November-December 2020
Where Christian faith gets down to business
Regenerative agriculture:
Crop production that builds the soil Job creation in a Romanian woodshop Lancaster firms on selling food during a pandemic Faith and business
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The Marketplace November December 2020
Roadside stand
Access to technology critical during pandemic for women in agriculture The agrifood and agribusiness sector is a major part of the economy in many of the countries where MEDA works. In Tanzania, for instance, agriculture accounts for an estimated 75 per cent of employment and 25 percent of gross domestic product. Access to finance, to training and to technology, or lack thereof, all contribute to the extent to which farmers, micro and small businesses can survive and thrive. The importance of access to relevant technologies during the pandemic was underlined in a call MEDA staff had concerning COVID’s impact on gender progress. In Jordan, online training has been increased. In the Ukraine, MEDA staff have found that slow and low-quality internet in rural areas has made it difficult to conduct virtual training over digital platforms such as Zoom or Skype. That has forced more reliance on cellphones. Similarly, in Nigeria, MEDA is hoping to do more remote meetings through What’s App, a messaging and voice over internet platform. But that is not an option in Ethiopia. Remote trainings are difficult, as most women clients do not have telephones, let alone access to other technologies. “Women are economically abused,” MEDA gender specialist Fasika Tibebu noted. The isolation and loss of income brought on by COVID-19 has resulted in a shadow pandemic, with increased violence against women and girls due to Follow The Marketplace on Twitter @MarketplaceMEDA
The Marketplace November December 2020
economic stressors, said MEDA’s Calais Caswell.
Boosting sustainable farming The cover photo on this issue shows Alex Michels, a staff member of the Ecdysis Foundation, doing an insect species count and identification in a Kansas farm field to determine biodiversity and the balance of predators and pests in a healthy soil. MEDA is committed to climate smart agriculture, which in North American and European contexts is often referred to as regenerative agriculture. In our main feature for this issue, (pp. 12-16) Jim French looks at regenerative agriculture in Kansas, Germany and MEDA’s new AVENIR project in Senegal.
Mask-making in Jordan MEDA’s Jordan Valley Links project has turned the need for face masks during the pandemic into business opportunities for local woman entrepreneurs. After realizing that buying and distributing masks would not be adequate, MEDA staff began working with a women-managed, communitybased organization, the Jordan Valley Cooperative Development Association, to produce non-medical masks. This initiative empowered 22 women, resulting in the production of almost 4,400 masks for women, men and children. Since that initial effort, the cooperative received a small mask order from a local foundation, and UNICEF signed a contract for between 150,000 and 200,000 masks.
Creating jobs in Romania This issue’s story about two retired US Mennonites who are running 2
a woodshop job creation project in Romania (pp.8-10) may lead some to wonder how the Hartzlers ended up using their retirement to volunteer for a Nazarene organization in the Balkans? Jay Hartzler made several trips to the country during his long career as a high school music teacher. He fell in love with the people, and since the Nazarenes were active there, he and Sheri decided to volunteer to help improve people’s lives.
Minority businesses hit hard Black entrepreneurs have suffered greatly due to pandemic challenges. Freelance writer Cora Broaddus profiles how three Lancaster businesses in the hospitality industry have coped, starting on pg. 17 of this issue. Many others have not survived. A study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 41 percent of Blackowned businesses in the US, totalling 440,000 firms, failed between February and April. The Canadian government has responded to the challenges facing minority entrepreneurs by launching Canada’s first-ever Black Entrepreneurship Program. The program will provide loans, mentorship and conduct research on the barriers faced by Black entrepreneurs.
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Features
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Faith in the workplace
Diversity and openness to various faiths is important for business success, says Brian Grim of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation By John Longhurst
Photo by Larry Reichenberger
In this issue
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Win-win farming
Kansas growers learn practices that improve the land and boost their returns. Regenerative agriculture is also gaining ground in Germany, and is the focus of MEDA’s AVENIR project in Senegal By Jim French
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For food’s sake
Lancaster restaurant owners talk about surviving during the pandemic By Cora Broaddus
Patience Buckwalter provides work, advice for newcomer women.
Departments 22 Roadside stand 24 Soul enterprise 11 Soundbites 22 Review
Regenerative agriculture cover photo of Alex Michels by Larry Reichenberger 3
The Marketplace November December 2020
Soul Enterp prise
Growing through giving up Author calls for self-denial as a pathway to God The Way Up is Down: Becoming yourself by forgetting yourself, by Marlena Graves, (InterVarsityPress, 2020, 192 pp., $22 US) At one level, The Way Up is Down is reminiscent of Richard Foster’s devotional classic Celebration of Discipline. Both books contain multiple important spiritual truths and complex ideas that are not always easily digested in a single reading. But Marlena Graves’ book combines calls for full surrender of self in pursuit of relationship with God with passionate social critique. Graves is a writer, pastor, adjunct professor, and activist whose sometimes blunt and prophetic denunciations of injustice may not sit comfortably with all readers. Born into poverty and lived experience of racial oppression, she writes from a place of righteous anger. Her life journey includes a commitment to living extremely modestly even while raising three daughters, in occupations as diverse as advocating for the rights of marginalized farm workers, teaching at a seminary, working for a non-profit and as a minister of pastoral care at her church. She calls the reader to selfemptying and true humility. Fasting and prayer are key to relationship with God. Repentance is held up as an important spiritual task that involves learning not to judge anyone, a journey that she admits to still being on. For her, true generosity requires not only counting ourselves dead to our possessions, but also being lavish in giving of time and having a commitment to “dismantling systems that induce poverty.” The Marketplace November December 2020
In a chapter on gratitude and contentment, she asserts that “Hell is laser focusing on what we don’t have, refusing to take our eyes off of our deprivations.” Only when we give up on having it our way and having an eye “solely accustomed to focusing on what’s wrong and what we don’t have” can we get past feelings of ingratitude and lack of contentment, she writes. Giving it all up includes renouncing our society’s denial of the reality of death, and daily remembering that we have a date with death, she writes in a chapter entitled Memento Mori (which is Latin for remember that you must die.) 4
Living the life Jesus commands “means remembrance of death will be part of the normal rhythm of our lives, as it should be,” she writes. Paradoxically, that recognition will allow for more joy in the little things. “Practicing memento mori trains us to take off our shoes on the holy ground of the daily Kairos moments. We slow down enough to notice them. And discover that our lives are full of them. Joy.” Graves’ voice is thoughtful and grounded in a mature spirituality that draws from numerous theological wells in both Western and Eastern Christianity. She is a rare author who speaks as easily about the importance of social justice as she does the meaning and practical implications of wholistic Christian piety. She gives credit to learnings from the Christian Reformed, Catholic, United Methodist and Eastern Orthodox traditions. In the end, it all comes down to trust, she writes. “…Perfection is not possible in this life, though I do heartily believe we can come to a point where our lives are mostly characterized by a perfect peace because our mind is stayed on God and all that flows out from him.” The pathway to this peaceful outlook is far from being either simple or easy. But for people who commit to the kenotic (selfemptying) life that she describes, “we will see glimpses of the kingdom now in the land of the living.”
