors, il arrive que de nombreux prédicateurs parlent de travail, oubliant de mentionner que pour travailler, il faut avoir mangé. Je trouve cette théologie discriminatoire car elle cible une classe de personnes et les incite à faire mieux, oubliant celles qui ne sont pas physiquement aptes à travailler. La nourriture ne peut être ni un slogan ni une incitation mais une réalité qui consiste à mettre de la nourriture sur la table en priorité, après quoi le programme de production peut suivre.

Donnez-leur vous-même à manger
Cependant, il existe un lien entre la mission et l'alimentation. Un lien qui n’a rien à avoir avec l’intervention alimentaire comme corruption mais comme un besoin à combler car « ventre affame, n’a point d’oreille » dit-on. Selon notre expérience, cette liaison est directe. Le Christ leur dit alors par ces mots: "Donnez-leur vous-même à manger."

C’est ces termes de l’évangile parlent du lien entre la mission et la nourriture. Par rapport à notre expérience dans l’intervention des catastrophes, la nourriture a été l’intervention la plus appréciée dans toutes les communautés ou nous sommes intervenues inclus les milieux considérés comme agricoles. Tout ceci parce que non seulement précieuse, mais la nourriture est aussi difficile à trouver par rapport au coup de vie. Dans les milieux ruraux comme urbains la population a du mal à se procurer à manger pouvant lier les deux bouts du mois. Au Congo selon les statistiques et dans le Katanga, rester beaucoup de temps sans manger à cause du manque est un fléau. Par rapport à la question des droits humains, la nourriture se trouve sur la première liste des besoins de base et on parle d’une nourriture adéquate.

Une intervention ponctuelle de la nourriture aux nécessiteux non seulement renforce la mission de l'église mais aussi maintien la continuité de celle-ci. Dans un contexte purement déficitaire en alimentation comme nous démontre le texte biblique ci haut cite: « Donnez-leur vous-même à manger. » Une urgence s'impose, elle n’attend pas un programme d'agriculture si bien que celui-ci soit très important et pérenne. L’urgence alimentaire dans notre communauté est criante. Elle est semblable à la faim d'un enfant qui n’attendra pas que son père ailles au travail pour lui revenir avec de quoi grignoter mais il demande une intervention qui se veut ici et maintenant, « Hic et Nunc. » Nous avons trouvés dans le territoire de Kipushi des familles qui mangent à tour de rôle; c’est à dire quand les uns mangent aujourd’hui, demain ils ne mangeront pas ainsi de suite.

La voie à suivre
Nous voudrions encourager les programmes non seulement sur la production alimentaire à travers l'agriculture mais aussi de renforcer les mécanismes de disponibilité des produits alimentaires de première nécessité à travers des programmes spécifiques, entre autres, aux enfants des rues, aux veuves, aux orphelins, aux déplacés de guerres, aux réfugiés alimentaires et tant d'autres car même les demandeurs d'asile vivant au Congo finissent par souffrir d'une manière ou d'une autre de l'insécurité alimentaire.

L'Eglise Méthodiste Unie a besoin de prendre l'initiative de former des nutritionnistes et dès les encadrer, les équiper afin d’aider nos communautés non seulement à sélectionner des aliments nutritifs mais surtout à suivre des programmes qui soutiennent des interventions alimentaires adéquats et palpables.

Au cours du forum agricole de GBGM tenue en Afrique du Sud à Johannesburg, la résolution, celle de chercher des terres arables pour des programmes d’agriculture durable est à encourager et cependant, elle nécessite un autre élément, celui d’initier à la base l’idée des coopératives des petits agriculteurs visant les femmes. Car celles-ci pourront participer à leur propre développement en répondant immédiatement et directement à leurs besoins alimentaires et ceux de leurs familles étant donné qu’en Afrique la femme reste encore au centre de l’économie domestique. Il est aussi souhaitable de pouvoir concevoir des programmes de sensibilisation à l'éducation alimentaire et ainsi inclure des programmes alimentaires dans nos écoles, comme dans l’ancien temps ou la nourriture était offerte dans les écoles et centres de formation pour renforcer l’immunité des apprenants. Avec ce programme la faim est combattue à la source en faveur de celui qui aurai quitté sa maison sans avoir eu la chance de manger quelque chose.

