The Foodgrains Bank engages Canadians in working together to end global hunger; we inform and inspire actions such as giving, learning, praying, and advocating. This short worship guide provides various resources for churches, communities, and individuals to mark World Food Day on October 16 or any other day of the year.
The Foodgrains Bank engages Canadians in working together to end global hunger; we inform and inspire actions such as giving, learning, praying, and advocating. This short worship guide provides various resources for churches, communities, and individuals to mark World Food Day on October 16 or any other day of the year.
“A Legacy Taking Root” is a new film that tells the inspiring story of Gladys, whose life has been transformed through her participation in an agriculture and livelihood program. This initiative, implemented by World Renew’s partner, the Church of Uganda Nebbi Diocese (CoU Nebbi), with support from the Foodgrains Bank, has empowered Gladys, her family and community to cultivate lasting change.
You have the opportunity to download the above resources. In addition, we’ve added some additional goodies that will truly expand your worship and learning below.
Through Foodgrains Bank’s members and their local partners, agriculture and livelihood projects implemented in countries around the world help people to produce food and increase their income so they can purchase what they need. Learn more about how Official Development Assistance (ODA) or Canadian Aid supports our work and our local partners.
What if you could support changing lives around the world right here living in Canada?
Send a postcard to our government today to let them know that you support Canadian Aid.
Print these posters to help promote World Food Day and any events you have planned around the day.
Print this bulletin cover to help promote World Food Day and any events you have planned around the day.
Want to promote awareness around World Food Day in your church? Feature this slide during your church service to let your congregation know where they can find out more.
This resource can be used in various church contexts as a story time during a service, in Sunday school and more. It will help children learn and appreciate the connection between working for peace and ensuring that no one goes hungry.
This resource is based on a reflection on Micah 4:1-5 and can be used as a sermon starter for preparing a church service or small group discussion or personal reflection.
This resource based on a reflection on Luke 4: 14-20 can be used as a sermon starter for preparing a church service or small group discussion or personal reflection.
Achieving our goal of ending global hunger often means providing food for people in need, but we know that more is needed to ensure people enjoy regular access to enough nutritious food to lead healthy and active lives.
Through this activity, participants experience the difficult decisions faced by refugees and others displaced by conflict. It can be a powerful way for individuals and groups to better understand the realities of conflict, forced displacement and hunger.
This selection of prayers can be incorporated in church services, small groups, or personal prayer.
A new group bible study resource (contributed by Tearfund Canada) to reflect on the theme of Setting the Table for Peace: Discovering Abundant Life which leads to Peace, based around John 10: 1-10.
“A Legacy Taking Root” is a new short film sharing the story of Gladys and her participation in an agriculture and livelihood program implemented by World Renew partner Church of Uganda Nebbi Diocese (CoU Nebbi) with support from Foodgrains Bank has transformed her family and community.
Millions of people around the world are impacted by hunger. Many of them are refugees. Watch this short video about how conflict impacts families and communities, cutting people off from their farms and means of feeding their families. Learn more about the Forced to Flee simulation.
From our research and in talking to partners on the ground we know that conflict is a main cause of hunger. Read Foodgrains Bank’s brief on Conflict and Hunger and learn about the connections, plus imagine and think about how peace plays a role in increasing food security, including through empowering communities to set their own tables full of nutritious food.
This educational game helps participants understand the challenges faced by small‑scale farmers in different countries. Overall, it teaches that hunger is complex, but change is possible through knowledge, community support, and long‑term development efforts. This is a great exercise for youth groups.
This simple, reflective group activity invites participants to share a meal similar to emergency rations in humanitarian settings, including refugee or internally displaced persons camps. It offers a meaningful entry point for discussion, empathy, and prayer.
We live in a world of abundance. We also live in an unequal world. For some, a feast may be a simple meal of rice with vegetables, or cassava and sardines. Tables around the world vary greatly. However, giving thanks for food is universal.
Whether it’s a simple meal in solitude, or a feast with friends and family gathered together – how do you give thanks around your table? Are there prayers or songs you go back to time and again, much like a favorite recipe?
Inspired by the traditionally sung mealtime grace “For food in a world where many walk in hunger”; the Giving Thanks booklet is a collection of tables graces from different communities and cultures around the world, gathered and designed to encourage the practice of reflecting on God’s provision of food to us, while guiding us toward a hunger for justice that all may be fed.
“…Some people have few difficulties in accessing food, others face many challenges. Can you name some of the challenges that some people in Canada and around the world may have when trying to access food?… Sometimes people who have many resources (like money) say that they are blessed. Does that mean that others are not blessed?…”
Through our Nature+ program, nine Foodgrains Bank member houses and local partners in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique, and Ethiopia are working to improve and diversify household incomes and biodiversity, build more inclusive leadership capacity, and use nature-based solutions to restore ecosystems and landscapes. Watch the film to see the transformative impact of just two years!
Coming Soon!