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istock/ PaulMalyugin
Volume 50, Issue 6 November December 2020 The Marketplace (ISSN 321-330) is published bi-monthly by Mennonite Economic Development Associates at 532 North Oliver Road, Newton, KS 67114. Periodicals postage paid at Newton, KS 67114. Lithographed in U.S.A. Copyright 2020 by MEDA. Editor: Mike Strathdee Design: Ray Dirks
Postmaster: Send address changes to The Marketplace 33 N Market St., Suite 400, Lancaster, PA 17603-3805 Change of address should be sent to Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 33 N Market St, Suite 400, Lancaster, PA 17603-3805. To e-mail an address change, subscription request or anything else relating to delivery of the magazine, please contact subscription@meda.org For editorial matters, email mstrathdee@meda.org or call (800) 665-7026, ext. 705 Subscriptions: $35/year; $55/two years. Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA). MEDA’s economic development work in developing countries creates business solutions to poverty. MEDA also facilitates the connection of faith and work through discussions, publications and conventions for participants. For more information about MEDA call 1-800-6657026. Web site www.meda.org Want to see back issues or reread older articles? Visit https://www.meda.org/download-issues/ The Marketplace is printed on Endurance Recycled Velvet and is 10% recycled (postconsumer waste), FSCŽ Certified to help meet client sustainability requirements, Acid Free, Elemental Chlorine Free
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The Marketplace November December 2020
Openness to faith in the workplace Letting employees express their beliefs while respecting others leads to more successful businesses, foundation president argues. By John Longhurst Freedom of religion is an important element of business success, Brian Grim says. “When people feel free to bring their whole selves to work, including their faith, they feel they have a place in the company,” says Grim, president of the Marylandbased Religious Freedom and Business Foundation. This promotes employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity, he said. It can also help businesses reach different markets. Noting that the US and Canada are very diverse in terms of ethnicity and religion, he argues businesses that want to reach different markets can prosper if they have employees from various ethnic and religious groups. Successful companies “are welcoming and diverse,” he said, adding if a company is trying to reach Muslim customers, “you are at a disadvantage if you have no Muslims on staff.” For small companies, this can be a challenge, since the tendency is “to hire people you know. If the owner comes from one faith group, there is a tendency to hire only people from that faith group,” he said. Doing that can make companies “insular, and out of touch with the communities and markets they want to serve and reach,” he added. Making companies feel like welcoming places also means business owners and senior managers need to be careful about The Marketplace November December 2020
Brian Grim
how they share their religious beliefs. Things like “having a Bible on their desk or a Bible verse or painting of Christ on the wall” can “silently communicate to employees they need to believe in those things, too, if they want to advance in the company,” he explained. “They might think the only
“Religious freedom is a key to prosperity.”
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way to progress in the company is to think or believe like their boss” — something that can make employees feel ill at ease and perhaps prompt them to leave. Making employees feel welcome also means being alert to ways they feel discriminated against for their beliefs, said Grim, who grew up Baptist but became a Catholic in 1994. For him, this means taking seriously reports that show many employees today say they experience religious discrimination in workplaces — things like not having their need for religious holidays accommodated or attending company events that do not include their religious preferences for kosher, halal or vegetarian options. Helping businesses see the importance of religious freedom is the goal of the Foundation, which he founded in 2014. The organization’s website says it is “dedicated to educating the global business community, policymakers, non-government organizations and consumers about the positive power faith — and religious freedom for all — has on business and the economy.” Grim, 61, was previously employed as a senior researcher at PEW Research — a non-partisan, Washington, DC-based think tank that does research about American attitudes on politics and major policy issues — where he specialized in global religious trends.
Ray Dirks photo
A Muslim worker in Winnipeg uses a staff phone booth as a prayer room.
His research over the years has shown the important role religion plays in creating prosperous societies. This includes how it contributes to peace — something that leads to better economic outcomes. “Where there is freedom of religion there is peace,” he stated, noting peace enables business to flourish. “Societies that promote religious freedom experience less persecution and conflict. Religious freedom is a key to prosperity,” he said. For Grim, this is what he calls “The Religious Market Theory of Peace,” an idea he helped develop in 2014. According to the theory, two
characteristics associated with promoting peace are no restrictions on religious behaviour and no hostility towards religion. For businesspeople, this is “particularly important because where stability exists, there is more opportunity to invest and conduct normal and predictable business operations, especially in emerging and new markets,” he said. Religious freedom is “good for business,” he added, although he noted “maybe not for businesses that make bombs and bullets.” In 2016, he co-authored a report which concluded that religion in the US contributes $1.2 trillion each year to the economy — more than the combined 7
revenues of the top 10 American technology companies including Apple, Amazon, and Google. The report received widespread media attention in the US and in the Guardian newspaper in the UK. For many people, it was “shocking that religion has a positive effect in society and the economy,” he said of how things like religious healthcare facilities, schools, daycares, charities, media, businesses with faith backgrounds, the kosher and halal food markets, and local congregations contribute to the economy. Showing the positive impact of religion on the economy and society, and the importance of allowing religion to flourish, is the goal of the Foundation. Religious freedom also helps with innovation. According to a 2018 report by the Foundation, countries with high levels of hostility towards religion, and high restrictions on religious activities, are less innovative than countries that treat religion more fairly. One indicator of this is whether a country’s top entrepreneurs stay in a country or leave. Grim found that the country losing the most entrepreneurs is China, which has many restrictions on religion, followed by Russia and Turkey. For Grim, promoting religious freedom as a Christian all boils down to what Jesus said: “Love God and love your neighbour.” By allowing faith to flourish, “it contributes to wellbeing” — whether that’s for an entire country or the smallest business. For more information about the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, visit https:// religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/
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John Longhurst is a Winnipeg freelancer writer, religion columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press, and part-time communications co-ordinator for Mennonite Disaster Service. The Marketplace November December 2020
Woodworking for better lives Retirement volunteering provides jobs for Romanians By Sheri Hartzler Jay Hartzler has turned his longtime summer hobby of doing custom woodwork projects in a home workshop into employment for people in a Romanian village where work is hard to come by. After he retired from a 42year career as a music teacher at two Mennonite high schools — Christopher Dock and Eastern Mennonite — he and I moved to Romania in 2013 for a year of work as Nazarene Compassionate Men assemble furniture outside the Tigmandru woodshop.