Nous ne pourrons finir nos propos sans mentionner certaines réflexions qui soutiennent notre contribution base sur notre expérience dans le contexte de l’insécurité alimentaire. « Cultiver un champ c'est bien, mais commencez par se nourrir c’est mieux. » « Un producteur affamé ne peut pas produire pour manger. » Et quand il produit, il assure sa subsistance mais quand il mange il assure sa survie. Mettre de la nourriture à la disposition des affames est plus qu’une évangile prêchée.

Ainsi donc la nourriture est la servante de la mission. Elle est encore dans nos communautés les pieds de l’évangile. Christ l’a utilisé pour véhiculer le message du salut en intimant l’ordre a ses disciples. « Donnez Leurs Vous-mêmes à Manger. » Dans l’exercice de la réponse aux catastrophes dans notre contexte, la nourriture prend la première place. La nourriture disponible, pas la semence car la population pourra se mourir avec la semence en terre ou dans la maison en attendant la saison pluvieuse dans ce contexte de réchauffement climatique. Ainsi la meilleure des missions est celle qui pose les actions afin préserver de la faim la communauté. La mission de l’Eglise repose non seulement sur la prédication mais la réponse aux besoins vitaux et dans notre contexte, c’est la nourriture de chaque jour pour la force de chaque jour.

John Walter Ngoy: The Power of Food in People’s Lives

Today's post is by Rev. John Walter Ngoy. Rev. Ngoy is the head of the North Katanga Episcopal Area Disaster Management Office. This post is part of a series on food and mission.

There is an unrecognized power in the food that we use daily. Once thoughtfully considered and purposefully used, one can discover a revealing, gathering and constructive power that food possesses intrinsically and, therefore, exercises in the life of many people. When properly used or given out, food reveals the inner feelings or secrets from those who receive it. Not only does food reveal feelings and secrets of its consumers, but it also tends to bring together people and build their relationships.

In Katanga’s Luba culture, there is a saying literally translated as “Once a mouth eats well, it starts speaking well.” In the same culture, there is, in the wedding process, a step – the second phase of wedding – that requires food for the process of marriage to continue. The lady’s parents oblige what is culturally known as “Opening mouth.” This is a kind of food that the future parents-in-laws demand from their son-in-law to be given them after he has closed the door to other young men who could seek for their daughter in marriage. The in-laws have to eat their requested food, after that they open their mouth to tell their son-in-law what the present could be that they need for them to give him their daughter. The son-in-law should keep in mind “Once a mouth eats well, it starts speaking well” for him to make the following steps easier and lighter by offering the in-laws the food they would really like.

This food power of revealing secrets is observed in the Bible as well. Abraham saw three men by his home. He welcomed them and gave them food. At their departure, the visitors revealed to Abraham what is going to happen in his life and what they were going to do ahead (Genesis 18). The same is also observed with Isaac who, willing to bless his son, Esau, requested some food before he opened his mouth (Genesis 27:1-4). In both contexts, one can explicitly notice the power that food exercises upon people’s intentions. So, it looks like food compels people to speak out what they intend to do.

In addition, in case of conflict, Katanga’s Luba culture calls its people to unite through another saying that literally states, “Talk together and kill an animal.” That is, people in conflict should sit around a reconciliation table and, once they are truly reconciled with one another, they have to share food together at the end of their reconciliation process. They will also be encouraged to share their food together often in order to strengthen their relationship. Thus, food plays a very important role in Katanga’s Luba culture by not only allowing people to express overtly their feelings but also bringing them together and building their community.

In spite of what it is in our communities, food influence receives less consideration among many people until these days. It is looked upon as the solar energy was in the past few years. The sun emitted its energy for a very long period of time. People were not interested in using it in other ways as it is used today through solar panels. Thanks to solar panels, the sun is useful in our homes, even during the time it is not available. If we invest in the power of food the way they invested in the sun’s power, especially in the Christian mission context, we are likely to revitalize the spread of the gospel in this period of the angel of Revelation 14:8.

It was easier to proclaim the gospel during the first angel’s period. During this time, the angel was at work using human beings as tools for proclamation. Now, as the proclaimer is no more, there is an urgent need to revitalize the Christian mission through the use of new tools like food.

For food proclaims the gospel without using any kind of theology or methodology. It draws people to Christ without coercion or explanation. Since it is part of our daily life, it helps the receivers to discover the source of their life while enabling them to confess their affiliation to that source of life.

