THE MEAL THAT BECAME A MOVEMENT

How can something as ordinary as eating a meal become a doorway into deeper faith, global compassion, and spiritual formation? I have seen firsthand how eating simply can transform communities and hearts thousands of miles away, making an eternal impact in the lives of vulnerable children. Each Rice & Beans Month, our spiritual life as a family and community deepens as we participate in the disciplines of simplicity, solidarity, and sharing.

“There are many people who are alive today because of the sacrifices of people participating in Rice & Beans Month,” said Director Dan Holcomb, reflecting on the impact over the years as communities share their grocery funds to feed hungry children.

It was during a season of spiritual renewal that Rice & Beans Month was born. In 2010, Lahash was growing, and the African partnerships were impacting hundreds of lives; however, the staff were feeling stretched and close to burnout. Our community needed spiritual practices and rhythms that enabled us to connect more deeply with Jesus. 

“We were thinking about not just how we make an impact in East Africa, but how to focus in on the impact in our own hearts and lives,” said Dan. “How do we experientially walk with and advocate for our partners and the kids there?”

Dan and I conducted a test run, eating only rice and beans for a weekend at the coast. The following spring, he rolled out Rice & Beans Month to the Lahash community. Everyone committed to a month of eating simply and donating the money we saved on groceries to buy food for families in East Africa.

Over the years, the movement has gained momentum. Around 30 churches have partnered in Rice & Beans Month experiences, and so far $180,000 has provided life-saving care and nutrition to vulnerable families. 

The impact was especially significant for a group of children who tested positive for HIV. The kids were on intense medications. “They were not getting any nutrition at home. The schools weren’t providing nutrition, so it was oftentimes one meal a day, or one meal every couple of days,” remembers Dan. Some of the children were dying.

A local church collaborated with schools in the area to provide kids with a nutritious, protein-rich meal during their lunch breaks. The meals made possible through Rice & Beans Month kept dozens of kids alive. 

 That first “Rice & Beans Month” helped us grow as a community and provided a practical way to care for vulnerable children. East Africa had a food crisis; our U.S. community had a spiritual crisis. God used Rice & Beans Month to address both types of hunger.

For the past 15 years, the Rice & Beans tradition has marked our calendar and our hearts. Our children are growing up in Lahash and are involved each year in Rice & Beans Month. Year after year, the event continues to grow in participation and impact as people join the movement, anchored around three guiding principles: Simplicity, Solidarity, and Sharing.

Simplicity

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” -Philippians 2:3–4 

We eat rice and beans because simplicity allows our love to grow. Christians throughout history have made do with less in order to lift up and care for others. We are inspired by the example of Christ, who gave up everything while we were in our spiritual poverty. We see Christ through the witness of the Church, throughout time and around the world, and we see him daily in the sacrifices of Lahash partners, such as Pastor Fabian at Sheltering Arms in rural Uganda. 

When Pastor Fabian and his church heard about Christians participating in Rice and Beans month in the U.S., they decided to join in a month of fasting for their own community. Many in this Church were simplifying meals that were already more austere than our own fasting. Out of their exercise in eating even more simply, Fabian’s African church felt that God was leading them to begin an outreach to the very children they were praying for, and Sheltering Arms ministry was born, becoming a ministry partner of Lahash International.

Christians are instructed to fast, and fasting opens us up to hear the voice of God more clearly. For those living in the Western world, two millennia after Jesus, our lives rarely allow us the opportunity to feel hunger pangs. Rather than skipping meals, we do not go hungry. During Rice & Beans Month we challenge ourselves to join our brothers and sisters around the world in giving up what is unnecessary and distracting so that we may open our hearts to how God may want us to change in much bigger ways. He will ask for more of our lives and souls in a generous proposition, and simplicity helps us to hear Him.

Solidarity

“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” -1 John 3:17-18 

We eat rice and beans because it reminds us that we are part of a larger body ––a global family.

In Dodoma, Tanzania, a young girl named Yusta shares a cinder block house with her mother, siblings, and their small flock of chickens. When our family visited her home, they welcomed us with kindness, and we spent time praying for each other. 

Most days, Yusta eats a simple porridge breakfast — picture thin Cream of Wheat sipped from a cup — and a second meal of starchy ugali (corn-based mush) with greens. That may be all she eats in one day. On the days she attends the Lahash program in town, she is served a heaping bowl of rice and beans, along with a piece of fruit, often the best meal she will eat all week. 

Our family has other options, but Yusta does not, so we fellowship with her in solidarity over a meal of rice and beans from the other side of the world. When we give thanks for the meal that seems so simple to us, we carry her in our hearts, and we add prayers for her, her family, and all those who struggle to get enough food to eat. Eating rice and beans changes our prayers and our hearts.

Sharing

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to shelter the poor wanderer—you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” -Isaiah 58:6-7

We see the receipts. A few months after we have the annual Rice & Beans Month, we receive pictures of families on the other side of the world receiving bags of food that will last them weeks. We eat rice and beans in March because it makes a measurable difference in the lives of vulnerable kids. 

March is short. The other eleven months of the year, our grocery budget inevitably feels stretched to feed the growing kids in our own home. Yet by simply changing our definition of supper, we can create a margin that blesses other families with  more to meet their needs. Passing by the poultry or a rustic loaf in the grocery store becomes easier when the goal is so clear. Sometimes, the extra encouragement of seeing photos of families with the additional food they received during Rice & Beans Month is precisely what we need to persevere in this practice.

But it is not just about sharing the money we save. We share ourselves, our home, and our table more because of Rice and Beans Month. We invite friends and family to join us for a simple meal. Instead of trying to create an Insta-worthy experience for them, we focus on the heart behind the menu and the experience of hospitality –– the giving of ourselves.

Even in the Christian story that Jesus shares with us, we see the significance of the Passover as a crucial meal becoming the Eucharist, marking a pivotal moment. “Meals are super central in East Africa; people come together. People bond. Enemies become friends. People you know understand the importance of hospitality,” said Dan. “God can nourish us spiritually through the physical steps we take.”

Over the years, the funds saved by families have helped fund farming projects, land purchases, irrigation projects, water towers, and provide nutrition at various ministry locations across East Africa.

Individuals, families, and congregations have experienced spiritual renewal and growth in their own lives, deepening their connection to Christ and the local Church.

Each meal we eat during March is an act of discipleship for our family. And by embracing the call to love through simplicity, solidarity, and sharing, our lives are changed. 

This isn’t just about food; it’s about formation. And when we say yes — one meal, one prayer, one bite at a time — we find ourselves feasting on something far richer: the abundance of God’s kingdom.

Sharing a humble meal of rice and beans can nourish your own soul and feed the body of a hungry child. 

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