Spotlight Series: Bakers For Change
written on 06 August 2021 by Indy Hollway & Erin Iwata
Over the next few weeks, we will be spotlighting some projects/ organisations that we think you guys should check out. This could be because of their mission, the resource they are building, or the work they are doing for the community. We hope that you will find these projects as uplifting and useful as we do.
Bakers For Change is an online community that mobilises followers to sell baked goods to raise money for charities. Mostly using Instagram, Bakers For Change organise regular bake sales that can be participated in from across the globe. These bake sales highlight particular charities each time, and participants bake beautiful cakes and cookies that reflect the mission of the charities.
Not only are the cakes shared by Bakers For Change beautiful, but they talk about extremely important justice issues. Similarly, the page holds two truths, the first that protest can be expressed through mediums we might not expect, and is fundamentally creative in nature. To rebel against the status quo is to creatively differentiate ourselves from the norm. Secondly, Bakers For Change reminds us that food is political. In one post, the caption reads “... We have always been defined by what we eat and how we acquire it… Humans have always used food as a means to gain and exert control.”
There are so many ways to tie the work of Bakers For Change into the mission of the church, but we must first recognise that the institution of the church has played a large role in creating and uplifting the very structures that the bakers are protesting against. We must come to justice issues with humble hearts. As a faith system that has a lot of emphasis on food and food rituals, we have knowledge about how powerful food can be (for example, for those who take communion, this meal represents the sacrifice of Christ). We hope that Bakers For Change inspires you to be generous and creative in new and exciting ways, as well as teaches you about important justice issues.
We also really love cake.