As an illustration, the Church in the district of Mitwaba had, for a long time of its existence, very few fervent members. They were not attending to their Sunday worship regularly. We were only receiving complaints in every gathering we held with its leaders.

But, since the population was assisted by UMCOR with food, after the area was affected by flood and storm, we heard that the churches in Mitwaba were now flooded by participants during Sunday worships. The same increase of Sunday worship participation has been also noted in the districts of Kinkondja and Malemba, where the same action took place.

Yet during the distribution of food, no recommendation to attend church services was said, by respect of our code of conduct, point 3, stipulating that, ‘Aid will not be used to further a particular political or religious standpoint.’ Thus, we need to further invest in studying the power of food and the way to use it if we want to revitalize our Christian mission.

However, in the same culture of Luba Katanga people, there is another saying in connection with food. It is literally translated as “People follow the word; they do not follow fatty food.” This saying has to draw our attention on ways we need to use food in our mission. For, there are people who are not blindly influenced by the power of food. They prefer such food shared in peace with dignity and respect toward its beneficiary. Consequently, when food is given out to denigrate others, it loses its influential power.

Therefore, based on Luba Katanga culture and on biblical experiences of food influencing or exerting power, food can be used successfully as a tool in Christian mission today. Its power of making people to speak well can be utilized in leading the food beneficiaries to confess their faith in Christ, to bring them together and build their communities. Such a powerful tool needs to be exploited in the context of Christian mission to spread the gospel during this critical period.

Jack Amick: Food and Migration Mission

Today’s post is by Rev. Jack Amick. Rev. Amick is Director of Global Migration at UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief. It is part of a series of reflections by multiple authors on the connections between food and mission.

When I think of the theological significance of food, I think of the words of Isaiah 55, in which God says, through the prophet Isaiah, “All of you who are thirsty, come to the water! Whoever has no money, come, buy food and eat! Without money, at no cost, buy wine and milk!”  

Ironically, this declaration of God’s abundant provision for all people comes to us at a time when we have learned that a bread line in Ukraine was recently bombed, in a place that used to be known as a breadbasket, not only for the region but, through the World Food Program, as a source of food for places like Afghanistan. In Ukraine, people are starting to starve; In Afghanistan, people have been starving for some time already.  

Conflict, famine, and refugee movements are interrelated. When human beings inflict these scourges on one another, there is no other way to describe it but pure evil.

During my years at UMCOR when I have directed global migration programing, I have observed some of the world’s largest refugee movements since World War II: Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and many others. Every time people flee in fear, it breaks my heart.

But I want you to know that every time my heart is broken, it is also healed, by the generosity of the United Methodist Church, who every time the world falls apart, reaches out through UMCOR to do our part in patching things up. UMCOR can’t do it all, but we can make a difference. And, yes, sometimes it feels like building bridges by throwing stones in the ocean, but we, on behalf of, and in partnership with, the United Methodist Church, build those bridges every time.

Many of UMCOR’s programs with migrants involve humanitarian assistance interventions, including the provision of food. Sometimes that is packed meals that people can take with them on the next leg of their journey. Sometimes it is food that reminds them of home. Sometimes it is food they cook themselves.

The basic concepts of providing food for migrants and refugees are simple: Food should look and taste like the food with which people are familiar. There should be enough of it such that the recipient doesn’t have to look again for food in a few days. It should be nutritionally balanced. And, in the best scenario, people should be able to purchase the food and cook it themselves, because both of those actions are generally closer to “normal” than someone giving food or cooking for you. Buying locally also spurs on the local economy. The worst approach to food in mission with migrants and refugees is to import meal packets that are foreign in how they look, taste, and are cooked.

There are several positive examples of food-related best practices from United Methodist migrant and refugee mission work. In some of the church-run shelters along the border, for instance, the guests (asylum seekers) are welcome to gather together in the kitchen and cook so that they can not only have food with the taste and spices with which they are familiar, but they can also feel empowered by cooking for their family.   

Another interesting project was part of UMCOR’s Mustard Seed Migration Grant program. French UMC in Detroit is a church pastored by missionaries from the DRC and consisting of recently arrived French-speaking refugees. The grant UMCOR gave them allowed French UMC to be able to afford to prepare some meals with familiar food for recently arrived refugees that were living in a group housing facility. Welcoming the stranger meant cooking familiar food for them.  