The Marketplace November December 2020
Ministry volunteers. When he first talked to Magda Cini, pastor of the Tigmandru Nazarene Church in Tigmandru, Romania, she mentioned that they had dreamed of starting a woodshop in the village. We had visited Romania twice on choir tours and we were both intrigued by the country and the people. Could we help make the dream come true? We spent the year doing language study, leading choirs, helping with music in church, and
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working with a kids’ club at the Tigmandru church — and talking about starting a woodshop. That year was just the beginning of what has become a seven-year commitment to the people in this country, located in the heart of Eastern Europe. Tigmandru (and the town of Sighisoara where we live) is in the Transylvania region of central Romania. Tigmandru is a village 25 km from Sighisoara with a population of about 1500 people. Most of the people in the village do not have
Jay and Sheri Hartzler have volunteered in Romania since 2013.
regular jobs and find it hard to provide for their families. There is a school which goes through eighth grade; however, many adults cannot read. Currently many leave the village, and the country, in search of work. The Tigmandru Church set up a not-for-profit (Ateliere Nazarineanului) so they could hire people and sell items separate from church activities. The woodshop was one of the NGO activities to help provide job skills and income to men in the village. After that first year, we spent nine months in the US and then returned to Romania. Plans for a woodshop began in earnest. The first decision was where to have the woodshop. The best space seemed to be a building directly behind a house the church owns, close to an open storage area for wood. Jay is used to working with wooden studs and drywall for the walls. Romanian builders use block and stucco. After three months of debate Jay relented and construction began with block.
They dug footers out by hand with a horse and wagon, bringing supplies and putting up walls to replace those in disrepair. Once the rooms were completed, they installed threephase electric power for the saw; purchased tools, a work bench and wood. (A table-saw and jointer had been purchased earlier). Money for this work and the equipment purchases came from donations and a grant from Nazarene Compassionate Ministries. On July 31, 2015 work finally began in the woodshop with three men: Cini Ioan (Nelutu), Piri Gabriel Marian (Gabi), and Antal Attila. The men first put together a workbench and built another work-table and a storage cabinet for tools. A few small projects were made, with training being the primary focus. This included discussions of the best kinds of boards, how to look at a plan and understand what to do with it and using tools to avoid injury. Jay spent mornings finding supplies and wood, a difficult task. 9
While Romania has large expanses of forest, finding wood other than pine was difficult. He finally located a business that sold walnut and purchased a cubic metre. He couldn't find plywood until 2020 and had to glue up boards to make the framework for the cabinets. Eventually he found oak, walnut, beech and linden. Wood sales are regulated in Romania due to pirating of wood to sell in other countries. Every transport of wood is monitored and documented on a central database. When transporting wood on his car, if Jay didn’t have the paperwork for his purchase, the police could confiscate the car and the wood and levy a fine. Finding supplies was like a treasure hunt in various small shops in Sighisoara. The large lumber stores in Targu Mures, an hour away, lacked quality tools and materials. Finally, early this year, Jay found a wood store in Cluj, a town three hours from the shop, that had plywood and every other kind of wood he wanted. This came The Marketplace November December 2020
about through a contact made in a Romanian woodworker’s forum on Facebook. The guys made tables and display racks as well as small items for tourist shops, but evolved very quickly into making custom furniture. As word of mouth spread, people began ordering desks, bed frames, dining room tables, nightstands, coat racks, dressers, and kitchens. The woodshop also made cupboards to store shoes, corn-hole games, Jay Hartzler (r) and workers take a break. bunk beds, unfinished wooden boxes to store firewood, and all the furniture for a new AirBnB in Sighisoara. One guide for churches in the citadel (the 13th century walled center of the town), after ordering a new kitchen and a number of other pieces of furniture for his own house, recommended the woodshop to many of his friends. The guide often Jay Hartzler demonstrates how to change a saw blade. went with Jay to their Work teams, drawn largely homes to introduce him and help from the Nazarene Church, will with translations when needed. be able to provide labor and some Many times, several trips were funding, and additional funds will needed to someone’s house before be sought from donors and grants. the order was made. With a new space, we hope to Meetings often included increase the work day to full time meals, drinks and conversation — for the men and be able to add sometimes in two or three different more workers. languages. Much of the work, the labor, Jay and his colleagues hope to and the money that has gone into build a larger workshop. In 2019, making the Tigmandru woodshop the shop began using the two rooms a viable enterprise is the result of of the original house on the church a dream, prayers, and the ongoing property for doing the finish work, support of many people around but the space is still limited. The Marketplace November December 2020
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the world. Many challenges remain. These include finding someone to train to take over Jay’s job of marketing, drawing up plans, teaching and supervising; and making the shop profitable without relying on donations. (We hope to continue doing this work as long as our health holds up.) We would also like to increase staff hours to full time and hire more workers, increase salaries and add retirement and health insurance benefits, and generate profits to support the church’s work in the community. We are grateful to God not only for orders for furniture, but for friendships that have been formed among the workers, and between Jay and the clients. We are thankful for safety, for the ability to teach (and learn) new skills, and for the opportunity this shop has proven to be a light in the community. For more pictures of products made by the Tigmandru Woodshop, visit https://www.facebook.com/ mobilalacomandaTigmandru
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Jay and Sheri Hartzler are members of Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Va. Sheri does the bookkeeping for the woodshop, works in administration and fundraising for the Veritas Foundation in Sighisoara (a social work not-for-profit) and helps run a children’s program in the Tigmandru church. Their interest in international work is in part a result of participating in Goshen College’s Service Study Term (SST) program. They highly recommend a volunteer “career” for retirement.
