Here are three activities that will help educate your church or group on the issues covered by the 2009 Offering of Letters.
Adult Bible Study
Jesus often spoke in parables to point toward the realities of God’s coming kingdom and to illustrate how his followers should live. These seemingly simple stories are powerful because they use ordinary images and experiences to stir the moral imagination. They give us new eyes to see the world.
Sowing and reaping were common themes in Jesus’ teaching. In fact, we find the “Parable of the Sower” recorded in three Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Just as Jesus sowed seeds of the kingdom in word and deed, he calls us to be sowers of goodness, peace, and hope. Explore together how this parable might speak to the need for reforming U.S. foreign assistance in order to more effectively reduce hunger and poverty around the world.
Read Mark 4:2-0
Opening Questions: God promises that we will reap whatever we sow (Galatians 6:7). What good seeds has our country sown around the world? What bad seeds? How might this parable invite us to re-imagine how we as a nation sow our resources in places parched by poverty and hunger?
FOCUS: Some seed fell on the path and the birds came and ate it up (v. 3).
Thought: Rising food and fuel prices are dramatically eating away at the ability of poor families around the world to feed their children. Diplomacy and defense make up the major part of our spending in foreign countries.
Reflection Question: What distractions rob us of seeing and responding to the suffering of others?
FOCUS: Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil…and when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away (vv. 5-6).
Thought: Long-term development goals to improve agriculture, health, and education are often overshadowed by emergency needs or pushed aside for short-term political or military priorities.
Reflection Questions: What do you think is needed to bring about sustainable, lasting progress in the fight against hunger and poverty both at home and abroad? Why is this important from a Christian perspective?
FOCUS: Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain (v.7).
Thought: Currently U.S. development policies and programs are entangled within 12 departments, 25 agencies, and nearly 60 government offices. The opportunity exists to clear away the underbrush that impedes the efforts of poor people to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty.
Reflection Questions: What examples can you point to in your own life of good intentions that were crowded out by chaos or competing interests? How can we practice good stewardship as a nation?
FOCUS: Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain…yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold (v.8).
Thought: U.S. assistance has helped to reduce child deaths, increase school enrollment, curtail AIDS, and create economic opportunities in poor parts of the world. But U.S. assistance could be much more effective.
Reflection Questions: Describe what “abundant life” means to you. How would the world be different if more people enjoyed the fruits of God’s good creation? What are ways that we can enable God’s abundance to flourish among people burdened by hunger and poverty?
The Foreign Assistance Maze
Make copies of the Foreign Assistance chart from the handbook pocket (on the back side of the Development Happens game). Ask your group to work in pairs to answer these questions:
- What is your first impression looking at this chart?
- With your finger, see if you can trace the path of a particular development project from its starting point to its final destination. How difficult was it? Can you think of a simpler path from beginning to end for that particular project?
- What do you believe is the connection between this chart and the goals of this year’s Offering of Letters campaign?
Development Happens Game
With copies made ahead of time of the Development Happens game board (found in the handbook pocket), divide into groups of no more than four people. Each group will need a game board, a die, and four game pieces to represent four countries (the game pieces could simply be four small squares of paper in different colors). Instruct people to take turns rolling the die and moving their countries around the board until one country has achieved good development.
After the groups have played the game, help them process it with these questions:
- What obstacles or challenges did your country encounter as it worked to end hunger and poverty?
- Some countries seemed to progress fairly easily. Why? Were these factors always fair?
- How could U.S. foreign assistance be improved to better assist countries trying to foster good development?
| Comments |
|
