Food Security Session

• Prepare to share the Helping-Hand Appeal videos and stories
• Cut out the Bible verses or display them on a PowerPoint slide
• Print out a Commitment card for each member
• Be ready to discuss and plan fundraising ideas
• Plan to incorporate challenges throughout the year

Additional resources

• Bible verses
• Commitment card

The Salvation Army is a global movement that supports community development programmes around the world – helping people to overcome the poverty and injustice they are experiencing, and enabling them to build a better life and future. The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory partners with other territories and supports international development projects which fall within five focus areas: food security, clean water, anti-trafficking, emergency response and gender justice.

The Helping-Hand Appeal exists to raise awareness about and funds for international community-based projects. Each year the appeal focuses on a different area of work, and during 2025 the focus is Food Security. 

Nurturing land, harvesting hope

Over a quarter of the world’s population is impacted by lack of food. In Zimbabwe, rural small-scale farmers who depend on the land they live on to survive, are struggling; they are struggling to produce enough food for their families and the growing population and food in the markets is expensive. This has led to widespread food insecurity, which means that people can’t always get the nutritional food they need each day to stay healthy and active. It means people are living with the fear of going hungry.

With a changing climate, traditional methods of farming that have worked for many years are not effective any more.

The Salvation Army is working with communities all over the world, teaching farmers different methods to cope with the effects of climate change. In Zimbabwe it is called the Raising Champion Farmers project.

The outcomes are good:

• there is more food to eat and to sell, 
• the soil is healthier because of the application of organic compost, 
• farmers’ wellbeing is increasing because they are not living in fear,
• their families are thriving, and 
• they’re even earning a bit of extra money. 

Not every farmer can commit to the project; but for those that can, they’re not only improving their farms today but also making them sustainable for the future, nurturing the land and harvesting hope.

More information and stories can be found on the Helping-Hand Appeal web page. 

LEARN

Share the Helping-Hand Appeal videos and stories with the group. Invite members to pay careful attention to what they are hearing and seeing; encourage a time of sharing their observations with the group.

DISCUSS

Share out the Bible verses or display them on a screen. Invite members to discuss in pairs or small groups a verse (or verses), to dig deeper into their meaning, both in relation to what they have learned about the Raising Champion Farmers project in Zimbabwe, and also in the context of their own lives.

Give an opportunity for the whole group to share their thoughts and insights.

FUNDRAISE

Despite all the work that is happening and the lives that are changing, the challenge of food security in many communities around the world remains; people continue to need training, coaching and encouraging. 

Ask your group to share ideas and to plan together how you can fundraise for the Helping-Hand Appeal throughout the year. Can they set a target to raise a certain amount of money over this year, or have a dedicated session and take up an offering? Could the fundraising be extended to include the whole corps/church family, including having a ‘one-off’ retiring collection?

GET INVOLVED – CHALLENGES

The effects of climate change – mainly lack of timely rainfall – challenge the small-scale farmers in Zimbabwe. So careful and targeted watering of crops ensures that nothing is wasted. This can be difficult and dangerous, involving travelling some distance to get the water and needing creativity in transporting the water back to the plot. 

What we do in the UK and Ireland does ultimately impact our friends around the world, so reducing our impact on the climate is vital. Keep the reason for the appeal alive by exploring challenges throughout the following year. (Adapted from the UN article: 10 ways to help fight climate change.) Some challenges may inspire some fundraising ideas.

1. Act now

Include an opportunity for members to sign up to the UN’s Act Now campaign on climate change and sustainability: 

2. Protest

Provide time in a session for members to write to their MP about their climate change concerns. The Climate Coalition has a useful template that can be used:

3. Transport

Discuss with members ways to consider more environmentally friendly ways of transportation.

Have they considered:

• Car sharing
• Using public transport 
• Walking or cycling 
• Reducing the number of flights taken
• Buying/hiring an electric vehicle

Perhaps your group could adapt this into a fundraising challenge: of a sponsored walk; a challenge to reduce the number of car journeys; or to share some of the funds saved if they have adapted their modes of transport. 

4. Power

Discuss with your group ways to be more energy saving. What tips and strategies have they found? Here are some examples:

• Turning down the heating a degree or two 
• Switching off unnecessary appliances and lights Insulating the loft or roof
• Switching to a zero-carbon or renewable energy provider 
• Washing clothes less often and/or at a lower temperature
• Investing in energy-efficient lighting
• Stopping draughts from windows, door frames and even letter boxes

5. Food

A plant-based diet has many health and environmental benefits. The things on offer for people who enjoy vegetarian or vegan foods have greatly improved in the last few years, with supermarkets now stocking a wide variety of meat alternatives. 

Discuss with your group if they have considered eating, or already do eat, more plant-based meals. (But remind members to check with their doctor in case changing their diet might not be helpful.) 

Invite a ‘plant-based’ food champion along, to share recipes or bring along some shop-bought examples to try together.

6. Grow your own

Members can try growing their own fruit, vegetables and herbs. Provide pots, soil and seeds for members. Encourage them to decorate the pots or add a plant marker with a Scripture reference or words of encouragement for the farmers in Zimbabwe.

Perhaps your group could consider setting up a community garden in your neighbourhood. Or could members offer their gardening expertise at a local school or community centre?