Soundbites
Less zip with Zoom A number of prominent US companies are concerned about the creative cost of having employees work from home, Fortune magazine notes. Without the conversations that happen in Google’s cafeteria or Apple’s face-to-face meetings, the sparks that lead to breakthroughs do not happen, the article suggests. Similarly, trust and empathy are triggered by conversing in person, reactions that video is “far inferior” at promoting.
Dinner and justice The restaurant industry has a number of serious issues to address if it survives the current pandemic, celebrity chef David Chang says. Increased wages for employees, more equity, diversity, and attention to environmental problems all
need attention, said Chang, whose famed Momofuku restaurant group has led to him starring in a Netflix series and writing best-selling cookbooks. He made the remarks in an interview with Entrepreneur magazine.
Pedalling for profit Sometimes the simple things make all the difference. For Zambian women, the introduction of bicycles has boosted incomes and greatly shortened journeys to get milk fresh to market, The Guardian reports.
Dating the roots of quarantine Self-isolation and quarantine have become all-too-commonly heard terms during the current pandemic. Christian History magazine
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devoted an entire issue to plagues and epidemics earlier this year, outlining past and current Christian responses to these tragedies. The first effective quarantine dates to 1377 in Ragusa, now known as Dubrovnik, Croatia. That city’s response to the Black Death pandemic was to isolate ships and travellers from areas infected with the plague. Quarantine derives from the Italian words for 40 days, possibly chosen by the length of Lent, the biblical flood, or the temptations of Jesus Christ in the wilderness, the article suggests. To put our current trials in historical context, the magazine notes that 16 waves of plague attacked Europe between 541 and 767AD.
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The Marketplace November December 2020
Towards more sustainable cropping Kansas farmers work with food processor to build healthier soil A realistic assessment of the agriculture sector’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is a complicated affair. By some estimates, agriculture emits 10.5 percent of total US greenhouse gases and a similar amount in Canada. But farming also can help reduce emissions and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In this series of stories, Kansas farmer Jim French explores how regenerative agriculture practices are improving soil health, storing carbon, and improving farm yields in Kansas, Germany and at a new MEDA project in Senegal, Africa. — ED By Jim French
photo by Jim French
Ray Archuleta, soil scientist and educator with Understanding Ag, looked intently at the fifty Kansas farmers and ranchers in front of him and asked, “Sustainable agriculture? Why would you want to sustain an agriculture that loses topsoil, creates a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, and is the livelihood with the highest number of suicides and decreasing profit margins?” His audience was in large part made up of farmers participating in a pilot program funded by the General Mills food company, focused on regenerative agriculture and the principles of soil health in their wheat supply chain. Farmers who took part in the program had extensive soil testing and consulting done on a field, and access to education seminars.
There was also a future potential for higher prices being paid for crops grown on land sequestering carbon and protecting water. Archuleta challenged farmers to think about the soil. According
James Bontrager observes plant sugar levels using a Brix meter. The Marketplace November December 2020
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to the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN), soil “is the biggest terrestrial carbon sink.” By increasing carbon in the soil by 1% worldwide, farmers could capture more carbon dioxide than is emitted annually by human emissions. Increasing carbon in the soil could also impact water quality and food security. General Mills and Understanding Ag began working in Kansas because of a long-standing history of soil conservation and water quality work in the watershed. The watershed spans almost 633,000 acres, just under 950 square miles. It provides over 70 percent of the water for the municipal area of Wichita, with a population of just under 400,000. Faced with an increase of pollution and sedimentation in Cheney Reservoir, farmers and ranchers helped form a partnership with Wichita and federal and state agencies to address the problem. In 1994, the Cheney Lake Water Quality Project was started. Its governing board included all farmers and ranchers in the area. Board member and former chairperson Derek Zongker recalled that in the early days, the focus was mainly
photo by Jim French
Entomologist Ralph Washington Jr. (r) discusses agriculture's need for a diverse community of insects.
company wanted to establish a soil health project in the wheat-growing area in their supply chain. Steven Rosenzweig, a soil scientist at General Mills, said that in a 2014-15 study, the company “found that 50 percent of its carbon
footprint existed in the farms that supply us. So, the biggest opportunity for carbon mitigation would be on that front.” General Mills currently works with farmers and dairies in Canada (oats), Michigan (dairy), and
Photo by Larry Reichenberger
on projects bent on “controlling water” with projects like grass waterways, filter strips, and terraces. “About 10 years ago, we started moving from controlling the water to finding more ways to retain the water longer in the soil,” he said. “Farmers were spending increasing dollars on fertilizers and other inputs and didn’t want to see their dollars run-off into the lake. Of course, the folks in Wichita weren’t too happy with what those substances were doing to the water.” Retaining and capturing rainfall, farmers would need to focus on how a healthy soil functions in nature, he said. “We started creating incentives to improve grazing practices, decrease tillage, and plant cover crops. We also held field days and educational events where farmers could learn from national experts on soil health and from their neighbors.” In the fall of 2019, General Mills, at the recommendation of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, approached the Cheney Lake Watershed, Inc. The Grain sorghum interseeded with companion crops is harvested and fed to steers on Chad Basinger's farm.
