What an exciting beginning to this ministry! In November and December of 2009, 9 churches and 3 universities hosted a Good News Goods Fair Trade event. Proceeds from these events are estimated to be around $21,000, which in turn created over 4,000 hours of dignified employment for poor artisans around the world (every $5=1 hour of employment), as well as $2,000 for the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger relief and development ministries (10% of yearly proceeds are deposited into the Offering).
Here is what some ministers have to say about their Good News Goods event:
In the beautiful Christmas carol “O Holy Night,” Christians joyfully sing,
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
This year during Advent, Willow Meadows Baptist Church focused on what it means that through Christ’s birth, chains are broken, peace is ushered in, and oppression ceases. We asked ourselves how we can participate in this liberation, especially during a season that focuses not on freedom, but on consumerism. Good News Goods was the perfect complement to our Advent theme. Not only did we get to buy amazing gifts to celebrate Christ’s birth, but we also joined in with people around the world to help break the bonds of slavery and human trafficking. In essence, we had the chance to put our faith into action.
We at Willow Meadows Baptist Church loved the market because our congregation got to break chains in the name of Christ. We had members emailing all their friends (Christians and non-Christians) inviting them to the market so that their shopping could make a difference. We saw people read the stories of the artisans and understand that slavery still exists and that human trafficking is real, even in our own city of Houston.
It is our hope and plan to continue to have a Good News Goods market during both the Advent and Lenten seasons because it gives us the chance to put hands, feet, and dollars to the words that we sing. And in His name, all oppression shall cease.
Rev. Todd Ferguson
Associate Pastor for Youth and Children
Willow Meadows Baptist Church, Houston, Tx
Williams Trace Baptist invested in Good News Goods because it made sense with God’s call on our lives as Christians in the market place today. We believe that in all we do, we should be trying to live out the Gospel message and this includes how we spend our money. The problem has always been we don’t have the resources to understand how to redemptively spend. Good News Goods gave our congregation a jumpstart on purchasing products that make a difference. Charlotte’s presentation during our Sunday school times and morning service gave us further insight and resources so that all of our spending can be used for good. The event was a huge success for our church and began several conversations that are ongoing about fair trade, human trafficking, and the difference we are called to make as a result of our knowledge, God’s grace and love, and our call to bring good news to the poor and oppressed. We plan on placing many products in our church bookstore and having the market at least once a year.
Griff Martin
Associate Pastor for Young Adults
Williams Trace Baptist Church, Sugarland, Tx
I’m certainly happy to tell you that our people have been very receptive and supportive of the concept of Good News Goods. We used the brief video clip to introduce it and placed the business-sized cards in the offering plates, asking for people to take one and go on-line to see what might be available and make their selections accordingly. All of the cards were taken, so we ordered an additional number to be used as we repeated it the next week, also with the mini-kit of items to display from Trade-As-One. We continue to have the items on display and have the unclaimed cards available in our welcome center and various places throughout our Grand Hall area. Several people have indicated that they have made purchases on-line, including my purchases and some my wife has made. We are very pleased and thankful for the opportunity to make “redemptive purchases”!
Glenn L. Ward
Pastor
Acton Baptist Church, Acton, Tx
Good News Goods brought truly good news to Second Baptist Church of Lubbock. The timing seemed providential. We had just finished a stewardship study that emphasized God’s provision and supply, and we had followed that with an Advent emphasis on giving simple gifts, so buying everyday products that would simultaneously provide economic support for folks who truly needed it encouraged us to consider our own blessings and how best to share them.
Good News Goods is a strong vehicle to raise consciousness about Third World needs and the many global hardships that people endure on a daily basis. Our congregation viewed the video clips about the individual producers of Good News Goods at our weekly Wednesday night supper, which brought the social and economic issues up close for personal observation and absorption. Our folks were then touched and inspired to participate, knowing that the funds that were raised were going to meet real needs of real people.
There is so much cynicism and skepticism in our culture these days regarding efforts to provide help through charitable and/or non-profit organizations. Good News Goods provides a way to slice through that cynicism and remind Christians how holy it feels to be part of a solution that is bigger than ourselves.
We are already looking forward to hosting our second Fair Trade Market in 2010.
Stephanie Nash
Pastor, Christian Education & Outreach
Second Baptist Church, Lubbock, Tx
Last November, during the inception of Good News Goods & prior to the official launch last January, First Baptist Austin & Wilshire Baptist in Dallas supported the birthing of this ministry by facilitating fair trade Markets and Trading Posts. Because I have the great pleasure of being a member of First Baptist Austin, my life has been forever changed due to the faces and stories that I encountered at that market last year. This year, my experience will not be as a church member, but as a consultant for the Christian Life Commission, educating, sharing my passion for biblical justice with others, and helping more Texas Baptist churches facilitate fair trade events.
This Advent season—a time when we are most easily distracted by consumption—more churches have chosen to be a stark contrast to our culture by hosting a Good News Goods fair trade event, and challenging their members to put their faith into action. Our purpose is not to offer a “feel good” shopping experience that won’t affect us beyond the Christmas season. Rather, it is to offer an alternative way to buy and give gifts as informed shoppers, guided by our faith in Jesus Christ, and who continue to pursue biblical justice in everyday life. My hope is that others will come away from this experience hungry to know more & ruined to live out life the same as before.
All of September and October I have been traveling around Texas meeting with over 20 different pastors and several BSM Directors about Good News Goods and how Texas Baptists can play a huge role in alleviating poverty and engaging in biblical justice through our everyday spending choices.