7. Food waste

One third of all food produced is either lost or wasted. Composting is one of the best ways for managing organic waste while also reducing environmental impact – and our friends in Zimbabwe would advocate for that! 

Consider including a Getting Creative with Leftovers session with your group. Many people grew up on meals made with leftovers and can share their – hopefully fond – memories. Perhaps one of your members is amazing at this already – invite them to share their ideas; or explore some leftover recipe ideas on BBC.co.uk.

Discuss ways to be creative with leftovers, eg share extras with friends and neighbours. More ideas are included in the 2025 Family Ministries Calendar. 

8. Fast fashion

The fashion industry accounts for 8-10 per cent of all global carbon emissions. That’s more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined – and ‘fast fashion’ has created a throwaway culture that sees clothes quickly end up in landfills. 

But WE can change this:

 Buy fewer new clothes – will you wear it 30 times? 

• Use rental services for special occasions 
• Repair clothes or tailor them where possible
• Donate unwanted clothes or do a swap with friends
• Take the time to explore what you already own and find new ways or combinations to wear them
• Visit your local Salvation Army charity shop for some great bargains

Perhaps your group can collaborate with a charity shop in hosting a fashion show to raise money towards the Helping-Hand Appeal.

9. Plant trees

Deforestation, together with agriculture and other land use changes, is responsible for roughly 25 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Discuss with your group ways to combat this. Perhaps your group can plant a tree. Or sow wildflower seeds in an unloved area in the neighbourhood.

10. Pray

Spend time as a group praying into this situation.

• Pray for politicians and local decision makers.
• Pray for those who work in the agriculture industry and most especially farmers.
• Pray for your own community – that people might respond to some of the ideas and challenges you adopt.

COMMITMENT

What can you commit to do for a month? A season? A whole year?

Who could help you?

Take some time to think and talk with the other members of the group. Can you commit to doing something together?

Use the Commitment card as a prompt, and if appropriate begin to create a plan with your group, maybe extending the commitment opportunities to the whole corps/church family.

In God’s economy we have everything we need. But when we observe our neighbourhoods and try to understand what is going on around the world, we could wonder what has gone wrong. There is a feeling of dissatisfaction everywhere. No one seems to ‘have enough’ or even have what they need; the finger is pointed at the Government, local councillors, even our own neighbours, friends and sometimes family.

The Bible initially offers what seems a romantic notion of farming, God gifting every plant and fruit with seed, for food. In the beginning it must have been an idyllic scenario – until the Fall, when God punished Adam and therefore all of humanity; the ground was cursed, to make it hard to produce food, but thorns and thistles would grow freely. 

If you have done any kind of gardening, you will know the frustration of weeding – why don’t slugs like dandelions, but eagerly munch through root veg and hostas? 

‘By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.’ 

(Genesis 3:19)

In the UK and Ireland farming remains one of our important industries, with 70 per cent of UK land being used for agriculture (gov.uk 2023 stats). However, it’s arguably not so much our tradition any more to ‘grow your own’. ‘Allotmenting’ is a lovely, popular and arduous hobby, but only a small percentage of allotment owners would say that they fully rely on their produce to actually survive, and even then they will supplement their harvests with shop-bought extras.

The farmers who engage with The Salvation Army’s Food Security projects do not have the luxury of taking time off or popping to the shops, and sometimes must travel a fair distance to get to their plot. Using new and different techniques from their neighbours, they must wait for their work to become fruitful. This can take a whole year; and sometimes, with additional pressure from family, peer pressure from neighbours, and the fear of going hungry and letting down their children, they do give up. Nurturing the land to support growth is hard and maintaining good soil is crucial to success.

The sower scattering his seed (Matthew 13:3-8) relied on the good soil and was fortunate that some of his seed landed there, but much did not.

REFLECTION

• What do you need to survive? 
• What do you need to thrive? 
• Is it good to be self-sufficient?
• Where is your ‘good soil’?

PRAYER

Creator God, in you we find everything we need. 

You complete us, and in you everything is held together.

Help us to see you in our families, neighbourhoods and churches. 

Encourage us when we feel disappointed and disillusioned with our lives.

Protect us against despair and dissatisfaction and remind us of the security we experience in you.

Enable us to recognise where the ‘good soil’ is, so that we can be more fruitful for you.

Amen.

• SASB 26 ‘Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father’
  • Instrumental lyric video by The Salvation Army Video Songbook (3:37)
  • Lyric video by ExaltHIMvdo (5:10)
  • Official live performance by Carrie Underwood and CeCe Winans (press CC for lyrics) (4:20)
• SASB 861 ‘In Christ alone my hope is found’ 
  • Brass instrumental lyric video by Salvation Army Sale (3:55)
  • Lyric video feat Adrienne Liesching by Hadleigh Baptist Church (5:48)
  • Lyric video with Keith and Krystin Getty (4:18)
• SASB 662 ‘My hope is built on nothing less’
  • Instrumental lyric video by The Salvation Army Songbook (1:47)
  • Lyric video ‘On Christ the Solid Rock’ by R Sebastian (3:24)
  • Lyric video ‘My hope is built on nothing less (Cornerstone)’ by Hillsong (4:41)
• ‘I will run to you’ 
  • Music video feat Peterborough Songsters by Music and more (4:12)
  • Lyric video Hillsong by Hosanna Media (5:10)