World Church Leadership Council Resolution 
Encourages Support of Bread for the World

The Reverend Mariah Priggen talks with Wallace Smith at the Bread for the World display booth at the Community of Christ 2002 World Conference.

Over the years, the World Hunger Fund Committee has utilized Bread for the World [BFW] to carry out the advocacy portion of its mission. In addition, committee members have served on BFW’s board of directors and as church-supported staff. In recognition of this long-standing and mutually beneficial relationship, the Community of Christ Leadership Council recently passed the following resolution, a copy of which was presented to Mariah Priggen, Midwest Regional representative of Bread for the World, on April 10, 2002, at the church’s international conference.

Resolution to Support the Public Policy Witness
of Bread for the World and Other Organizations
in Alleviating Hunger and Poverty

For almost 25 years our church has enjoyed a cordial and satisfying relationship with Bread for the World (BFW), a non-profit, Christian citizen’s group that addresses issues related to hunger in the United States and abroad. By encouraging members of the U. S. Congress to sponsor and support legislation to alleviate the plight of the hungry, the poor and the dispossessed in many countries, as well as by urging individuals and congregation to contact their elected representatives through an “Offering of Letters,” BFW seeks to give hope to millions of needy people, both in the United States and around the world.

Bread for the World Institute, a related organization, functions to gather and disseminate information about conditions in the world that contribute to poverty and hunger. It also publishes a report entitled HUNGER that focuses annually on a specific aspect of world-wide hunger.

Since 1978 when the World Hunger Fund was first established by World Conference Resolution 1148, the World Hunger Committee has recommended that the church utilize Bread for the World to fulfill the advocacy portion of the World Hunger Fund’s mission. Grants to support the staff of BFW in the development of their legislative and policy agendas as well as to co-sponsor the Institute’s annual publication of HUNGER are made annually. The World Hunger Fund Committee has also encouraged the church to support the “Offering of Letters” sponsored by BFW. In view of the above, therefore, be it

Resolved, that the World Church Leadership Council recognize the long-standing, beneficial relationship between the Community of Christ and Bread for the World and encourage church members in the United States, individually and collectively, to support BFW’s “Offering of Letters,” that the needs of the hungry of the world may be met more fully and effectively; and be it further

Resolved, that members in jurisdictions outside the United States be encouraged to support similar organizations, or to work directly with government representatives, to promote legislation that addresses issues of hunger and poverty.