The Marketplace Magazine March/April 2014

March April 2014

Where Christian faith gets down to business

Restoring milk & honey to ancient Yemen

Making a world safe for garment workers Don’t quit your job to work for justice A fond look back at fading print

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The Marketplace March April 2014

Roadside stand

New staffer to engage youth MEDA has reached out to a younger audience with the appointment of Ethan Eshbach to a new position as coordinator of young adult engagement. He will help MEDA expand youth opportunities (which currently include an internship program and a student business case competition at the annual convention).

“Ethan brings a fresh perspective on involvement and engageEshbach ment of young adults,” says Dave Warren, chief engagement officer.

“We look forward to providing additional opportunities for young people to connect with our work and our values.”

Eshbach holds a degree in communication from Messiah College, Grantham, Pa., where he also interned in the office of the vice president for advancement and the office of annual giving. He recently completed an internship with Everence, assisting in planned giving. “I’m looking forward to inspiring young people to develop a meaningful and lasting relationship with MEDA’s mission,” says Eshbach. “Young people have so much to give to MEDA, and MEDA can really benefit from young adults.

I see a wealth of potential here.” He will be based in the MEDA office in Lancaster, Pa.

Cover photo of Yemen countryside

by Matt Brown

The Marketplace March April 2014

Read & eat. Number of libraries in the United States:17,000; number of McDonald’s restaurants: 14,000; number of Starbucks:11,000.

— Yes! Magazine

programs and online access to ideas, multi‑media tools and resources to encourage money-related conversations with young people (www.talkwithourkidsaboutmoney.com).

Globe & Mail columnist Rob Carrick suggests several topics to guide money discussions with young people, including: delayed gratification; how banks work; how much cars cost; and savings. “If your kids are tall enough to see the numbers on an ATM keypad, they’re old enough to have a bank card,” he writes.

“Thanks.” Such a short word, but sometimes so hard to utter. For parents and employers, however, it could be a word that points to growth and success.

“Concrete benefits come to kids who literally count their blessings,” writes Diana Kapp in the Wall Street Journal.

Research shows that teens who had learned to be grateful had a better grades, less depression and envy, and a more positive outlook that paid off in numerous ways. According to one study, jotting down three things to feel grateful for boosted well-being as much as an hour of therapy. Couples who kept gratitude journals experienced a measureable positive change in how they perceived their partners. Those same journals also boosted resilience and helped people bounce back from physical and workplace setbacks. (Possible next step for employers? Teach staff to say “you’re welcome” instead of “no problem.”)

Some people work hard to find business references in the Bible. Too hard, sometimes, as in this rendering of a favored psalm: “The Lord is my banker, my credit is good ...

Yea, though I walk in the very shadow of debt, I shall fear no evil.” It comes from Prosperity, a 1936 book by Unity minister Charles Fillmore.

Big Mac? Or Whopper?

Before you enter the drive-thru you may want to know which company is more liberal, McDonald’s or Burger King. Here’s a mobile app with an opinion.

By tracking employee policies and corporate donations, the app calculates whether it sees a particular firm as liberal or conservative on issues such as the environment, gun rights, abortion or even acceptance of government bailout money.

Then it gives a 1 to 10 rating (10 being most conservative). The app, put out by a conservative group called 2nd Vote, gives Ford a rating of 2.3 because it is seen as soft on cap-and-trade policies and same-sex marriage. Chick-fil-A scores 8 for promoting what are deemed “pro-traditional marriage” policies. If a store

Kids & cash. Coming up soon — Talk With Our Kids About Money Day, designed to help young Canadians learn more about money and personal finances. Set for April 16 this year, the day is put on by the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education (CFEE), which also offers school 2

you are considering ranks too liberal, the app will suggest “better options.” In a sense, it is an extension of the corporate social responsibility ratings investors have used to avoid companies whose corporate behavior was deemed lacking.

A 2nd Vote official says, “We vote every day with our dollars,” using language similar to that of moral investment screens. “You’d be amazed how a company who wants your money will listen to your voice.” — World magazine Check the center. You’ll notice something new in the center of this issue — a four-page insert highlighting results of MEDA’s Pathways & Pursestrings project in Pakistan. This is the first of a series of periodic reports showcasing the impact of programs around the world. It is produced by Scott Ruddick and Dalilah Jesus of MEDA’s office in Waterloo, Ont. — WK

In this issue

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Somebody has to build a road to the new Jerusalem.

Page 10

Roadside stand Soul enterprise Reviews Soundbites News

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Editor: Wally Kroeker Design: Ray Dirks

A devastating factory collapse in Bangladesh revealed a dangerous underside to the world’s garment industry. New super-inspector Brad Loewen aims to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Don’t quit to work for justice

Prayer for those who work

The workplace is often overlooked in worship, yet that’s where most Christians spend much of life.

Here’s a prayer (and congregational resource) to inspire us all. By John W. Eby

Fading print

Volume 44, Issue 2 March April 2014 The Marketplace (ISSN 0199-7130) 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 2014 by MEDA.

Creating a safer world

Somehow a message has been sent that you have to do something heroic or unusual, that you have to step outside your daily activities to work for justice. Interview with Gregory Pierce

Departments 2 4 22 24 26

A kickstart for Yemen

One of the oldest inhabited regions of the world has faced its share of economic setbacks, not to mention an over-dependence on oil. A new project aims to get milk & honey flowing again.

Right now you’re holding a print publication.

Over the years many such vehicles have sought to tell the MEDA story in a compelling way. Experts say this format may not last much longer.

Change of address should be sent to Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 1891 Santa Barbara Dr., Ste. 201, Lancaster, PA 17601-4106.

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 contact the editor at wkroeker@meda.org or call (204) 956-6436 Subscriptions: $25/year; $45/two years.

Postmaster: Send address changes to The Marketplace 1891 Santa Barbara Dr., Ste. 201 Lancaster, PA 17601-4106

Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), whose dual thrust is to encourage a Christian witness in business and to operate business-oriented programs of assistance to the poor. For more information about MEDA call 1-800-665-7026.

Web site www.meda.org

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The Marketplace March April 2014

Could you be called to business?