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The Marketplace November December 2020
now, Kansas also delivers a (wheat). premium price “We to the family. arrived at the Chad and Cheney Lake Cassondra Watershed have long been because an committed innovative to improving group of soil health to farmers and enhance their ranchers there production and were already profit. Through working on the General soil health.” Mills project, Our soil health practices are In nature, there is no While the “we are now a reflection of ourselves and mechanical or chemical to protect the project engages opened up to our stewardship of the land. disturbance. soil's "skin." partners like more advanced knowledge, Understanding better ideas, and Ag and other soil and other members to biological network with.” scientists, Since its success starting on this would depend regeneration on being path, “we have farmer-led and seen improved implemented, yields, increased with a diversity of plants, microbes, insects, wildlife, he said. “We soil organic as long as possible each livestock. Mother Nature did not want content and year. Roots feed soil did not grow monocultures Grazing has been an microorganisms, which a top-down more family so why should we? essential component of all feed our plants. soils at one time or another. approach.” time for our Rosenzweig four children, also empharanging in sized that age from four the project months to eight families, and the farm and ranch would be based on applying years,” Chad said. owned and operated by Cassondra management principles rather than Cassondra emphasized the and Chad Basinger. recommending specific tools or importance of family along The Basingers grow wheat, practices. with improving soil and profit. soybeans, alfalfa and cover crops. Each farm and location are “Regenerative agriculture must “We also manage a cattle different, and “the tools and also revitalize families and operation, and direct market a practices have to fit the context communities,” she said. “It must portion of our home-raised beef onof the operation. That can only provide opportunities for our line and in local stores,” said Chad. be determined well by the farmer children to have a role on the farm.” The beef that is marketed off working with a team in his or her In another part of the the farm is fed grain sorghum that own locale,” he said. watershed, John Riehl co-operates has been grown with companion When General Mills and their Long View Farms with fellow crops that help provide nutrients partners came to the area, they farmer and MEDA staffer Mike and weed control, he said. The asked for farms to apply for the Miller. They began using cover “grain crop receives no synthetic regenerative agriculture project. crops between a rotation of mostly fertilizer or pesticides. We sell the Two of those selected were beans and corn in the fall of 2013, beef as a healthy-raised product.” Longview Farms, co-operated by Riehl said. The direct marketed beef the John Riehl and Mike Miller “Originally we were motivated The Marketplace November December 2020
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to make this move to address problems with erosion first and, second, weed control in our no-till system.” “Soil health wasn’t much on our minds,” he added. “But as erosion and weeds decreased, we saw that the soil was improving.” Currently, the main cover crop planted on Long View Farms is a mix of cereal rye with a small amount of tillage radishes and hairy vetch. As they move forward with the regenerative agriculture project, they want to increase their rotations and use of diverse
covers, Riehl said. “We would like to expand to five crops in rotation, possibly adding both sunflowers and grain sorghum to corn, soybeans, and winter wheat, all integrated with cover crops.” “I would love to get to the point where we can dramatically decrease herbicide and pesticide use, as well as other synthetic inputs.” Regenerative agriculture will take more than commitments from farmers, he noted. “At some point, the public must recognize the
downstream benefits of regenerative agriculture and be willing to share in the investment we are making in clean water, carbon sequestration, and healthy food.” As part of the contract with General Mills, selected farmers agree to attend Understanding Ag’s Soil Health Academies and webinars, as well as participating in field days and discussions hosted by others in the program. In this way a community of learning and sharing is established. As Ray Archuleta concluded his presentation at the (cont'd pg. 16)
Working for a better future MEDA Senegal project supports climate smart agriculture Whether you call it regenerative, climate-smart, or simply conservation agriculture, the aim is the same: to produce increasingly healthy soil and food, and resilient livelihoods in the face of climate change. In Senegal, MEDA and the Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), are in the process of implementing more crop diversity, water efficiency, and food security through a project called AVENIR. AVENIR stands for Adaptation and Valorization of Entrepreneurship in Irrigated Agriculture. Senegal, like many sub-Saharan nations, faces the impacts of global warming: increased droughts, floods and more unpredictable growing seasons. The AVENIR project will focus on smallholder (subsistence) farmers, especially women and young people, in the Tambacounda and Sedhiou regions of Senegal, said senior project manager Mira Chouinard. AVENIR “seeks to add value and diversity to the crops that are produced, as well as making the land more resilient in the face of climate change.” The project could directly benefit around 10,000 farming households and have an indirect positive impact on over
Mira Maude Chouinard 35 thousand people. “Right now, a narrow range of cash crops are grown in the rainy season, including rice, sorghum, millet, maize, and these are, for the most part, maledominated crops,” said Chouinard. “We are hoping to increase diversity through introducing a diversity of crops such as onion, baobab, mango and cashew, and the intercropping of adapted plants like peppers, okra, and hibiscus.” 15
Senegal’s rainy season is short, and being food secure can often be a challenge in the longer dry period, she said. “By introducing technologies such as drip irrigation, we can work with farmers to extend the growing season in a very labor and resource efficient way.” Other climate smart approaches will be promoted. Sustainable land management practices like agroforestry, erosion control, and proper seed varieties can all help improve the land, but also help make farming more resilient and economically rewarding, she said. “To be successful for the long-term,” she emphasized, “any change in farming and water management must be done with farmers as full stakeholders.” The project will need to involve government and civil society representatives like MEDA. However, the “platform must have farmers as equals at the table. They are the ones that must have the knowledge and the ownership that will implement these changes once the project is finished.” “By empowering women and youth, we can have a real impact on better livelihoods and a more resilient environment,” she said.
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Soil Health Academy, he followed his question about sustainability with this challenge: “Wouldn’t it be better to be involved in an agriculture that regenerates and
builds life? Not only in the soil, but in our rural communities, and our world? We have the potential to build on the words of the prophet Isaiah (46:1-2), The
desert will rejoice, and flowers will bloom in the wastelands… ; it will be as beautiful as the Lebanon Mountains and as fertile as the fields of Carmel and Sharon.”
