Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Study Guide | Page 3

CHRISTIAN STUDY GUIDE – 2014 HUNGER REPORT

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SESSION 1: ECONOMIC PROSPERITY TO BENEFIT EVERYONE
The Word
Read Exodus 16:15-20 and Luke 12:13-20
In scripture, when God’s will is being done, resources are shared and everyone benefits. We see this perhaps most notably through iconic feeding stories such as manna in the
wilderness, the miracle of the loaves, and the Last Supper. God provides for the good of
the community and all are fed. This doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone gets the same
amount, but each person gets what he or she needs, and often abundance remains afterward.
Likewise, greediness is said to be counter to faithfulness. In the Exodus story, wormy rotting
manna represents taking and attempting to store up more of God’s provision than one needs
or can use. And in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus uses the example of a greedy farmer to describe
someone with the wrong priorities.
1. What does it mean to you as a Christian for everyone to have “as much as they need”?
2. What might have happened if the greedy farmer in Luke had thought about the needs of
his community rather than just about how he could store more and more?
3. How do you identify and share your abundance? How do your family and your church
do the same?

The Issue
Concern for the common good, the common “weal,” was so important during the founding
of our country that four of the newly unified states kept the title “commonwealth” rather
than calling themselves “states.” However, economic prosperity has not benefitted everyone.
For example, between 1979 and 2007, the top 5 percent of U.S. income earners received 81
percent of the gains from economic growth.
The current median wage is $16.30 an hour. Half of American workers earn more than
this, and half earn less. But if wages for all workers had risen at the same rate as productivity
growth, then today’s median wage would instead be $28.42. At the same time, inequalities
in wealth (the value of accumulated assets, such as savings or equity in a home) have grown
at a staggering rate. Wealth has proven to be at least as important as income, if not more
important, to one’s prospects of getting out of poverty for good.
1. What are some of the costs of not sharing economic prosperity more broadly? Are there
potential benefits?

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Bread for the World Institute