Just recently, we have had some inspiring conversations with United Methodist leaders in Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, where the church is opening its doors to people on the move. Through their courage, creativity, and compassion, the church is providing food to Ukrainian refugees, along with shelter, clothing, transportation, and other assistance. One superintendent described this as “work they had never done before, but which they had no choice but to do.” Another described how they were finding ways to take special care of the children. Still another told of how they were working closely to assist African students fleeing Ukraine.

UMCOR has supported each of these entities with emergency grants and is already exploring with local leaders how we can best provide future support. What gives me hope is that the generosity of those on the ground is matched by the generosity of donors, halfway around the world. UMCOR, in partnership with various UMC entities around the globe, is connecting in compassion to eliminate suffering even while our hearts break.

Whether work with migrants and refugees is routine or something “we have never done before but have no choice to do,” sharing food that is culturally appropriate, plentiful, healthy, and when possible, prepared by migrants themselves helps heal the hearts of all involved.

Mission and Food: A Call for Reflection

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Mission Theologian at the General Board of Global Ministries. The opinions and analysis expressed here are Dr. Scott's own and do not reflect in any way the official position of Global Ministries.

Food is an elemental part of what it means to be human. Think about it: You have probably already seen, touched, smelled, tasted, and eaten food today. If not yet today, then certainly yesterday or the day before.

Food is intrinsic to the individual experience of being human. It’s intrinsic to the social experience of being human. So much of human activity is about food: producing food, distributing food, sharing food, feeding others, eating with others, etc. Food is one of the most common means by which humans connect with one another, in a variety of ways.

Food is not just ubiquitous; it is meaningful. Food is regularly used in a variety of rituals. Various types of food are used as symbols, similes, metaphors, and metonyms. From the apple of good and evil to cheeks red as apples to the apple of your eye to the Big Apple, food structures our language and our thought.

Yet for all of the significance, food is an undertheorized and undertheologized area in missiology. There is often a basic assumption that feeding people is good and hunger is bad, but too rarely are reflections about food taken to a deeper level. Yet not only is food basic to the human experience, food plays a critical role in several different forms of mission practice.

Food and feeding ministries are one of the most common ways that local congregations in the United States are engaged in mission. Congregations operate food pantries, soup kitchens, blessing boxes, and other feeding ministries in enormous numbers. Much of this congregational mission effort, however, is often done without engaging in larger questions about the meanings of food or the qualities of “good food,” whether defined nutritionally, socially, culturally, or otherwise.

Congregational food ministries include not only local feeding programs but also congregational participation in national and world-wide programs to alleviate international hunger such as the 30 Hour Famine and Rise Against Hunger meal packing. Some of these larger programs are very intentional in highlighting questions about food production, access, and consumption as part of educational materials delivered to congregations. The 30 Hour Famine is a good example. Yet other programs focus on mobilizing volunteers to assemble meal kits without much thought about how these meal kits fit within larger systems of food production, distribution, and consumption.

Beyond the local congregation, food is a key consideration in mission-led agricultural development. There is a long history of agricultural mission which continues today, especially outside the United States, mostly in developing countries. There is more attention paid within this realm of work (at least nowadays) to what culturally and agriculturally appropriate forms of food are, though perhaps not always to the theological significance of food.

In addition to its connection to questions of nutrition and poverty, food is also important for its social and theological significance in some forms of mission. Food is a key element of the hospitality that many Christians practice, both for its own sake and for the sake of evangelism.

Sometimes such food-centered hospitality can pay quite close attention to the food as symbol and to the production, distribution, and consumption of food (by, for instance, focusing on “local food” or organic food), though it is also possible to engage in food-related evangelism without much reflection on the nature of the food itself. Coffee church Fresh Expressions and beer hall hymn sings are evangelism at sites of food consumption, but the food present is often a side thought, if it is thought of at all.

In addition to each of these four forms of mission interacting with food—local feeding programs, international hunger programs, agricultural mission, and food in evangelistic hospitality—being at times undertheologized individually, they are rarely put into conversation with one another or with any of the other ways in which mission and food interact.

Yet connects are certainly possible: How can the connection between food, hospitality, and evangelism inform local feeding programs? What does agricultural development mean for evangelism? How can agricultural development work help us think about food systems and who ends up hungry and in need of feeding ministries?