A few years ago corporate executive Dennis Bakke addressed an Eastern Mennonite University graduating class with this question: “Are you ready to minister to the new world of the 21st century?”

That world called for a new breed of missionary, one who wears a business suit. “If full time ministry to you means traditional missions, church work, Christian organizations or service profession, not only will you not be ready for the field, but you may miss your mission field in the millennium altogether,” he said.

He made some forecasts that have already shown to be true: (1) International business will be everywhere, and national boundaries will be more like bridges than barriers. (2) Almost every significant corporation will be multinational in scope.

“Ninety percent of you will likely work for these kinds of businesses and other large organizations,” he said.

For those who want to be missionaries, their “uniform is less likely to be that of a social worker, rural nurse or cleric — but rather that of business or government executives.”

Tony Campolo, a preacher and sociology professor, believes business is one of the most effective ways to achieve godly change in the world.

To him, the key to changing the world through business is job creation.

“You start businesses that create jobs for the poor in Third World countries and the inner city,” he says.

“That’s the key to helping the poor on a long-term basis, as Jesus commands us.

Relief organizations don’t lift people out of the cycle of poverty. Political demons-

The Marketplace March April 2014

trations don’t lift people out of the cycle of poverty. Only jobs lift people out of the cycle of poverty.”

He cites the example of Al Whittier, former president of Bristol-Myers International. “That man developed a program through which he helped create 800 small businesses — that’s 33,000 jobs for unemployed people — over a 10-year period. When you consider that the average Third World family has at least five or six members, we’re talking about nearly 200,000 people who were directly affected by those jobs. Not to mention that all those people who are now earning money are now spending money which creates even more jobs.”

Campolo says many Christian young people want to change the world for God but run out of steam when they get into their careers because they don’t feel one person can make a difference.

“I want to make this as clear as I know how,” he says. “Jesus saved you so that he could work through you to accomplish things that he wants to have done in this world. Jesus saved you in order that you might be an agent for his revolution in the world.”

So there you have it.

One way to make a difference is to go into business.

Excerpted from You’re Hired!

Looking for work in all the right places, a career guide from MEDA. Available for free download at www.meda.org

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Work prayers Ever take time to pray for the company that employs you? Or for a difficult coworker?

Julie Rattey has written a hundred-plus short prayers for the many emotions and situations young professionals encounter, from starting a new job and coping with stress to handling workplace gossip and layoffs. Pocket Prayers for Young Professionals (23rd Publications, $9.95) is a slim four-by-six-inch volume that fits easily into a pocket or purse.

On e-mails: “How easy it is, God, when we’re not speaking face-to-face to be curt or dismissive, accusatory or overly blunt.... In all my interactions, guide me to speak with kindness and care, and to respond to others with professionalism and patience.”

On vocation: “What are you calling me to do, God? There are so many voices speaking to me, so many opinions about what my future should look like, that it’s difficult to hear what you might be asking of me.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell what is important and what is not; what to sacrifice and what to hold on to; when to take a risk and when to be cautious. Help me to discover how I can most successfully and joyfully serve you. Help me to be brave; help me to say yes.”

Tending the Garden “The work of our hands, whether it be teaching or creating art or sewing sutures or counseling teens, is a part of the order of creation. Work is not part of the wages of our sin; work is God’s gift to us. It exists even after the fall of man in the Garden. God worked to create our world, and we follow in his footsteps, tending to and caring for this beautiful, imperfect, ever‑shifting earth. We do this imperfectly ourselves, but through our daily tasks, we find remnants of the Garden. We have the opportunity to create order out of chaos, to work faithfully at whatever our hands find to do, and to trust that in the light of eternity, something of our lives will remain.” — Kimberly Coyle in High Calling

Make a difference You don’t have to quit your desk job and join the Peace Corps. You can bring your values to the office and spruce up your work life.

So say Craig and Marc Kielburger, founders of Free the Children, in their Globe & Mail column. “Simple gestures of help, humour, waste-reduction and conscience” can make a difference to clients, colleagues and environment, they say.

The brothers invited experts to weigh in.

Incorporating personal values into daily work makes you a better employee because it “releases commitment, enthusiasm and creativity,” according to Richard Barrett, author of The Values-Driven Organization.

Ask “is it life-affirming” of any decision, action or assignment, suggests Lance Secretan, founder of The Secretan Center Inc. “This is about personal integrity and choices,” he says. “We can choose not to work for life-abusing industries, and to work to ensure that where we work is pursuing a life-enhancing mission.”

Another expert suggests starting with Rotary’s 4-way Test: “Is it the truth?

Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?”

Overheard:

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“It is a little embarrassing that, after 45 years of research and study, the best advice I can give to people is to be a little kinder to one another.” — Aldous Huxley The Marketplace March April 2014

Ancient Yemen

Kickstart for a post-oil recovery Photos courtesy of Matt Brown

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new MEDA project hopes to restore prosperity and hope in Yemen, an ancient region rocked by unrest.

Yemen is complex, a country of legend.

One of the world’s oldest inhabited regions, its history and culture abound with biblical references. Shem, the son of Noah, is said to have founded the city of Sana’a, the country’s capital. It’s possible the Queen of Sheba’s kingdom was in Yemen, also called the Yemeni Republic.

More recently it has been known for terrorist activity, including bus bombs and attacks on the country’s main oil pipeline.

Yemen today is one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, with 54 percent of its people living in poverty and unemployment estimated at 45 percent.

MEDA has ventured into this hotspot to expand entrepreneurship and financial services for underserved micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and thus improve the private sector climate as the country expands its nonoil options. It aims to help Yemen regain prosperity and kickstart the economy with a new five‑year project funded by the European Union and private donors.

to Yemeni BDS providers. It will also provide funding (loans and credit lines) to Yemeni financial institutions (FIs) so they in turn can finance 1,000 micro, small and medium‑sized businesses enabling them to grow. The interventions are expected to create 5,000 jobs in their communities. This will help Yemen transition from its high dependence on declining oil resources, which are now 70 percent of government revenue.

The project is called ADEN, inspired by Yemen’s The goal: Make famous seaport and trade a dent in a 45% hub of the same name, but also representing “Approach for Developmentfinance jobless rate ENhancement.”

