WHEREAS, Hunger ministries reflect the compassionate heart of Jesus, serving as an effective means to make Christ known to our neighbors and the nations (Matthew 4:23; 9:35–38; 14:14–21); and WHEREAS, In Old and New Testament alike, the Lord anticipates that His genuine followers will feed the hungry and minister to people in need (Deuteronomy 15:11; Matthew 25:34–40; James 2:14–17); and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists care about the physical and spiritual needs of all persons, regardless of religious affiliation, economic status, or cultural identity; and
WHEREAS, Extreme hunger afflicts nearly one billion people across North America and around the world; and
WHEREAS, Cooperative Program support provided by Southern Baptist churches allows the North American Mission Board, the International Mission Board, and their trusted partners to make efficient and effective use of hunger donations by eliminating the overhead costs often associated with other humanitarian and relief agencies; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptist hunger ministries are designed to include the proclamation of the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ alongside a demonstration of the Gospel through loving deeds, and are conducted in harmony with the historic biblical convictions of Southern Baptists; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have supported these missionally strategic hunger initiatives for more than three decades by providing financial contributions through the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund; and
WHEREAS, The Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund was rebranded as Global Hunger Relief by the SBC Executive Committee on February 18, 2014, in collaboration with SBC entities involved in promoting, receiving, and disbursing Global Hunger Relief contributions in order to encourage a new generation of believers to accept the challenge of addressing hunger needs; and
WHEREAS, The Executive Committee, the International Mission Board, the North American Mission Board, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, LifeWay Christian Resources, Woman’s Missionary Union, and Baptist Global Response have affirmed the current Convention-adopted division of Global Hunger Relief funds to be used 80 percent for overseas hunger relief and 20 percent for domestic hunger relief; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, June 10–11, 2014, encourage Southern Baptists enthusiastically to embrace and support the new Global Hunger Relief initiative; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we encourage the Southern Baptist Convention entities, Woman’s Missionary Union, and other ministry partners involved in promoting, receiving, and disbursing Global Hunger Relief offerings to raise awareness of hunger needs continuously and aggressively, and to promote Global Hunger Relief as the Southern Baptist approach to funding hunger ministry; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we acknowledge the continuing value of local church support for the Cooperative Program of Southern Baptists, which allows all Global Hunger Relief contributions to be used to meet food and nutritional needs for hungry persons; and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we encourage each Southern Baptist individual and congregation to promote Global Hunger Relief through systematic personal giving, annual observance of Southern Baptists’ World Hunger Sunday, and innovative local church initiatives throughout the year.