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Equipment innovators: overcoming the challenge of poor soil Horsch operates on five continents When Philipp Horsch’s father, brothers and cousins first started to farm, they had “poor farm ground” compared to most farmers in Germany. Dankwart Horsch leased the Sitzenhof estate, a 12-acre site in the Schwandorf area of Germany’s Bavaria State, in 1969. There he encountered shallow soil with “many rocks,” said Philipp. “There was no way we could plow like most German farmers did at the time,” said Philipp, who is co-director of Horsch Maschinen GmbH, a German farm equipment manufacturer. “We had to think outside the box.” This meant that Philipp’s father and extended family started rebuilding existing machines, making them fit the land they had. They developed farm tools that minimally disturbed of the soil, and more accurately placed seed. As a child in this “innovative environment,” he and his brother, Michael, soon began making their own homemade improvements on machinery. And the neighbors “would buy this crap,” Philipp said, laughing. As the Horsch family began developing equipment that disturbed the soil much less than plowing, they noticed improvement in the soil and experienced more success in farming. Philipp noted that even though they still faced challenges, “there was something changing in the soil. I was noticing earthworms! I grew up as a kid counting earthworms.” From that beginning, rooted in challenge, emerged a farm equipment company with locations on five continents and countries as diverse as the The Marketplace November December 2020
Philipp Horsch United States, Russia, China, and Brazil. Sitzenhof now encompasses 500 acres, including the Horsch company headquarters. True to those early innovations, the company has established itself as a global leader in manufacturing minimum and no-tillage equipment. The current interest in regenerative agriculture fits well with his company’s line of equipment, Horsch said. The Horsch line of planters, sprayers and tillage equipment maintain cover on the soil with minimum disturbance and can plant a diversity of crops with a reduced use of synthetic inputs. “In the future, farmers will be 16
working more with nature. Instead of spraying chemicals, we will rely more on biological mixes to stimulate and build the soil,” he said. In coming years, consumers and governments will create more regulations and ban certain compounds that farmers currently rely on, he said. “This will not be a bad thing. Being cheap is a bad thing.” When prices and challenges increase, “innovation goes up.” “My father and family met the difficulty of rocky soil by learning to farm in a new and better way. I believe farmers will do the same thing as we face more public scrutiny, increased regulations, and climate change.”
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Food truck and hard work keep restaurant founder moving ahead (Businesses started by minorities face many challenges. Brookings Institution research has found that Black-owned businesses start with a third less capital than their white peers and have trouble raising private investments. Only one percent of Black business owners get loans their founding year compared to seven percent of white business owners. The pandemic has magnified the challenges facing minority business owners. Cora Broaddus looks at how three Lancaster restaurants owned by people of color are coping. — ED) By Cora Broaddus Jabron Taylor always wanted to be an entrepreneur and imagined opening a restaurant. He realized that dream in November 2019 when Blazin’ J’s opened two locations and one food truck. It was a short but busy four months of selling delicious chicken sandwiches before the United States began to see the impact of Covid-19. Before the pandemic, Jabron struggled with finding time to be everywhere at once and figuring out what it takes to own a restaurant. He also looked forward to the opportunities. He dreams of growing the business, envisions a franchise, and plans to give back to his community. Blazin’ J’s was forced to close for about three weeks near the beginning of the pandemic. Some financial support from programs such as PPP (US Federal Paycheck Protection Program) gave Blazin’ J’s some additional aid, but hard work and faith have been the driving forces in the restaurant’s progress since re-opening. Support has come from friends and family as well. His co-owner Heather Lewis, Jabron’s brother Robert Morehead, and Jabron’s father-in law Radames Vasquez have all been working hard to make Blazin’ J’s a popular place.
Jabron’s wife Nicole Taylor, who owns a boutique in Lancaster, has been helping Blazin’ J’s with their social media presence. The team’s work ethic has not been hindered by the pandemic. Jabron says, “We know [now] we can endure a lot, we know we can get through a situation. It will be hard, but we will keep working and get through it.” Jabron believes in supporting Lancaster businesses by buying from local produce vendors. Much of their vegetable produce is purchased from Lancaster Central Market, which is right around the corner from Blazin’ J’s. “We always
support whenever we can.” Most small businesses have been feeling the effects of this pandemic. Jabron is decidedly positive. “Everybody thought it was going to be a sprint, but it has turned out to be a marathon,” he says. The prices of meat have gone up. New rules and regulations are keeping everyone on their toes. But the food truck has been one of the integral parts of the restaurant, giving them access to more events and new customers. “The food truck has really helped us keep going.” Blazin’ J’s is still new, but they are ready for the opportunities that the future will bring. They look forward to being able to grow the business and give back to their communities. The team continues to stay driven. Jabron says, “We’re working every day, we’re believing in ourselves, and we’re not quitting.”
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Jabron Taylor stands beside his Blazin' Js food truck. 17
The Marketplace November December 2020
Food for better futures Lancaster woman provides jobs, counselling for newcomers By Cora Broaddus arrivals of refugees. Right Patience Buckwalter keeps now, Grape Leaf Empowerbusy providing meaningful ment Center is more focused work to refugee women in on helping the families who Lancaster, Pennsylvania. are currently in Lancaster. She started the Grape According to Patience, the Leaf Cafe on James Street in pandemic has been extremely 2018, followed by the Grape stressful for the refugees Leaf Empowerment Center in because of the language January 2019. barriers, cultural barriers, and The idea for the café was the anxiety of not wanting to inspired by a friend of Patience get sick. who was looking for a Patience has been helping worthwhile way to contribute families understand the to society. Patience realized current events and regulations she could combine her friend’s with the help of translators. love for cooking with her She has also been making career in social work. “Food sure the families have health was her love language, food is insurance and helps them many cultures’ love language.” apply if they don’t. At first, Patience and While the weather is the refugee women used the warm, travelling by car and kitchen at Ten Thousand setting up a tent in a Villages before deciding to neighborhood has been get their own kitchen space, sufficient to provide social which became the James services, but Patience worries Street Cafe. Since the refugee Patience Buckwalter provides jobs for refugee women. about the colder months. women, who do the cooking, the off-season, so the effects were Her goal is to purchase a mobile and Patience all live in Lancaster, not immediate. But as the situation unit to use as an office space so using the cafe on James Street progressed, the uncertainty of how she can continue to help refugee to prep and store food provided long this would all last became families when winter comes. She is more flexibility for everyone. Since concerning. uncertain of where the money will opening they have provided dishes Patience began figuring out come from. from several places, including how to adjust. In July she decided Patience continues to use her Syria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, they needed to go mobile with the talent for networking, her creativity and Congo. café and the Empowerment Center, and her flexibility to provide refuThe Grape Leaf Empowerment bringing the food and support to gees in Lancaster with the Center found its home on James local neighborhoods. Wednesdays resources they need during the panSt. as well, in the lower level of during the summer, they had their demic. Word of mouth and FaceJames Street Mennonite Church. It neighborhood pop-ups and catered book have been her main forms of became a gathering space, a place for other events through the YWCA advertising. Patience plans to keep providing community resources and small organizations. bringing assistance and meaningful and placement management. During the pandemic, there work to refugee women and The pandemic hit during the have not been as many new families in Lancaster. winter, when the café closes for