Key partners in the $12 million project are Al-Amal, the country’s first microfinance bank, and Silatech, a Qatar‑based social initiative aimed at creating jobs and expanding economic opportunities for young people throughout the Arab world.

“The project will have special focus on less advantaged groups such as youth and women entrepreneurs, providing them with training as well as investment capital,” says Julie Redfern, a longtime member of MEDA’s financial services staff. “In a country of 25 million, 80

MEDA will provide business development services (BDS) to Yemeni MSMEs through technical assistance The Marketplace March April 2014

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percent of the population is under 35.”

ADEN will help create jobs and foster entrepreneurship by providing basic business skills training, better access to information and networking opportunities. It will also improve access to finance for small businesses now hindered by low collateral and a risk‑averse banking sector.

“Commercial bank loans have prohibitively high interest rates “People forget and sizable collateral requirements,” says Redfern. “Anthat political nual interest rates can run as high stability goes as 60 percent and banks can request collateral hand in hand (preferably houses or land) for up to 400 percent of with economic the loan. Only 17 percent of small firms now have access recovery and to a bank loan.”

Through ADEN, MEDA hopes to spark the revitalizamore inclusive tion of a microfinance sector growth.” — EU that has massively deteriorated since a political crisis and outbreak of terrorambassador ism in 2011. A political agreement brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council enabled forming a national unity government in December 2011 and the election of a new president in February 2012. Since then the economy has begun to recover but more slowly than hoped, and security remains weak.

Delays in reforms and continued sabotage (such as to the key oil pipeline) pose serious risks.

“We hope that by developing this sector, it can play a pivotal role in transitioning Yemen to a non‑oil economy,” says Redfern.

nomic Support Program to achieve the following specific outcomes: • help 1,000 MSMEs gain access to finance through FIs, including at least 200 youth-owned (age 18-30) or women-owned MSMEs; • help 500 MSMEs improve skills in business and financial management through BDS providers; • create 5,000 employment opportunities through the development of MSMEs; • enable at least three financial institutions to deliver sustainable products and services to more MSMEs while increasingly targeting youth and women.

Do staffers worry about security issues in such a volatile setting? Project director Mansur Mehdi has confidence in MEDA’s security protocols. A veteran of other hightension areas like Pakistan and Afghanistan, he says the situation in Yemen has settled down considerably and “it’s not that bad.”

“We are very optimistic about the work here in spite of it being a higher-risk country,” says Pityn.

“We are taking the necessary security measures.” ◆

Kim Pityn, MEDA’s chief operations

officer, recently met with Bettina Muscheidt, the European Union’s ambassador to Yemen “who enthusiastically endorsed the project.”

“People tend to forget that political stability goes hand in hand with economic recovery and more inclusive growth,” Muscheidt says. “This first and foremost entails the creation of more job opportunities through private-sector-led growth.”

MEDA will work with the EU’s Yemen Eco7

The Marketplace March April 2014

Creating a safer world Brad Loewen’s new super-job gives him sweeping powers to protect garment workers in Bangladesh

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on Brad Loewen.

His new position — which has been described as the “key fire-protection engineering role in the world” — is chief safety inspector for the garment factories of Bangladesh, the world’s second largest garment exporter, after China. In December he and his wife, Shelagh Carter, moved to Dhaka, the capital, to begin assembling a team of building inspectors to monitor 1,600 factories that employ two million people. The inspectorate will look for structural, electrical or fire safety problems, which the buildings’ owners will then be obligated to fix.

Loewen, 57, and his team will have wide powers to revamp — and enforce — new building standards and safety codes in order to make life safer for garment workers.

Monika Kemperle, a representative of a large international union associated Westerners were with the accord, spoke highly of Loewen and his horrified that appointment as the chief safety inspector.

“Brad Loewen’s task is some of their central to all that we want favorite fashions to achieve,” she said in a news release. “Under his leadership, were produced in experienced the accord will establish and apply safety stansuch dangerous dards to all factories that supply to accord member conditions. That brands. It is a mammoth task but one in which will now change. Brad will have the capac-

s a young man Brad Loewen watched friends head off on overseas assignments with Mennonite Central Committee.

“I was always very interested and envious of their service to the less fortunate, and of the adventure of going to live in far-off countries,” he recalls.

Loewen, meanwhile, followed a different but equally legitimate path to serving humanity — as a fire protection engineer. That “helped satisfy my sense of service to others, and I travelled a lot, including to visit my MCC friends in far-off places.”

Starting as a firefighter in Steinbach, Manitoba, he went on to a degree in fire-protection engineering from the University of Maryland and to prominent fire safety roles in various levels of government. Most recently he was a senior fire protection engineer for the City of Winnipeg, in charge of commercial plan examinations and inspections.

Fast forward to a tragedy in Bangladesh last April, in which 1,129 workers perished when an eightstorey garment factory collapsed. Media reports said wall cracks had been detected earlier but were ignored. It has been called the deadliest garment-factory accident in history.

North Americans were horrified to realize that some of their favorite fashions were produced in what seemed to be sweatshop conditions.

Less than a month later an Accord on Fire and Building Safety was signed by 100 clothing brands and international unions to address safety and workplace issues in the garment industry of Bangladesh. When they looked for someone to head up its implementation they settled The Marketplace March April 2014

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Photo by Wayne Glowacki, Winnipeg Free Press

Brad Loewen, in his Winnipeg office before heading to Bangladesh, will oversee safety for 1,600 factories employing two million garment workers.

ity and authority to make decisions that will make direct, positive impacts upon the safety of Bangladeshi garment workers.”

unions working together will produce real change.

“This really is a consortium of unions and brands,” he says. “There is a tremendous amount of good will. Unfortunately, it is because of a tragedy.”

The timing of the accord accelerated a process

Loewen is no stranger to seeing daily work as a

that had already been underway before disaster struck.

“What happened at Rana Plaza really focused everyone,” Loewen said in a newspaper interview.

Other changes may also result from the heightened global awareness of how western companies operate in developing countries. The accord members have hired an executive team to implement their pledge to lift worker standards.

Bangladeshi garment workers typically work long hours with no benefits, earning an average of $39 a month. The government is considering raising the minimum wage.

