Buechel Park Advocates for the Poor
May 12, 2008
By: Jennifer Wilmore, Bread for the World
Buechel Park Baptist Church recently stepped out to take what pastor Don Rogers called a “deeper, more holistic step to addressing hunger in the world.” This Kentucky Baptist Fellowship church in Louisville decided to designate global hunger as its Lenten mission focus this year, and they concluded the initiative by writing letters to Congress on behalf of hungry and poor people.
The church has always been involved in hunger ministry, according to Rev. Rogers. Filling rice bowls to feed the poor, taking lunch to a downtown mission and participating in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Rural Poverty Initiative are just a few of the ways this congregation addresses hunger and poverty in the local community. They jumped at the chance to extend this ministry by introducing policy advocacy as a way to utilize not only their time and resources, but also their gifts of citizenship.
The letters were taken up as part of CBF partner Bread for the World’s 2008 Offering of Letters, which is focusing this year on global poverty and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a global effort to cut world hunger and poverty in half by 2015. “We really saturated folks with the issue of hunger,” said Rev. Rogers, explaining that it was highlighted every Sunday during Lent in an attempt to create intentional conversation around the issue.
According to Rev. Rogers, the Mission and Christian Life ministry team used Bread for the World materials to find creative ways to incorporate hunger into education, worship and church activities. For instance, the ministry team paired the Offering of Letters with a “hunger banquet,” replacing their usual Wednesday night meal with a simulation of how the world eats. Most people were given only a meager portion of plain macaroni to eat and only one person received a full meal, but all were inspired by the exercise. Everyone at the event – whether they were in kindergarten or in their 90’s – wrote a letter to Senator Jim Bunning, asking him to make sure people in the world have enough to eat and sustain their lives.
“People really got into it,” said Lucy Yelton, the chair of the Mission and Christian Life ministry team. Yelton helped organize the Offering of Letters and said planning the event was not difficult, especially considering that Buechel Park had also just hosted a Bread for the World Offering of Letters workshop.
The experience seems to have broken down any barriers that may have kept church members from writing to their members of Congress, and Rev. Rogers imagines that they will continue to do letter-writing. “Writing these letters opened up another door for our church to claim all levels of engagement in issues like hunger,” he explained. “For the Buechel Park family, involvement in Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters also showed us many ways we can live out our call and be advocates for the poor.”
For more information on Bread for the World and how your church can get involved, contact Jennifer Wilmore at jwilmore@bread.org or visit www.bread.org
Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.