This resource can be used in various church contexts as a story time during a service, in Sunday school and more. To help children learn and appreciate the importance of sharing even when they have little.
Our current food system fails to meet the needs of most people or our planet.
Since 2014, climate change, conflict and economic downturns have halted a decade-long decline in hunger.
Something is wrong! Our current food system both contributes to climate change and is threatened by its impacts. Without action on climate change, hunger is likely to rise even higher in years to come.
This resource includes 3 videos of varying lengths to extend an invitation to your church, family, or others in your community to participate in a ration meal for World Food Day.
We pray and give thanks to the Lord before each meal. We offer prayers of gratitude for our ease of access to food, for the hands that prepared it, and the nutrients that fuel our bodies. But what would it look like if you were surviving on only a daily food ration? What if you could only eat one or two meals per day – would you still be eager to give thanks and praise the Lord?
Monday, October 16, is World Food Day. It is an international day to reflect on the importance of food in our lives and to recognize the millions of women, men and children who are going to bed hungry too often. We encourage you to share these videos in your church service on the Sunday before World Food Day – Sunday, October 15 – as well as post them on social media to encourage your community to participate in a ration meal and get a glimpse into the everyday reality of those experiencing hunger around the world.
Our government has an important role in providing assistance. And adding voices from churches, and individuals like you, helps hold governments to account and makes a real improvement in people’s access to basic rights, like food.
If decision makers don’t hear from their constituents, they may assume people don’t care about global hunger.
Please voice your support by writing a letter to the Minister of Environment & Climate Change, and the Minister of International Development, this is a quick action you can take that can make a big difference!
Host a ration meal at lunch hour or another time. You could have a ration meal for your class, youth group, or invite the whole community to an evening event Learn together about emergency food given to people in crisis situations or when sufficient food is not accessible.
The pandemic has created significant challenges for people around the world. For the millions facing hunger, the disruptions to food systems and economic slowdown are creating new challenges. Now, more than ever, food assistance and protecting people’s livelihoods are essential.
A breakdown anywhere in a food system prevents people from having regular access to enough nutritious food to lead active & healthy lives. This digital game allows you to learn about different types of emergency food assistance that are distributed when the food system is disrupted.
Sometimes its hard to know what to pray about when the topic is global hunger. This short guide will provide you will some prayer points, scriptures to consider for reflection as well as a prayer you can read with your faith community.
This collection of worship resources includes calls to worship, prayers, benedictions, litanies, music, sermon videos, meditation starters, and other diverse elements for children and youth groups that all focus on addressing the injustice of hunger.
“Jesus told a story about a whole lot of people who got hungry. They were grown-ups and children who went to hear Jesus talk and they stayed and listened all day. In fact, they stayed so long that it began to get late and everyone was hungry. Jesus asked his disciples to feed everyone, but they didn’t know how to do it…..”
The Foodgrains Bank engages Canadians in working together to end global hunger; we inform and inspire actions such as giving, learning, praying, and advocating. This short worship guide provides various resources for churches, communities, and individuals to mark World Food Day on October 16 or any other day of the year.
Watch or download this video with lyrics and musical accompaniment of the worship song Until All Are Fed
“…We dare to dream of a world in which hunger is unknown: where scarcity is an illusion, and everyone has a place at the table. We dare to dream of a world in which generosity is the norm: where greed finds no foothold, and there is more than enough for all…”
Read and reflect on the account of the feeding of the 5,000 in John 6 and Jesus’ following teaching on being the bread of life. There’s something about everything that Jesus said and did that needs to be seen as part of a greater whole.
“…What do you bring to Christ’s table? We bring bread, made by many people’s work from an unjust world where some have plenty and many go hungry. At this table, all are fed and no one turned away…”
“…Merciful God of compassion and justice, have mercy on us as we confess our sin.We are not the stewards Christ calls us to be. Riches possess us while others go hungry. We mismanage creation with our pollution and strife to obtain ever more than we already have. We abuse your provision for us by our selfish desires. Help us hear again Christ’s call to be faithful, and through him forgive us as we repent of our sin and turn from it…Lord, hear our prayer…”
“…God has provided. There is enough food in the world to feed everyone and yet today over 800 million people are facing hunger. Stop and think about that number. Around the world, more than double the population of Canada lives without the security of knowing that when they feel that pang of hunger at the end of the day, they will have enough food to nourish their bodies. Millions who worry that food will run out next week or next month and not know how they will fill their families’ plates…”
“…God does not favor the fortunate; the seasons roll around for the poor as for the rich. With open-handed generosity, God causes the earth to bring forth food for all. Only humans hoard, creating shortages for others. But God holds nothing back; God plays fair with everyone…”
“…We dare to dream of a world
in which hunger is unknown:
where scarcity is an illusion,
and everyone has a place at the table. We dare to dream of a world in which generosity is the norm: where greed finds no foothold, and there is more than enough for all…”
