Donald Messer preaching this Sunday

This Sunday, April 23, Dr. Donald Messer, co-author of Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith, will deliver a sermon on the topic of hunger and AIDS. Following the worship service, there will be a congregational discussion in the Fellowship Hall, which Dr. Messer will initiate with a brief PowerPoint presentation documenting the extent of hunger and AIDS in the world. UMW will prepare a lunch for the occasion, but it will be kept simple, in view of the topic. We hope you will join us to discuss this specific "challenge to persons of faith."

Did you know?
Over the years, we've been inundated with the statistics and the pictures of poverty around the world—so much so that many people have come to accept it as an unfortunate but unalterable state of affairs. The world today is more prosperous than it ever has been and the technological advances we have seen in recent years have created encouraging new opportunities to improve economies and reduce hunger.

Did you know that in our world today:

• One third of deaths—some 18 million people a year (50,000 people per day)—are due to poverrelatedted causes. That's 270 million people since 1990, the majority women and children, roughly equal to the population of the United States. (Reality of Aid, 2004)
• Every year more than 10 million children die of hunger and preventable diseases—that's over 30,000 per day and one every three seconds. (80 Million Lives, 2003/Bread for the World/UNICEF/World Health Organization)
• Over 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day with nearly half the world's population (2.8 billion) living on less than $2 a day. (UN HDR, 2003)
• 600 million children live in absolute poverty. (SCF, Beat Poverty, 2003)
• The three richest people in the world control more wealth than all 600 million people living in the world's poorest countries. (ChristianAid)
• Income per person in the poorest countries in Africa has fallen by a quarter in the last 20 years. (ChristianAid)
• 800 million people go to bed hungry every day. (FAO)
• Every year nearly 11 million children die before their fifth birthday. (UNICEF)