Hungry For Life didn’t start because we had a great idea. It didn’t start out of a passion to help the world’s poor or link groups in Canada with ministries around the world. HFL official began operations in 2003 but it actually started a few years before that.
HFL started in prayer. It started because God led a few of us to start earnestly praying based on 2 Chronicles 7:14 that says, “If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land.”
So that’s what we started doing. We invited a group of youth and young adults from the church I pastored, and we started to spend significantly more time in prayer, worship, and the word of God. We started with just a few of us and God moved. His presence was palpable and visceral. This small young adult prayer gathering grew to hundreds of people and became an intercity and interdenominational monthly prayer and worship event we called Shekinah, meaning “God’s presence.”
It was in these days of prayer and worship that God showed us that His power and presence is also directly related to what we do for the poor, the hungry, and the broken in this world. He led us to Isaiah 1 and 58 that said it wasn’t enough to fill a worship event and call that true worship. If we wanted ever increasing spiritual vibrancy in our lives, we needed to also be about justice, compassion, and mission. This was the beginning of HFL.
Prayer has continued to be the foundation of our work. Every morning our staff spend time in God’s word praying for each other, our global partners, and the issues in this world. We prioritize an annual spiritual retreat to nurture our culture of spiritual vibrancy. And we often spontaneously take time during our workdays to pray for issues that come up or prior to staff heading out on trips.
It was out of this student prayer and worship movement that thousands of people have volunteered globally (some becoming long term international workers), hundreds of relief and development projects in about 25 nations, millions of dollars being raised for justice and compassion, and lives and communities have been transformed.
As HFL has matured as an organization, it is as important as ever that we recommit to the same strategy that started the organization. As the organization was birthed in prayer and worship, so must be our growth. That fact we are in our third decade doesn’t mean we don’t have to depend on God as we did from day one. We invite you to join with us as we pray that God would transform leaders and communities globally.