To be fair, the theological intersections between food and mission have not completely escaped scholarly reflection. Ron Sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger is a modern class. The eucharist can be seen as an intersection between mission and food, and there’s plenty of theologizing about the role of the eucharist in mission. There are dissertations (such as this one and this one) and books from smaller publishers (such as this one and this one) on relevant topics. Food has also been a significant theme examined in other areas of theological inquiry, including biblical studies and the history of medieval Christianity.

Still, there remains more to be said about food and mission, and I think more needs to be said on this topic. For that reason, UM & Global is going to be hosting a series of posts on mission and food over the next several months. If you would like to contribute to this series, contact blogmaster David Scott at dscott (at) umcmission (dot) org.

Asset-Based Mission Is a Potluck

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Mission Theologian at the General Board of Global Ministries. The opinions and analysis expressed here are Dr. Scott's own and do not reflect in any way the official position of Global Ministries.

In the United States, many people will be gathering with family and friends tomorrow to share food for Thanksgiving. In some of these gatherings, one person or one host family will have done the cooking and will provide that food to others. But in many other gatherings, every participant will bring a dish or two to share with others -- the host cooking the turkey, perhaps, but someone else bringing the cranberry sauce, another person bringing a casserole or vegetable dish, another bringing the pie, and so on.

Of course, for many United Methodists in the United States, this model of shared food is a hallmark of church culture in the form of the potluck. While potlucks are not exclusively a church phenomenon, they are a staple of church dinners throughout much of the country. Their popularity likely comes from their simplicity and equality: Even a potluck in which participants are assigned a genre of dish by last name ("A through H bring a salad; I through R a main course; and S through Z dessert."), they are easy to organize and allow all participants to contribute something according to their gifts.

It is this last feature that makes potlucks a good metaphor for asset-based mission practice. An asset-based approach to mission assumes that all people have assets or gifts that they can contribute to the work of God's mission, and such an approach expects that all people will contribute those gifts. This is analogous to the potluck assumption that everyone can and will bring some sort of food to contribute to the meal.

Asset-based approaches to mission also recognize that everyone's gifts for mission are distinctive. Not everyone is expected to contribute the same thing to the mission project. Each is expected to contribute their best and their unique strengths. A good potluck depends upon everyone (or almost everyone) bringing a different gift. Variety is the strength of potlucks, and if you don't make a very good chili, that is okay. Someone else will make the chili, and you can make whatever it is you are good at.

Asset-based approaches to mission not only assume that everyone has something to give in mission; they assume that everyone can be mutually blessed by mission. Mission is not from one group to another. Mission is the work of God redeeming all. Just as everyone contributes to a potluck, everyone eats at a potluck. A potluck is not a meal that one group feeds another but does not partake in.

Asset-based mission does not try to quantify or compare what each partner is able to bring to the work of mission. Contributions reflect the abilities of the partners; benefits reflect the needs. There is usually not an elaborate cost-benefit calculation to make sure that the two are always equal. People bring as much as they can or want to a potluck and eat as much as they are hungry for. The two do not need to be the same amount.

In this way, asset-based mission is based on a presumption of abundance. There is less worrying about whether there will be enough to engage in God's mission. Instead, there is trust that God will provide what is necessary for God's work. At a good potluck, while individual dishes run out, everyone can eat their fill, and there is almost always more than enough to go around.

I hope those readers in the United States will enjoy their Thanksgiving dinners tomorrow. And I hope, as you are passing and sharing food, that you will spend a moment to think about how God calls us to share with one another in God's mission.

Recommended Reading: Biblical Perspectives on Hunger

Rethink Church has put out a helpful resource on the Bible and hunger. The article identifies six causes of hunger globally: poverty, low agricultural investment, climate and natural disasters, war and displacement, unstable food markets, and food waste. For each of these six causes, it then offers a biblical verse and a couple of reflection questions. This short resource could be useful in adult Christian formation settings or as an exercise in crafting biblical theologies of mission.

Olusimbo Ige: Persons, Places and Healthy Choices

Today's post is by Olusimbo Ige, Executive Director of Global Health for the General Board of Global Ministries.