Loewen is hopeful that the influence of brands and

springboard for global service. He hails from a prominent southern Manitoba family who were instrumental in the early growth of MEDA. His father Ed and uncles Cornie and George were active MEDA supporters. “I remember my father travelling on MEDA business to many places,” he says.

When faced with the question of why go to Bangladesh and work for fire safety, Loewen says the answer was obvious. “It was now my time to combine my passion for fire protection with my sense of adventure, both of which I would say are a result of values I acquired during my upbringing in a Mennonite community.” ◆

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The Marketplace March April 2014

Don’t quit your job to work for justice

Somehow we’ve been taught that you have to step outside your daily activities to work for justice.

Gregory Pierce, a leader in the Ministry of Daily Life movement, figures quitting your job to “do justice” may not necessarily be the best way to help society or advance the Christian cause. “Most justice,” he says, “is brought about by Christians on their jobs, in their families, and in their neighborhoods.” In the following interview Pierce, owner of a Catholic publishing company in Chicago, shares insights on how people can seek biblical justice in the workplace.

his office managers and asked them to do a quick study to establish whether the firm paid its people justly. Two weeks later the managers reported that, on the whole, the wage policies were just but that in some job categories the firm was paying well below the mid-range of the prevailing rate for the industry.

A vigorous and lengthy debate began. The result, Farley tells me, was a corporate decision to “never again willingly and knowingly pay below the mid-range of the wage scale.

Now, whether they knew it or not, these business executives were all doing the work of justice. So was the union organizer.

Q: Is the daily grind of a job any kind of place to work for justice?

A: Let me answer that with a story. A man by the name of Bill Farley is president and part owner of a real estate development firm. He participated in a panel discussion on biblical justice in the workplace. When challenged by a labor union official in the audience, Farley responded that his company paid just and fair wages.

Afterward he began to have second thoughts. He asked himself whether he truly was paying just and fair wages. When he got back, he called together three of The Marketplace March April 2014

Q: Do you think most people see that they’re working for justice in the course of their daily work?

A: There has been a huge misunderstanding about how one goes about working for justice. Somehow it has been communicated to the average Christian that the way one does it is by doing something heroic, something extraordinary or unusual, and that you have to step outside 10

your daily activities to work for justice. It’s also implied — either directly or indirectly — that justice is obtained through church-related programs, and these are participated in mostly on a volunteer basis outside your regular work.

everything and follow a special call?

A: No, obviously we need such people. We need the Dorothy Days, we need the Mother Teresas. But when it in any way gets communicated that theirs is the only way to do justice — or even the best way to do it — that I think is wrong. We do need people to hold up the vision of the new Jerusalem, but to get there somebody has to build a road.

The problem is when we deny or obscure the fact that most justice is and should be brought about by the action of ordinary Christians in their daily work. And I define work not simply as paid employment but as people’s daily activity on the job, with their families, and in their neighborhoods.

Q: Is this attitude really all that prevalent?

A: I just received a letter from a gentleman I do not know. He writes, “My commitment to economic justice evolved from my academic, business and travel experiences. For 17 years I have assisted American families in avoiding serious financial hardships, such as loss of their homes by foreclosure and the loss of their jobs for indebtedness.” That was his job.

“Extensive travel abroad, especially to the Indian subcontinent and Africa, has increased my awareness and concern for the needs of others and my own responsibility to respond to these needs.” Fine so far.

“I was originally trained to serve the secular needs of others, but I am now aware of the gospel’s deeper spiritual call of service.”

Still no problem.

Now here’s his next paragraph: “As to the seriousness of my commitment, let me describe how I’ve prepared for this vocation.

During the past three years I have discontinued my Wouldn’t it be business activities and have now the great if Christians discretionary time and income to were known by the actively pursue the ideal of Christian economic justice way they operated with prayer, study and action.” at work?

Now, how did this man get the idea that he should quit his job — a job that is apparently doing a lot of good for people — in order to pursue justice? Did he just think of it himself? No. It’s the prevailing culture inside the church that if you’re in business — or hold any kind of regular job for that matter — then you’re not working for justice. In order to do that you have to quit your job and go do something else.

Q: What are some of the ways people can work for justice in their jobs?

A: One way is in their relations with other people.

How are they going to deal with their boss? How are they going to deal with their fellow employees, their customers, their suppliers, their competitors? One question they might ask themselves is, “How do I challenge my coworkers to do the best work of which they are capable?”

This is not just a matter of increased productivity. It also includes creativity and potential. Perhaps a fellow employee deserves a promotion more than I. Or perhaps he or she should be quitting this dead-end job and seeking another, and I should be encouraging that.

Q: What about ethics on the job?

A: This is about the only work issue that the church ever talks about, yet most people don’t face huge ethical dilemmas every day in their work. Some people are called to do something heroic, maybe once in their lives: to blow a whistle, to quit their job, to call a press conference.

What people do deal with are the gray areas of ethics — the ambiguity of daily work. So when you say “justice,” justice is neither white nor black. It’s in the gray areas where justice happens.

Most of the time in their daily jobs people are trying to decide what is the Christian way, what is the just way of acting. I believe people are doing that all the time. It’s just not identified as such. They’re not encouraged to think about daily decision-making as Christian action – there are no sermons about that, there are no articles in the religious press about that.

Q: What ethical issues do people have to deal with?

A: In terms of justice, people have to deal more with omission. The hard question is, “What else could I be doing?” The question is less often, “Is what I’m doing wrong?”

Q: What can help workers through the gray areas of working for justice?

A: People have to build institutions; that’s part of so-

Q: Are you saying that it’s wrong for people to give up 11

The Marketplace March April 2014

cial justice. The point is to build institutions — like governments, unions, business associations — so that every time an issue comes up, it doesn’t become a crisis of justice.

You don’t have to wake up every day and ask, “What is the just thing to do?” People would go crazy if they had to do that.

For example, a nurse working in a hospital needs a nurses’ association not just in terms of pay but in terms of work rules, ethical questions, and things like that.

in that they acted differently because of their faith?

Q: What can the church do to overcome the split between faith and public life?

A: What we don’t need from the institutional church are more programs for people. We do not need more evening meetings to take people away from job, family and neighborhood involvement. There’s got to be a whole reorientation on the part of church professionals — clergy and laity — about all the programs they’re already doing. What is the focus for them? What is the underlying philosophy?