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The Marketplace November December 2020
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Negotiating pandemic challenges Ethiopian entrepreneur thinks about how to give back even as his restaurant struggles By Cora Broaddus Abraham Jeto came to America with his wife and family in 1999 as an Ethiopian immigrant. Four years ago, he took over a family friend’s restaurant, now known as Awash Ethiopian Cuisine. (Awash is the name of a river in Ethiopia.) “We like cooking and we wanted to try a restaurant. We wanted to introduce our food and culture to the community here in Lancaster, PA.” Awash provides Lancaster with a dining experience that Abraham Jeto at his Awash Ethiopian Cuisine restaurant. is important to Ethiopian them, but they are struggling with Federal Paycheck Protection Proculture. “The most interesting the pandemic and the country is gram) and some available Lanthing was that people come and try in unrest. On top of that there is caster grants, but did not get them. the food and they love it. I like that, poverty. Sometimes you think, He took out a loan which allowed because I want people to know the where is the world going?” him to continue serving his food. culture and the food. It’s different In the face of challenges, he “Resilience helped me and unique because we eat the food believes in empathy and helping handle the unexpectedness of the with our fingers and share it with others. “In any difficult situation, pandemic. Also effort, and making each other on the same plate.” we need each other. We need to the food tasty,” he says. Since reTowards the beginning of the support each other, and we need opening, Awash has been serving pandemic, Jeto was forced to close to talk more of oneness. Instead take-out meals only. for about two weeks due to the stateof putting yourself on one side, Jeto has gotten a lot of support mandated closing of all businesses come together and work together, from extended family. His motherthat were considered non-essential. that way we can be successful and in-law and sister-in-law have been Applying for financial aid at this stand together.” helping with some of the work in time proved to be difficult. Jeto thinks about what will the restaurant. He has also found Knowing which programs to happen in the long run with his some guidance from Lancaster’s apply for was not an easy task. business. He worries about not small business community, but “The process was not very straightbeing able to put money aside wishes he could have received forward. I’m not as familiar with for retirement, but he is still more financial help and guidance this side of the business and I motivated. “The thing is when from Lancaster city. didn’t have anyone to do these people come in they say this is the He also feels a lot of concerns specific things for me. I applied to best Ethiopian food they’ve had, for some of his family who are the ones I understood.” that keeps me going.” still in Ethiopia. “I get to talk to He applied to PPP (The US
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The Marketplace November December 2020
Bringing entrepreneurship to government and non-profits
Manitoba activist suggests using business concepts to solve social problems By John Longhurst Shaun Loney is looking for an army — an army of problem solvers who can help solve the priciest problems facing governments in Canada and the US today. Among those problems are things like incarceration and homelessness. So far, efforts to address those issues have gone mostly nowhere, eating large parts of federal, provincial and state budgets. But Loney believes they can be solved through a social enterprise model that mixes “compassion with business smarts.” For him, it’s about moving from a system that thinks the only way forward is to spend more money towards a system where outcomes are valued. For this to work, though, non-profits need to become more entrepreneurial and value those outcomes they want to deliver. It all starts with a change in way of thinking about the role of government and non-profits, he says. “I used to think governments were in the problem-solving business,” says Loney, who once worked as a senior public servant in Manitoba. The Winnipeg-based social entrepreneur has co-founded and mentored 11 social enterprises, including BUILD Inc, a social enterprise that provides training and job skills to inner city residents, The Marketplace November December 2020
offering energy and water efficiency upgrades in low income housing. He is also co-founder of Aki Energy, a non-profit social enterprise that employs First Nations communities in green energy and health food initiatives. Currently, his goal is to engage governments in order to help those most vulnerable to unemployment by supporting them to solve pressing community problems through green energy. This win-win strategy is saving energy, bringing jobs and prosperity to the disadvantaged areas, and empowering the Aboriginal community to become experts in the most cutting-edge, energy-saving technologies. Over time Loney has come to see that governments actually are “more focused on managing problems, not solving them.” For government, that often means focusing on spending money; if it goes out the door, government has done its job. Non-profits are complicit in this arrangement since they have become dependent on government money to run their programs. According to Loney, if we want to solve intractable societal problems, non-profits need to change their approach to governments. “We need to stop asking them to spend more, and instead demand 20
they spend less by focusing on solutions that work,” he says. By way of example, Loney notes that in his province of Manitoba there are 10,000 Indigenous children in government care. “The system absorbs $80,000 per year in taxpayer dollars for every child in care,” he says, noting agencies are paid on a per-child basis. But research shows Indigenous non-profits have an 80 percent success rate at keeping families together and keeping children out of care — at a fraction of the cost. “And yet there are very few resources available to support parents to keep families together,” he says. “That’s nuts.” “What if governments paid child welfare agencies to keep families together?” he asks. Focusing on the money saved by doing that, he says, would catch the attention of government officials. “Governments right now are focused on ways to deliver programs more efficiently. They want to know how they can reduce the amount of money it takes to incarcerate someone for a year. But they should be focused on keeping people out of the criminal justice system. That would be more effective.” For inspiration, Loney looks at how the business world sell goods and services to governments. “When governments want
something like a bridge built, a private business bids on the contract, gets a loan from a bank, builds the bridge and then they get paid,” he says. “It’s an outcomesbased relationship.” “But with non-profits, governments give groups money up front and the spending becomes the outcome.” The key to making it work — for governments to treat social problems like building a bridge — is (getting)them to want to pay for the value of the outcome, things like fewer children in care or fewer people in jail. But what would it look like if non-profits acted that way? Where would they go to get money to do their work? The answer, says Loney, is foundations. In Canada, he says, there are 10,000 foundations with $73 billion in assets. That’s a lot of money, but
Shaun Loney
only five per cent is available in grants to address problems. “The other 95 per cent is in investments,” he says. “What I want is for them to invest from their endowments in non-profits so they can solve a problem. Then the government can pay them back from the money they save.”
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For him, it’s a “virtuous circle. Everyone wins and we can solve these very stubborn problems.” In Loney’s vision, this new way of operating “turns governments from a funder to a customer. It puts them in the problem-solving business and saves them money at the same time.” His term for this is “the beautiful bailout,” a way for social innovation “to solve the country’s priciest problems.” This is “an opportune time to re-think things,” Loney says. “There is so much pressure on the system. But it will take courage, vision, and leadership. I think people are ready for it. With confidence and courage, we can do this, go from managing problems to solving them.” Loney’s latest book is The Beautiful Bailout: How Social Innovation will Solve Government’s Priciest Problems.
