Local church, Global Impact
Your church can make a global impact from right where you are! Churches across the US are partnering with Growing Hope Globally to serve our Global Neighbors, helping them to find lasting solutions to hunger. We work with our members, the international development organizations of a dozen different denominations, to support agricultural development programs around the world. Your congregation can use the resources God has given you (people, land, creativity, funding) to start a Growing Project in your own community. Growing Projects bring people of different backgrounds together around the common cause of serving those struggling with hunger. They are a great way to get to know your neighbors – both around the corner and across the world. Join us!
Learn More About Starting A Growing Project
What Does Growing HOpe Mean to Your CHurch?
“The Ashely, IN Growing Project has been underway for fifteen years, and our congregation has been incredibly blessed by this ministry. It’s so encouraging to know that fields we see around our church are making a positive influence around the world. We have occasionally had people from different countries join us to share how Growing Hope Globally has impacted their lives and communities. Learning from and about our brothers and sisters from different parts of the world has enriched our lives and our congregation beyond measure. Some of our farmers are with the Lord now, but their families know how important this ministry was to them and they are committed to continuing it. We have also enjoyed time together with our partner churches and Growing Hope Globally staff in planning meetings, Sunday morning worship services, Harvest Celebrations, special events and fundraisers.”
– Pastor Val Kline, Pleasant Chapel Church of the Brethren, Ashley, IN
“Growing Hope Globally is part of the fabric of who we are as a congregation. We are a church with farming roots. Even if some people aren’t literally farmers, there are farms all around us here in this fertile valley. Feeding people is part of who we are. We are involved with the local food bank and prepare meals for those in need, but our call to serve and feed people is not just local. Growing Hope Globally gives us the chance to come alongside our neighbors around the world who we may never meet and make sure that they are able to grow the food they need too. We are in it together.”
– Pastor Leah Stolte-Doerfler, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Silverton, OR
“It was a wonderful thing to be a part of because we got to have something on the ground and in our hands that we could see, that we could be a part of, and actually go to the field where we were growing crops that we would later sell to fund a project somewhere in the world, and to feel that we were making an impact both locally and globally.”
-Rev. Nikki Shaw, First Congregational UCC, Angola, IN
“If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry, and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”
-Isaiah 58:10
Renewing Rural Churches
Learn how Wiley Heights Covenant Church in Yakima, WA started a Growing Project and the impact it has had on their congregation, their community and beyond.
“Our church’s Growing Project, Sharing the Harvest, started out of conversation, imagination, shared effort, and serendipitous alignments and affirmations, which we can only credit as God’s handiwork. Since 2012 we have worked with up to 30 churches to sell apples grown in our community to benefit overseas programs with Growing Hope Globally. Our Growing Project has been a part of our renewing story.”
-Pastor Mark Swanson, Wiley Heights Covenant Church, Yakima, WA
Harmony Grows
It has been a decade since Harmony Springs Christian Church made the decision to sell their building in downtown Akron, OH and purchase a nine-acre lot in nearby Green, OH. The new property provides the church with opportunities for growth. Growth in membership… and vegetables.
“Once we purchased 9 acres of farmed land for our future church site we started looking for ways we could do as much good as possible with this asset. Growing Hope Globally was the perfect partner for us to connect a local growing project with an opportunity for global impact.”
-Pastor Joel Engman, Harmony Springs Christian Church, Green, OH
Our Growing Project Adds to the Fabric of our Christian Life and Faith
“The Growing Project at Grossnickle Church of the Brethren has become an important part of our worship and social interaction within our church family.”
-Elvin Stottlemyer, Grossnickle Church of the Brethren, Myersville, MD
RURAl ROots, Global ConnECTIONs
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
-Romans 12:12
A Week Of Prayer For Growing Projects
Join us in prayer during this harvest season, lifting up our 130 Growing Projects across the
United States in their work toward lasting solutions to hunger. Take a few minutes each day to
pray throughout this season, as we trust in God’s care and abundance for all.
The Global Farmer Experience & BIBle STudy Companion
The Global Farmer Experience is a simulation based on the challenges facing farmers in developing countries.
Find out how you will fare when faced with the kind of difficult decisions smallholder farmers must make every day.
The Bible Study Companion is a great additional resource to help your church or youth group consider how the Bible calls us to respond to hunger.
DOWNLOAD THE GLOBAL FARMER EXPERIENCE & BIBLE STUDY COMPANION
The Earth Is the Lord’s
Perhaps your church or community will benefit from these Bible studies on creation and agriculture written by Brett Harrison and Sara Sytsma.
DOWNLOAD THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S BIBLE STUDIES ON CREATION AND AGRICULTURE
DOWNLOAD THE KISWAHILI VERSION – NCHI NI YA BWANA
Ready to Get Involved?
Learn How You Can Start a Growing Project