If we’re doing worship preparation, let’s bring the meaning of people’s work into that. Here’s an example.

My wife was a church school teacher. Ever year the church would have a Sunday on which they would recognize the school staff and commission them as ministers. This was fine. But, sitting in the pews on that Sunday were several public school teachers. Is what they do not a ministry? Of course it is. But they’re never told that.

Then there are sermons. Right now it seems that clergy are going to give the majority of them — which makes it even more important for clergy to get out and listen to people’s stories and tell those stories while adding their theological and scriptural insights. Sermons ought to be about what people are going to go out the door and do the rest of the week.

I’d like to see churches become centers of work.

Q: The church is an institution, and yet you say it’s fostering a misconception about how people work for justice. Where did the misunderstanding come from?

A: In my upbringing, spirituality always implied getting away from the world. So you meditated, took a day of reflection, went to church.

And work was what you had to do so that you could do the other things that really We do need people mattered.

Q: What do you mean by that?

A: Here’s one way of looking at it. What is the model of the church? When I was growing up, it was a filling station. You drove in, got your fill up, then drove out.

You’d store up extra gas in case you wanted to go on a long trip.

As I got a little older, the church became more of a hospital or social service agency. The purpose of the church was to help people who were hurting. If you’re divorced or if you lost somebody, if you have a kid you’re struggling to raise, we’ll help you.

But I’d like to propose another model, which is the church as campaign headquarters. If you think about a campaign headquarters, what is it? It’s a place where people come to get trained, to reflect, to celebrate, to lick their wounds, to pick up materials that they need to do what the campaign headquarters exists for – to run the campaign, and, one hopes, to win. But at least to run a good campaign. ◆

to hold up the

Q: Is that view changing? vision of the new A: We’re hearing more and Jerusalem, but to more about the spirituality of work, get there somebody and I think that phrase needs a lot of investigating. If has to build a road. there’s a spirituality of work, then we can find spirituality in what we do every day. Making decisions about balancing my life or relating to others or building institutions is a spiritual act.

As I’ve begun to think about this and to act this way personally, it is causing an integration of different parts of my life, particularly my daily life with my religious life.

Wouldn’t it be great if Christians were known by the way they operated at work? Not that they wore badges or hollered “Praise the Lord!” But that they were just different The Marketplace March April 2014

Excerpted with permission from Salt, published by Claretian Publications, 205 W. Monroe, Chicago, IL 60606.

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by John W. Eby

Leader: Oh Lord, you have revealed yourself to us in your work creating and sustaining the world. You have made us your servants to manage and care for your world and to use its abundant resources for the welfare of all your people.

All: We commit ourselves to faithful and caring stewardship.

We confess that too often we use resources carelessly. We divide the benefits of work unequally and selfishly hoard good things while others suffer. We build structures that exploit and become slaves to our affluence.

Forgive us when we fall short of your intentions. Free us from the seductions of wealth and power. Use our work to build your kingdom.

We thank you for entrepreneurs and businesspersons. Release their abilities to start new things and to take the risks that lead to new jobs and to the production of goods and services which improve the quality of life. Give them good judgment. Give them humility in success and perseverance in failure.

Hear our prayer for entrepreneurs and businesspersons.

We thank you for employers and managers. Give them insight for decision making. Guide them as they provide meaningful jobs where employees can use their skills creatively and meaningfully and where they can find joy in their work.

Hear our prayer for employers and managers.

We thank you for competent and conscientious employees. Give them consistency and care as they give fair value in their work. Assist them in finding opportunities for growth and fulfillment.

Hear our prayer for employees.

We thank you for builders and manufacturers. Help them use resources efficiently and responsibly and to provide quality products that enhance life.

Hear our prayer for those who build and manufacture.

We thank you for money managers. Give them integrity and honesty and the wisdom to use money in ways that reflect kingdom values.

Hear our prayer for money managers.

We thank you for artists. Fill their minds with creative new thoughts and insights so that the whole world will be enriched by their art, music and literature.

Hear our prayer for artists.

We thank you for teachers who can teach and excite minds with art, science and the joy of learning.

Hear our prayer for teachers.

We thank you for homemakers who create environments where love can grow and nurture flourish.

Hear our prayer for homemakers.

We thank you for those who buy and sell to make goods available in convenient places and at fair prices.

Hear our prayer for those who buy and sell.

We thank you for those who heal through loving care and counsel and through medical skill.

Hear our prayer for those who heal.

We thank you for those in service occupations who build and repair and for those who provide counsel and advice.

Hear our prayer for those in service occupations.

A prayer for those who work

The workplace is often overlooked in congregational worship, yet it is where Christians spend a large part of life. This prayer is offered as an inspiration to working Christians, and as a possible resource for congregational worship.

We pray for those who cannot work because they are unable or because there are no jobs where they live.

Give us compassion to meet their needs. Release their gifts so that they too may serve.

Hear our prayer for the unemployed.

Oh Lord, you are ever at work in the world for us and for all persons. Guide and protect all of us in our work. Work through us and in us to build your kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” Amen. ◆

John Eby, a former MEDA board member and retired professor at Messiah College, lives in Dillsburg, Pa.

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The Marketplace March April 2014

Fading print Our nostalgia shelves sag with memories of a rich but passing age

R

ight now you are reading a printed page. Enjoy it, for the days of print may be numbered. Some analysts give periodicals like this one only half a dozen more years (in which case hang on to this copy, it’s a collector’s item in waiting).

In its 60 years of operation, MEDA has relied heavily on various forms of print to tell its story. Most visible, and enduring, has been The Marketplace, whose most recent issue you hold in your hands.

There have been numerous other vehicles, all aiming to inform one audience segment or another.

MEDA, it began carrying the MEDA logo and was called the MIBA/MEDA Newsletter. In 1980 it was renamed The Marketplace, with Redekop still its editor. The following year a one-page newssheet, MEDA News, was added to the publications mix (it was later suspended, then but reintroduced in 1987).