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The Marketplace November December 2020
Review
To market, to market: How one woman built a new story for her family The Growing Season: How I Built a New Life and Saved an American Farm, by Sarah Frey, (Ballantine, 2020, 251 pp., $27 US) By Melodie M. Davis If you love an underdog story, this is it. A farm girl who grew up in the 1970s and 80s without indoor plumbing. Sarah Frey sometimes went to bed having only cornmeal mush for supper. Her father felt it more important to feed his racehorses than his children. The Growing Season: How I Built a New Life and Saved an American Farm is intensely sad in places but also laugh-out-loud funny. It’s inspiring and just may help readers push through an unpleasant and difficult task or circumstance. The first chapters of Frey’s memoir reveal her tough childhood. Absorbing, compelling, and fascinating — but painful for all who love children, and hate seeing them suffer. Frey says she was hesitant to reveal some details of her backstory. She remembers being painfully embarrassed at school to use a punch card granting free meals, and always feeling different — and dirtier — than other children. She grew up hunting, fishing, and was, as a seven-year-old, made to fling a huge snapping turtle onto the back of her father’s truck to help put food on the table. He wasn’t being mean: he felt she could do it. Doing hard things became a trait that has stood her well in her rise from farming to wealth. A born entrepreneur, Frey loved helping her mother market farm fruits and vegetables to small local grocers. She ended up rescuing her The Marketplace November December 2020
father’s farm from a perennially unpaid mortgage when she was still a teen. Now just in her mid-40s, she owns and heads Frey Farms, based in southern Illinois. Frey Farms is one of the larger fresh food distributors in the US, servicing Walmart as well as Whole Foods. She tells several stories of encounters on farms with plain Mennonites. Once, when her cell phone wasn’t getting reception on the farm where she was buying produce, a small Amish boy who couldn’t talk pointed her to the family’s phone box in the woods. One of her early success stories was landing a huge Walmart Distribution Center account where they would market thousands of watermelons and pumpkins she grew or collected from other farmers. 22
She had almost sealed the deal when she realized she would need semis — and drivers — to keep that contract. The much smaller farm produce trucks she and her brothers were driving and repairing themselves wouldn’t do the job. Frey loves the land, which makes this story worth reading for Christians who cherish creation stewardship. In addition to distributing produce, her company is now large enough to innovate ways to reduce food waste and provide healthier eating. They market watermelon juice bottled from melons past their prime but still perfectly good. Frey’s father was a known wheeler-dealer who faked his own death in a mysterious car accident. As a child, she was never sure what kind of deals he was making, but she loved her father and knew he loved her, as well as his twenty other children. Yes, a total of 21 children, with different wives. There is some rough language quoted in the book, but Frey herself is committed to promoting manners, morals, and high standards for the hundreds of employees — including field hands — whom she treats well. Some of her family are devotedly Christian. A nephew in the book scolds her for not going to church more often. She certainly holds up Christian values. It’s one of the best memoirs I’ve read.
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Melodie Davis grew up on a farm in northern Indiana and retired from 43 years as a producer/ editor at MennoMedia in 2019. She is a newspaper columnist, author of nine books and blogs at findingharmonyblog.com.
Review
Integrating Faith and Finance Where the People Go: Community, Generosity, and the Story of Everence, by John D. Roth (Herald Press, 2020 275pp, $19.99 US) By April Yamasaki This year Everence celebrates “75 years of stewardship" in the US. It started in 1945 as Mennonite Mutual Aid providing loans for returning Civilian Public Service workers, to its current range of financial services that includes a credit union, disability and life insurance, employer retirement plans, financial planning, and more. As part of the year-long anniversary celebration, Where the People Go by historian John D. Roth tells the story of Everence, illustrating both its roots in the Anabaptist theology of mutual aid and how Everence has expressed that core value in different ways over the years. Roth begins with an introduction that gives a brief overview of the book, then devotes his first chapter to mutual aid in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. “Although significant differences soon emerged among the Anabaptists,” he writes, “all groups regarded economic sharing as a core conviction, as central to their Christian identity as adult baptism.” From that core conviction, he then outlines some of its diverse expressions: the Hutterite community of goods, Swiss Brethren voluntary sharing, Dutch Mennonite generosity, and the growth of church-related mutual aid institutions in North America. For the rest of the book, Roth offers an engaging account of the 75year history of Everence. I appreciate the way he relates it to the larger
story of the church and the world. In 1935 when the US Congress passed the Social Security Act, Mennonite leaders wrestled with creating an alternative plan so that needy church members would not have to turn to the government for assistance. In the 1930s and 1940s, Mennonites generally opposed insurance, especially life insurance which seemed to put a price tag on human life. Again, there was talk of an alternative in the form of a burial aid plan. Out of these and other concerns, Mennonite Mutual Aid was formed in 1945. Since then it has continued to respond to the needs of the church amid changing circumstances. 23
As Mennonite Mutual Aid added new programs and staff, it took the name Everence in 2010. The organization has faced many challenges along the way: being an agency of the church while also operating in a secular environment subject to government regulation; wanting to offer support for health care, yet faced with spiraling costs; dealing with different personalities and sometimes competing visions, and with increasing organizational, technological, and legal complexities. Roth also touches on gender balance, and reaching out beyond the traditional Mennonite community to more ethnically and racially diverse urban areas. In the 1990s, Stewardship Minister and staff member Lynn Miller taught that “Stewardship is the act of organizing your life so that God can spend you.” With Where the People Go, author John Roth tells the story of Everence as one example of that kind of stewardship — organizing and re-organizing itself to be spent in serving the people, to be “the best of business and the best of church.” The book is an inspiring and instructive account of the ongoing challenge of integrating faith and finance — a challenge that Everence continues to face today and that all people of faith need to live out.
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April Yamasaki is resident author with a liturgical worship community and often speaks in other churches and venues. She blogs regularly at AprilYamasaki.com, WhenYouWorkfortheChurch.com, and is the author of Four Gifts, Sacred Pauses, and other books on Christian living. The Marketplace November December 2020
The Marketplace November December 2020
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