I commute from the Bronx to Manhattan on the Number 6 train every morning. You will need to look up these locations and the significance of this commute if you are not a New Yorker. What is important is that this is a 30 minute ride often with very bizarre but very interesting happenings. On one particular morning, I was competing for standing space with a young lady who had remarkable mastery of holding on to two energetic little boys and an overflowing bag of goodies from Dunkin Donuts.  Fortunately, a Good Samaritan offered her seat to the 2 boys to squeeze into.

The mum promptly unpacked breakfast, which was a mid-size donut with frosting and rainbow colored sprinkled stuff. Such deliciousness! This must be the perfect breakfast if you are a four year old. I can still see the joy in the boys’ faces as they wolfed down their donuts and washed them down with some excitingly colored soda. I marveled as the mum struggled to wipe sticky fingers and prevent spills. I made a conscious effort not to think about why four year olds had to have breakfasts on crammed trains at 7 am in the morning. I tried even harder not to think about what I had for breakfast when I was four.

A few stops into Manhattan, another young lady gets on the train with a similar sized little boy, around 5 or 6 years old. The two little boys from the Bronx scoot over to let the new boy sit. Again the mother whips out breakfast. This time it was a shiny apple, a bright yellow banana followed by a granola bar. Fortunately, the first two boys had finished their donuts so I could not readily compare who looked happier with breakfast.  At this point I thought about pulling out my cup of yogurt and granola to stop my growling tummy, since it appeared that breakfast on the train was the order of the day. I repented of that idea quickly since I was holding on to a pole shared by 3 other persons.

For distraction I decided to think more about the 2 breakfast options for little boys I had just witnessed. How would these boys turn out after 10 years of enjoying these breakfast options? Will they be strapping young lads or what we like to call big boned or chubby youngsters? Maybe they will be confident and full of energy, or could they become troubled, bullied or battling with low self-esteem from body image concerns? Knowing how much dietary patterns impact lives and futures, I shuddered a bit thinking of the many children whose futures might be marred because of the dietary choices of today.

Since there are no interesting sights or lush greenery to draw me away from this kind of morbid thoughts, I thought about these two mums. What would make a mother choose a kind of breakfast for their sons? Maybe their knowledge of the nutritional value? I thought it hard to imagine a mother would be ignorant of the benefits of fruits and whole grains over donuts. Knowing the number of my doctor friends who would choose donuts over apples I thought that ignorance might not be the only problem.

Maybe time pressure? But then it is faster to prepare a meal of apples and bananas than to wait in line for donuts and soda at a coffee house isn’t it? But only if there is a ready source of fruits. I thought about my grocery shopping, I realized I had to drive about 20 minutes to a fresh produce place to get my stock of fruits and vegetables for the week but only had to walk a couple hundred feet to get to a deli or fast food outlet.

In addition, I know how hard it is to talk a four year old into eating a healthy meal. I remember how convinced my 7 year old is that the best meals are the latest, delicious creation on offer by one fast food outlet or the other as seen on TV. I could not quite recall seeing many advertisement on the latest, most exciting way to get your daily 5 servings of fruits and vegetables.

I had five more minutes to my stop when I also recalled that people tend to do what most people around them do. My son had said how his friends tease him for liking broccoli and how they think it is really gross to just chump on broccoli like he does. So he longer wanted broccoli but pizza, which is the coolest meal to have for lunch.

As I got off the train, my lingering thoughts were that choices are a product of much more than knowledge. It is easier to make popular choices especially when these choices are within easy reach. Making healthy choices sometimes require community level action to make healthy choices the norm rather than the exception, to make healthy options the easy options, readily available and within reach of everyone.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), poor dietary choices are linked to obesity, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and cancer. These are all leading causes of death in the United States. Health is one of the four areas of focus of the United Methodist Church, and this includes effectively addressing poor nutrition in the United States as well as internationally. Global Ministries as the agency tasked with implementation of the global health mandate of the church has sought new opportunities to engage with community-based programs to remove barriers to healthy nutrition.

These programs will help ensure that beneficiaries are empowered to make healthy food choices; they will promote good family nutritional practices, including breastfeeding and appropriate foods for children and adults; and they will also help create community solutions that make healthy options available to and practical for residents. In 2015, the Global Health Unit awarded four nutrition grants to UMC-affiliated organizations to promote healthy eating among low income and vulnerable communities in the United States. We are excited about this new opportunity for the church to be in mission to address health issues in the United States.