In 1986 The Marketplace was expanded from a quarterly to a bi-monthly of 24 pages. It traveled beyond MEDA’s membership to include Mennonite pastors, development agencies and libraries. Cost-conscious management held to a stark r e t black-and-white presentaFor its first dozen or so years uar rst q ce on fi s ’ tion until 1998 when new MEDA went about its work quietly and with ur DA f ME ime reso o y r technology made a dash of little publicity. At a board meeting in 1966 (13 pr isto s the 78 h n 9 i 1 a color affordable.

The magazine years after MEDA’s founding) J. Winfield Fretz A em . ury r cent rly years went full-color moved that MEDA start a quarterly bulletin, a the e two years later. “a digest of pertinent information of As the magazine evolved, MEDA projects and interest.” The it was decided that it should motion passed unanimously, not be a “house but the idea took time organ” in the to gel. traditional In 1970, a young busisense of ness organization primarily called the Church, promoting Industry and Busithe organizaness Association (CIBA) tion. Its main established the quarterly goal instead CIBA Newsletter, edited was to more

by Calvin Redekop on a broadly promote volunteer basis. When CIBA the mission of merged with another busiMEDA, that is, to encourage an ethical witness ness organization to become in business, to validate business as an important Mennonite Industry and Business avenue of Christian mission, and to highlight Associates (MIBA), the periodical opportunities to use business skills to meet human Various newsletter was renamed the MIBA Newsletneed.

In contrast, the four-page MEDA News foincarnations grew into ter. Then, with an eye toward yet cused on the program of MEDA and was more boldly The Marketplace (1984 version shown here). another merger with the original promotional.

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Newslett er insert s targete segments d specifi — seniors c audien , youth a ce nd lawye rs.

MEDA’s management was sensitive about

mail slots 12 times a year: six copies of The Marketplace, five copies of MEDA News in intervening months, and the corporate annual report in fall.

MEDA News became a vehicle to carry inserts for special member segments, including Senior MEDA Report and Young MEDA Report. For a time MEDA provided administrative services for members of the former Mennonite Lawyers Association, including editing and distributing the MEDA Lawyers Report as an insert in MEDA News.

Other newsletters, some on a sporadic basis, were published for selected groupings. One was the SBDP Newsletter (for Small Business Development Program, as MEDA’s early micro-finance effort was named).

Monday Musings was sent out to staff by executive vice-president Ron Braun to provide updates on the international program, gleanings from his wide reading, and sprightly (often wry) commentary on economic development.

A short-lived attempt (1994) to produce a newsletter for the board of directors was called Splinters for the Board (not everyone found the name amusing). It aimed to keep

deluging members with too much printed material.

A member survey asked, “How often do you want to hear from us?” The responses suggested once a month was acceptable.

So it was decided to show up in members’

Books with the MEDA imprint have appeared in Spanish, French, Russian and Chinese.

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directors informed of MEDA’s public face, reproducing news releases, articles about MEDA in other periodicals, and “anything appearing in print that brings glory to MEDA.” In the late 90s the “North American Services” division, as it was then called, circulated Leader’s Report to provide tips, speaker ideas and publicity information to local MEDA chapters.

An electronic employee newssheet, eventually called MEDA Green (1997-2009) aimed to connect the various office locations and inform staff of “household news.” It was discontinued when new technology made it more convenient to hold weekly staff meetings online.

Numerous field programs operated their own publications in places like Paraguay, Pakistan and Ukraine. One of the most recent, an extension magazine called Good Agro News, had a circulation of 7,500 last year among clients of MEDA’s Ukraine Horticultural Development Project.

Since 2011 an occasional newsletter called So What? has explored the long-term impact of MEDA programs.

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A short manual for micro-enterprise programming was published in three languages — English, Spanish and French.

Over the years MEDA also dabbled in books.

In 1978 J. Winfield Fretz wrote The Meda Experiment: Twenty-five Years of Economic Development (Conrad Press). It remains the primary source of information on MEDA’s first quarter century.

The same year MIBA published the third edition of the

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Mennonite Business and Professional People’s Directory, listing 7,500 entries.

Two faith-business booklets were produced in 1982: Stewardship of the Gospel: A Business Person’s Perspective by Paul Lederach and John Rudy; and The Business Person, the Christian and the Life of the Church, a collection of essays.

In 1989 MEDA compiled a book of columns by John H. Rudy, former board member and later vice-president, which was published by Herald Press under the title Moneywise Meditations: To Be Found Faithful in God’s Audit.

ketplace Christians by Wally Kroeker. The book won an Award of Merit from Excellence in Media.

In 2003 MEDA helped bring into being the book The High Cost of Abundance: The Story of Capitalism by economist Henry Rempel (Herald).

In 2009 MEDA experimented with an online career guide, You’re Hired! Looking for work in all the right places.

As paper periodicals fade from view, destined for the dustbin of nostalgia, communication will continue by pixel and other means. Supporters need not worry that the disappearance of print will squelch the MEDA voice. A full complement of electronic and social media vehicles is available to replace it at www.meda.org ◆

Newsletters have targeted specific audience segments — seniors, youth, chapter leaders and lawyers.

The Small Business Solution, an introductory manual for micro-enterprise programming, was self-published by MEDA in three different language editions: English, Spanish and French.

In 1991, as part of its outreach to new entrepreneurs in the former Soviet Union, MEDA acquired translation rights for Management: A Biblical Approach by Myron Rush, and had it translated and published in Russian.

In 1997 MEDA staff members Ben Sprunger, Carol Suter and Wally Kroeker collaborated on Faith Dilemmas for Marketplace Christians, published by Herald Press (later published in Chinese by an Asian organization).

The following year Herald published God’s Week Has Seven Days: Monday Musings for Mar-

tians, ce Chris ransla p t e k ar as t as for M dy guide, w m m tion. e il u t rganiza o Faith D a 13-week s n ia s A as e by an set up Chines o t in d late

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Reviews

Road warrior for the poor Where The Pavement Ends: (Mis)Adventures in International Rural Development. By Henry Fast (2013, 134 pp. $19 Cdn.)

H

ave you ever wondered what it’s like to be a globe-trotting development worker? Here’s a chance to sample the world of exotic food, odd customs, jet lag and cross-cultural missteps.

