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focus:poverty –
BGAV churches want to address poverty and other issues that make communities vulnerable, both at home and together with our international partners. Typically we understand poverty as a lack of material possessions, and there are indeed many communities around the world that are not able to provide sufficient food and other necessities for themselves. We want to help communities graduate from extreme poverty in a way that is sustainable and effective, and that also addresses the broken relationships that lead to vulnerability.
New Work in Guatemala –
“My grandparents and parents were poor. I am poor, so my children will also be poor.” According to Juan Pablo Belmonte, field liaison manager for Food for the Hungry (FH), this often characterizes the worldview in communities which have experienced poverty over several generations. FH is helping communities in many countries depart from that kind of fatalistic thinking. Turning instead to the way God can heal broken relationships, as well as bless us with resources for change, they develop a customized, result oriented roadmap for graduating a community from extreme poverty. This is the case in Guatemala, where FH’s indigenous team engages in long term, asset based community development. The process includes church-to-community partnerships (C2C) in which partner congregations outside Guatemala can join one-on-one with communities there during a 8-12 year development plan. These partnerships are based on developing long term relationships, they include financial support, and most importantly, they emphasize the mutual transformation of together growing in faith in a resourceful God.
BGAV churches have always wanted to make a positive difference against poverty and other issues that make communities vulnerable, both at home and together with our international friends. Many of FH’s priorities align with the values of the BGAV, and Impact Missions has been exploring ways to connect churches with C2C partnerships in the Guatemalan region of Verapaz. In April, 2025, a BGAV team including several church leaders went to Guatemala with the purpose of becoming acquainted with the local FH team, and observing partner communities at various stages of their development plans. Reflecting on the trip, Impact Missions team leader, Dean Miller, emphasized that “the people of Guatemala were very warm and engaging. It is also very apparent that the local FH staff are highly engaged with the communities and there is great mutual respect among the staff and community leadership. The people living in the communities are eager to learn and to begin to thrive in new ways that will propel them into self sustainability.” FH Guatemala, as well as the leadership in each community, all expressed hope that BGAV churches would join them in their transformation process.
Providing a safe and healthy environment for children, as well as the opportunity for a bright future, is a priority that we all share. Children are also a main focus of FH’s work because their welfare says a lot about the community’s health. In other words, how well the children are doing is usually a good indicator of how vulnerable a community is. Moving toward being able to provide sustainably for its children is a good way to build a resilient community.
Churches that enter into a C2C partnership commit to regularly praying for and regularly visiting their partner community. However the goal is not for the church to design or do the projects for the community. As the relationship develops there is opportunity to work alongside the community on projects, but the church is clearly “the back-up singer” in the sense that the community is implementing its own vision. This can be something of a paradigm shift for churches that are used to going on mission trips in which they perform the work for someone else. If your church is interested in a long-term relationship that is Christ centered and result oriented, contact us!
Pathways of involvement:
- Prayer – Prayer keeps us centered in God’s leadership and helps us rise in faith to the task at hand. You can pray for the communities in Verapaz, as well as for this partnership. Pray that we would soon have at least 100 BGAV churches participating at some level!
- Church-to-community partnership – Your church can partner with a specific community as they work toward graduating from extreme poverty. FH can facilitate mutually transformative service trips or visits for you to engage with your community, in which you can engage with community members as they work toward building a sustainable future.
- Invest in sustainable change – You can donate toward a specific development project in our partner region in Guatemala. Currently FH Guatemala is emphasizing food security for all the school districts. We are currently identifying food security projects that a church might support in the context of the overall partnership, even if that church is not partnering with a specific community.
- Child sponsorship – Host a Child Sponsor Sunday for children in our partner region, Verapaz. The welfare of its children is a good indicator of a community’s health, and everyone is served when a community is able to care for its most vulnerable members. That’s why Food for the Hungry funds much of its work through child sponsorships.