SowingtheSeedsMinistry.org was featured in a recent issue of The Messenger, a publication of the Nebraska United Methodist Conference. We’ve republished the story below, and we added links to more resources throughout.

Go to the main page of Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters Campaign, or find more specific additional resources linked throughout the article below.

“I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” John 4:35b

In 2007, the U.S. Congress is expected to reauthorize (or renew) the farm bill. This piece of legislation is about farms and farmers, but its scope is even broader than that. It touches everyone in this country – everyone who eats, and especially those who struggle to have enough to eat. Even people outside the United States feel its impact. The farm bill includes vital nutrition safety nets that our government provides for those most in need. It is only renewed every five years, so this is a critical opportunity to fight hunger in the United States and around the world.

The Lord’s Prayer, at the heart of the Christian faith, includes the appeal that no one should go hungry. Sharing daily bread and the abundant life is what Jesus did, and asks us to do. Love for neighbors is as important as love for God.

Bread for the World (BFW) is a Christian voice for ending hunger. BFW members help hungry people by lobbying our nation’s decision-makers on legislation that addresses hunger in our communities and around the world. Our own United Methodist Committee on Relief enthusiastically supports the witness of BFW.

Across this country, by participating in Bread for the World’s 2007 Offering of Letters, Seeds of Change: Help Farmers – End Hunger, people of faith and conscience will be speaking out for important changes in the farm bill.

It is appropriate for United Methodists to be part of this effort. Our Social Principles include positions regarding rural life, family farms, sustainable agriculture, poverty, migrant workers, trade and investment, political responsibility and national power and responsibility.

With much-needed improvements, the farm bill can provide better and broader support for U.S. farmers, strengthen communities in rural America, help hungry people get a sufficient and nutritious diet, and support the efforts of small-scale farmers in developing countries to sell their crops and feed their families – all things that the current farm bill falls short of doing.

The Conference Rural Response Committee is working with Peace with Justice Ministries and other groups within our connectional family to encourage education, discussion and action around the farm bill. To that end, the Rural Response Committee is providing the BFW Offering of Letters kit to every church in our conference. Your lay leader should have received it the last part of February. It is our hope that every congregation will have an Offering of Letters effort this spring.

Included in the kit are: scriptural grounding, worship aids, children’s activities, stories of farmers here and abroad, overview, principles of the farm bill, questions and answers, a sample letter to legislators, instructions on how to organize a letter-writing campaign and a video which includes an interview with a Nebraska farmer. This resource is also available on the BFW website at bread.org.

We are supporting these improvements of the farm bill as researched and endorsed by Bread for the World:

A. Strengthen and expand programs that reduce hunger in the United States. In the U.S. 35 million people – including more than 12 million children – live in households that are at risk of hunger. Of those, nearly 11 million live in households that actually experience hunger. Click here for more information.

B. Increase investments that strengthen rural communities. The portion of the current farm bill devoted specifically to rural development is very small. This is out of balance with the needs of rural America. Some 50 million Americans live in rural communities, only 3 million are farmers. As the main source of federal support for rural America, the farm bill needs to reflect the fact that increasingly the non-farm economy sustains those communities. Click here for more information. And here to take action.

C. Provide a broader, more equitable system of support for U.S. farmers and rural communities. Commodity payments have shifted dramatically to the very largest farms, which often are also the wealthiest farmers. Farmers who need payments the least are receiving the most, and two-thirds of U.S. farmers receive no payments. Click here for more information.

D. Strengthen policies that promote conservation and stewardship of the land. Click here for more information.

E. Protect the health and safety of farm workers.

F. Expand energy-related research. Click here for more information.

G. Improve and expand international food aid. Click here for more information.

Find an opportunity to visit with your lay leader about ways in which your congregation can get involved in this act of helping transform God’s world. And stay up-to-date with the status of the farm bill on the bread.org web site.

For a six session study produced by Sowing the Seeds of Peace with Justice Ministries and the Center for Rural Affairs, go to www.sowingtheseedsministry.com.

Speakers are available to come to your church, just contact Tamara Holtz, Chair of the Rural Response Committee, 402/678-3312, gtholtz@gpcom.net or Carol Windrum, Peace with Justice Ministries 402/455-4281, cawindrum@yahoo.com) for names and other resources.