For Henry Fast, it all began as a teenaged volunteer with PAX, the “Mennonite peace corps,” and an assignment to Greece to share his farm skills with people still recovering from the devastation of war. He would later earn a master’s degree in agricultural economics, work for Agriculture Canada and serve two terms with Mennonite Central Committee before spending 23 years as a program manager and consultant with MEDA. Few people have travelled more miles to help the poor. During his career Fast crossed an ocean more than 150 times and spent a combined total of more than three years on the road.

In this easy-to-read account, appealingly designed and illustrated with many photos, he shares glimpses of

“As MEDA staff, we sometimes

MEDA marriages?

attributed our

S

ome benefits are unplanned. In one Chinese community where Henry Fast worked, families had complained that their sons could not find wives. A woman customarily moved to her new husband’s village after marriage. But this village was so poor that girls from elsewhere weren’t interested because they would have to spend back‑breaking hours every day carrying water and firewood for the household. As part of the project Fast’s group introduced fuel‑efficient cooking stoves and small cisterns to catch rainwater.

When it was all over local project leaders reported one happy but unexpected result in this village: in the past three years there had been 32 marriages, equal to the total number of marriages in the previous 15 years.

Writes Fast, “How’s that for a positive result?!” ◆

The Marketplace March April 2014

success to the fact that ‘we had one foot in the mud and other in the board room and felt comfortable in both.’”

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his adventures.

You’ll chuckle to read about his encounters with mysterious foods (like “gold coin meat”), with being forced — shy Saskatchewan boy or not — onto the dance floor for a cultural celebration, and with facing gun-wielding narcotics producers as he promotes growing wheat and potatoes rather than opium poppies.

A unifying theme is the impact of Fast’s work, undergirded by MEDA’s trademark blend of faith, business and development. “As MEDA staff,” he writes, “we sometimes attributed our success to the fact that ‘we had one foot in the mud and other in the board room and felt comfortable in both.’”

Fast shares results from projects in India and China.

• Micro-finance services established for 3,000 women; • Adult literacy classes provided for 8,600 people, mainly women and girls; • Vocational skills (such as tailoring and bicycle repair) for 15,000 people; • Return of $7.50 to villagers for every dollar invested in a

project in India; • In one project, improved farming practices in 1,000 villages increased crop yields by an average of 15%. In another, land terracing and irrigation boosted yields per acre by 1.5 to 2 times and increased incomes by 37%, prompting the county governor to say, “It made people throw away their caps of poverty and live a well‑off life.”

Beyond economic metrics there are stories of individual empowerment, like the elderly Indian woman who was tickled to complete literacy classes. “Now,” she told him, “I can write my own name and I can read the name on the bus myself so I know where it is going and I don’t have to keep asking others if it’s the bus I’m looking for!”

A Chinese woman praised a micro-finance program for giving her self-confidence.

“Before I joined the program I would never speak to a

foreigner like I am speaking to you,” she said. “I felt that my role in our community was unimportant. I never spoke out. My husband made all the decisions in our household.

But that has changed. The loan program has allowed me to be in business for myself. I must make the decisions.

Since my business is successful, I have proven I am capable of making good decisions. We are no longer dependent on men. Now I speak out. People hear what I have to say and respect my opinion. My husband now consults me and we make decisions together. He sees I am bringing money into our household. Having our voices heard is a new and important development in our community.”

Such stores of hope, writes Fast, “continually encouraged me not to give up on the poor, rather to work alongside of them and to share whatever I could to help make the world a better place.” — Wally Kroeker

Entrepreneurs and the lens of faith Entrepreneurial Leadership: Finding Your Calling, Making a Difference. By Richard J. Goossen and R. Paul Stevens (InterVarsity, 2013, 180 pp. $18 U.S.)

ours.” He and Stevens explore this problem and provide help for being a theologically grounded leader.

They do this by: • contrasting humanist and Christian models of entrepreneurship • explaining meaning at work through God-inspired creativity • offering a biblical understanding of risk and reward • exploring the meaning of calling • supplying strategies for practical impact One section that stands out is their insistence that the marketplace is a good place for spiritual formation. How so?

First, it is the place where we show who we really are. You can’t fool people who see you at work five days a week.

Second, the temptation to falter (seven deadly sins) is not strongest during times of devotional reflection “but in the thick of life, in business meetings, as we struggle over this month’s sales, when we have to deal with an awkward customer or employee.”

Third, good work is being a partner with God in the divine work of creating, sustaining and transforming.

Rather than being a diversion from the spiritual life, those who work (even at so-called “secular” tasks) do the Lord’s work “in creating new products and services, developing the organizational culture of our business, engaging in trading and global enrichment, creating new wealth and improving human life.” — WK

“We regard calling as the rudder of the ship of life,” say Richard Goossen and Paul Stevens. Their new book is based on the premise that “everyone has a calling to make a difference, and everyone has leadership potential whether with a small or large number of people.”

Both authors are well-seasoned in the world of faith and business. Goossen is described as “a serial new venture founder, strategic advisor to high‑growth and web‑based companies, lawyer, researcher, author, professor and professional public speaker.” He directs Entrepreneurial Leadership, Transforming Business, a research and development center at the University of Cambridge, England, and is a sessional lecturer at Regent College in Vancouver.

Stevens is professor emeritus of marketplace theology at Regent College and author of numerous books on faith and work. His writings have appeared frequently in The Marketplace, and he has been a speaker at MEDA conventions.

In this outing they seek to show how theology, leadership and entrepreneurship relate, and how leadership can be grounded in God’s mission.

Christian entrepreneurs, writes Goossen, often don’t get the help they deserve to maximize their leadership potential. “Business people, and entrepreneurs in particular, feel strongly about calling to the marketplace but they are not typically encouraged and equipped in their endeav19 23

The Marketplace March April 2014

Soundbites

Gates tackles poverty “myths” The war on poverty is gradually being won, says philanthropist Bill Gates, but many people don’t know it. In their 2014 Annual Letter, Gates and his wife, Melinda, counter “three myths that block progress for the poor.”

1. Poor countries are doomed to stay poor Not so, says Gates. In fact, “incomes and other measures of human welfare are rising almost everywhere, including in Africa.” Many formerly poor countries now have thriving economies. “And the percentage of very poor people has dropped by more than half since 1990.”