During this same time, I was invited to raise awareness and introduce Fair Trade for Texas Baptist students at Baylor’s Global Village night as a part of their Missions Emphasis Week, at Howard Payne University as a part of their Fair Trade Day, and at the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor as a part of their student-led worship service. Also, in November, I will be speaking with T.L. Grover (BGCT Director of Community and Restorative Justice) at the Baptist University of the Americas.
It has been so exciting to experience the overall reaction from Texas Baptists about Good News Goods—they understand the importance of acting out everyday justice through our consumer choices, and they want to be a part of this new movement in Baptist life. As UT’s BSM Director, Marcy Kent said, “Well, it’s about time!”
Texas Baptists are realizing that we cannot segregate our church life from our everyday life, and it is not enough just to “do church” on Sundays. When Jesus said to make disciples, he was referring to “doing life” in a different way and that includes Monday through Saturday. When we come to understand that our daily consumption and spending is just as much a discipleship issue as praying and giving, then our church and our everyday lives collide, and we realize that the Kingdom of this world is broken and corrupt, but the Kingdom of God is at hand here on earth and available to all.
Living the Christian Life
Recently I was part of a conversation where the question at hand was “What are some of the issues the church is facing today?” One woman responded “We don’t know that we don’t know!” This statement, simple yet poignant, points to the truth that we as the church body are inclined to the comfort of our own lives, our own situations, our own daily problems and are therefore, blind to the tragedies of the world that surround us—human trafficking (also known as Modern Day Slavery), extreme poverty, hunger, exploitation, greed, abuse, child labor, HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the list goes on and on. Detachment is our defense system against being bombarded by issues that seem too huge for us to touch, too heart-breaking for us to endure, and too far away for us to connect.
However, In Luke 4:18-20, Jesus begins his ministry by stating that he has been anointed to “proclaim good news to the poor… liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” The prophet Micah also speaks to us of what the Lord requires, which is to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before the Lord your God.” If we claim to be followers of Christ then we cannot ignore these calls any longer.
There are hundreds of millions of people around the world who suffer horrible tragedies at the hands of greed and injustice, and I believe that we would respond if we saw their faces, encountered their stories, and understood the connection between our wealth and their deprivation. If we knew that approximately 27 million people are presently enslaved across the globe, we would respond. If we knew that over 80% of the clothes and toys we buy, and over 95% of the shoes we buy are made by poor, exploited people in Latin America and Asia who work long hours and are paid very little to nothing for their work, we would respond. If we knew that a large majority of chocolate corporations use forced labor on their cocoa farms, we would respond. If we knew that the carpets we walk on are made by children who are taken from their homes in India, isolated, abused, and malnourished, we would respond. If we knew that tens of thousands of women and young girls are forced or coerced into domestic and manual work, or the sex trade, we would respond. Now you know. How will you respond?
It is clear now that our everyday spending is just as much of a discipleship issue as our giving, and just as important in bringing about the Kingdom of God. The poor of the world don’t want a hand-out, they want jobs. They want a means to support themselves and their families, and they want a way to pull themselves up out of their situation. It is less about charity and more about providing systems of justice that alleviate the cycles of poverty and its associated evils. Choose to know who makes your clothes, shoes, toys, and carpets. Choose to know where your food is coming from and how it was produced. Choose to find out whether the people who made these products were exploited, abused, or forced in the process. Choose to make a difference in their lives by supporting ethical businesses and buying fair trade when possible. Choose to make Good News Goods a ministry in your church.
A Good News Goods purchase not only connects our daily spending choices to the abuses that the poorest of the poor suffer on our behalf, but it also provides a tangible means for us, the body of Christ, to engage in their suffering and offer them hope and holistic healing through fair wages, dignity of work, freedom from oppression, sustainable development, counseling, and medical care. In this transaction, redemption is given to both the consumer and the producer.
Hello,
My name is Charlotte Bumbulis and I am the recently hired consultant for the new Texas Baptist Fair Trade initiative called Good News Goods. The last few years, God has been transforming my world view by opening my eyes to a hurting and broken world, and by burdening me with a passion to be an active part of His healing Kingdom vision. I have been teaching elementary music for the past 5 years, but I always yearned for something more. Thus, the doors were opened…
My journey with Fair Trade began last November when Trade As One (our supplier) hosted a market at my church, the First Baptist Church of Austin. Of course, I was curious about the exquisite product before me, but I was ruined by the stories I read and the faces I saw. These were no longer mere products to purchase for my self-gratification, but rather a way to live missionally and in solidarity with the exploited, marginalized people of the world who created these products. I realized how detached I was from the things I bought. I had no idea who made my clothes or food. Furthermore, I was ignorant of how they were treated and paid for their work. About 2 months later, I was contacted by Shelton Green to launch one of the first Good News Goods trading posts. I was only a lay person, but I desperately wanted to be involved with this new initiative somehow. So in February, I opened our church’s first trading post. At this same time, a conversation began with Suzii Paynter about transitioning out of the world of public education and into this new world of biblical justice, and in June, I resigned from my teaching position. Now, I am here to educate Texas Baptist churches about their purchasing power, and equip them with a better spending alternative—Good News Goods.
So I leave you with a Franciscan Blessing:
May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts.
May God bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that we may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
May God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done.
And, may the Blessing of God, who creates, redeems, and sanctifies, be upon you and all you love and pray for this day, and forever more.
Amen
