You probably know the feeling that comes from giving someone a helping hand while expecting nothing in return. You probably have experienced that deep sense of inner satisfaction that cannot be defined when you give a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name. Eleanor Butt Crook certainly has.
Eleanor is part of a highly respected Baptist family in east Texas — the Butt family. The family is distinguished for its leadership in Christian discipleship as well as philanthropy. Her brother Howard E. Butt Jr. is a noted lay speaker and runs a religious retreat center in Texas. For years, Eleanor has supported a feeding program in a small village in Honduras. The village is remote, located high in the mountains. The program she underwrites makes the difference between adequate food for the villagers and a life of malnutrition and hunger.
At a recent meeting, Eleanor spoke of the deep sense of satisfaction that comes every time she visits that village and looks into the healthy faces that greet her. Part of that inner joy comes from the lives before her. Most of it comes from being obedient to the Lord’s command to feed the hungry (Matt. 25:35). Eleanor said the program is just one way of giving a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name.
Unfortunately there are more villages in Honduras like the one Eleanor supports. In fact, there are more villages than can be supported through private philanthropy. That is why Eleanor told the audience gathered for the 35th anniversary of Bread for the World that personal service may be more satisfying but changing government policy toward hungry people is more effective.
There is nothing “sexy” about impacting government policy, she said. But it works.
She asked members of the audience to add up the total budgets of all the nonprofit international aid organizations. “That total amount will not equal what you did through the Africa: Seeds of Hope Act,” she declared.
The Seeds of Hope Act was a Bread initiative approved by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in 1998. The act provides more than $1 billion annually for agricultural and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa designed to move the area from food dependency to self-reliance. Deaths of children under 5 have dropped almost 50 percent since that time, and 29 million more African children are in school now. Much of the reason relates to changes in U.S. policy toward hungry people.
Eleanor said Baptists, of all people, should know their faith commands them to help the hungry because Baptists believe the Bible. She contrasted her experience in a Baptist Sunday School to that of her grandchildren, who attend a church of another denomination. “They look so pretty in their red robes, but they do not know the Bible,” she said.
All Christians should care about hungry people because Jesus commanded it, she explained.
The emphasis on Jesus’ words was appropriate for the Bread for the World audience. Bread was founded as a Christian organization in 1974 and remains a Christian organization by choice. Its purpose is to provide an opportunity for people motivated by their faith in Jesus to come together to influence public policy in behalf of poor and hungry people.
Southern Baptists have been a part of Bread since its beginning. Former Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President Owen Cooper, the last layman to serve as SBC president, was a member of the founding board of directors. Three times Southern Baptists have served as chairman of Bread’s board. It is my privilege to serve on the board of directors at the present time. And numerous Southern Baptists have served on staff.
A U.S. Senate resolution noting the 35th anniversary of Bread said the organization has “inspired the engagement of hundreds of thousands of individuals, more than 8,000 congregations and more than 50 denominations across the religious spectrum to seek justice for hungry and poor people by making our [nation’s] laws more fair and compassionate to people in need.”
Among the successes cited in the resolution were Bread’s work with Congress to “strengthen our national nutrition programs, establish and fund the Child Survival account that has helped reduce child mortality rates worldwide, increase and improve the [nation’s] poverty-focused development assistance to help developing countries in Africa and other underprivileged parts of the world … and establish an emergency grain reserve to improve the [nation’s] response to humanitarian crises.”
Baptists know the Bible teaches more than personal help for the poor and hungry. The prophet Amos condemned Judah because society developed systems that cheated and abused the poor and powerless. Proverbs proclaims “righteousness exalts a nation” (Prov. 14:34). The prophet Ezekiel counseled the princes of Israel to practice justice and righteousness (Ezek. 45:9). All are directives about how society should function.
Alabama Baptists are involved in caring for the hungry. Church-sponsored food closets, cooperation with food banks, emergency care for needy families, holiday feeding programs — these and other ministries illustrate concern. But to emphasize personal care for the hungry and ignore government policies that impact hungry people at home and around the world is to hear only half of what God’s Word teaches. It is like Jesus’ rebuke to the Pharisees in Luke 11:42: “These things you should have done but not left the other undone.”
Bread for the World is one way individuals and churches can be involved in helping shape long-term social structures that evidence care for the poor and hungry. Baptists can work with other Christians for that justice and righteousness that exalts a nation.
During the dark days of the Great Depression, President Roosevelt often said in his radio chats with the American people that two-thirds of the world’s population went to bed hungry every night. In the mid-1970s, that figure was down to about one-third of the world’s population. Today it is estimated that about 15 percent of the world’s 6 billion people go to bed hungry. That is progress but still about 16,000 children die every day from hunger and hunger-related diseases.
Experts say hunger can be eliminated, but it can happen only when Christian people obey the Lord’s command to feed the hungry through personal involvement in shaping government policies that help poor and hungry people. For me, Bread for the World is a good place to start. I commend it for your prayerful consideration. For more information, visit www.bread.org.
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