In Africa, income per person has risen. “Seven of the 10 fastest‑growing economies of the past half‑decade are in Africa.”

show Americans think their country gives a quarter of its budget for aid, when the actual amount is less than one percent. Norway, the most generous country in the world, gives less than three percent in aid.

Then there’s corruption.

Some people would like aid shut down because of occasional examples of corruption in recipient countries, Gates says, adding “four of the past seven governors of Illinois have gone to prison for corruption, and to my knowledge no one has demanded that Illinois schools be shut down or its highways closed.”

Gates says Africa has also made strides in health and education. “Since 1960, the life span for women in sub‑Saharan Africa has gone up from 41 to 57 years.... The percentage of children in school has gone from the low 40s to over 75 percent since 1970.”

2. Foreign aid is a waste of money People often cling to a few anecdotes about wasted aid money to claim aid doesn’t work, says Gates, who fears the myth gives political leaders an excuse to reduce aid. To him, aid is a “fantastic investment” that saves and improves lives and lays the groundwork for long‑term economic progress.

Gates says people overestimate the amount of money going for aid. Polls

3. Saving lives leads to overpopulation Actually, saving lives does the reverse, says Melinda Gates, noting that many poor

families have extra children to make sure at least some survive. When more children make it, parents choose to have smaller families. “When children are well‑nourished, fully vaccinated, and treated for common illnesses like diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia, the future gets a lot more predictable,” she says. “Parents start making decisions based on the reasonable expectation that their children will live.”

Living wage Unlike most retailers, Costco does not see raising employee salaries and growing profits as competing goals. While the average hourly wage for a full-time worker at Wal-Mart is $12.81, Costco pays its workers an average of nearly $21.

Costco sees the return on this investment in its low employee turnover rates: Just 10% in 2013 and 7% for employees who have worked at least one year.... High employee retention allows the wholesaler to cut down considerably on training costs. Costco’s founders set out to pay “a good living wage,” says chief financial officer Richard Galanti. “We are never going to mess with that.” — Fortune magazine

Wartime parallels The most troubling similarity between 1914 and now is complacency. Businesspeople today are like businesspeople then: too busy making money to notice the serpents flickering at the bottom of their trading screens. — The Economist magazine in its look back on “uncomfortable parallels with the era that led to the outbreak of the first world war” The Marketplace March April 2014

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Innovative churn Innovation, the elixir of progress, has always cost people their jobs. In the Industrial Revolution artisan weavers were swept aside by the mechanical loom. Over the past 30 years the digital revolution has displaced many of the mid-skill jobs that underpinned 20th century middle-class life. Typists, ticket agents, bank tellers and many production line jobs have been dispensed with, just as the weavers were. For those ... who believe that technological progress has made the world a better place, such churn is a natural part of rising prosperity.

Although innovation kills some jobs, it creates new and better ones, as a more productive society becomes richer and its wealthier inhabitants demand more goods and services....

Today the pool of secretaries has shrunk, but there are ever more computer programmers and web designers. — The Economist

calls engineers to address the structural causes that lead to “plugged toilets.” Concretely, this means, for example, that Christians are not only responsible to assist victims of oppression; like the prophets of old, they also seek to neutralize the forces that cause oppression in the first place. — Pierre Gilbert in The Messenger

with an honest confrontation of the brutal facts. — Jim Collins in Good to Great

Plugged toilets Christ calls the Church to express his love towards all, and particularly so, the poor and the downtrodden. In that sense, Christians are a little like plumbers who are tasked with “unplugging toilets” whenever it is needed, without asking questions or counting the cost.

But that is not all. In the image of God himself who addressed the root cause of the human condition, true Christian love also seeks to figure out why the “toilet is plugged.”

If God is always looking for plumbers to take care of the messes that are inherent to the human condition, he also

Love without seeing If we say we love the God we can’t see, and we don’t love the brother who we can see, the Bible says the love of God is not in us. Jesus also said that to love someone is to do what you would want done for you in similar circumstances.... Our proclamation of the goodness and love of God simply has no credibility if we’re unwill-

ing to love [our neighbors] at their point of greatest need.

— Gary Haugen, founder of International Justice Mission, in Christianity Today

Tithing in recession We often tie the drop in giving to the drop in the economy.

But a larger undercurrent is also at play. The generation that gives almost half of total donations began passing away about three years ago.

Nearly one thousand of them are called home every day....

Over the next 12 years, this faithful and reliable generation will pass away. As they do, total giving will decrease by as much as half for typical evangelical ministries.... — John S. Dickerson in The Great Evangelical Recession

Work as purpose The Protestants endowed work with the quest for meaning, identity, and signs of salvation.

The notion of work as something beyond mere labor... indeed as a calling, highlighted its personal and existential qualities. Work became a kind of prayer. More than a means of living, it became a purpose for living. — Joanne Ciulla in Organizational Communication

Brutal confrontation All good-to-great companies began the process of finding a path to greatness by confronting the brutal facts of their current reality.... It is impossible to make good decisions without infusing the entire process 21 25

The Marketplace March April 2014

News

Schools break new ground with “collaborative MBA” Business and organizational personnel who want to develop their leadership skills, enhance productivity and increase profits while contributing to the “common good” now have the chance to enroll in a novel new MBA program.

Three Mennonite institutions — Bluffton University in Ohio, Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, and Goshen College in Indiana — have joined forces to launch “The Collaborative MBA” to shape “transformative leaders.”

“We’re interested in developing authentic leaders who understand that personal, business, organizational, and community existence and success are tied to the sustainability of local and global systems,” says George Lehman, director of graduate programs in business at Bluffton.

The 36‑hour program will focus on “skills in entrepreneurship, shared vision development, mutual accountability, financial integrity, continuous innovation, empowerment of people and teams, and systems thinking,” says Michelle Horning, chair of Goshen’s business department.

Program director is Jim Smucker, graduate dean at Eastern Mennonite University and formerly president of the Bird‑in‑Hand Corporation and board chair of the Lancaster (Pa.) Chamber of Commerce.

For him, a unique aspect is to address leaders’ needs for personal and spiritual growth.

Most other MBA programs focus mainly on topics like budgeting, strategic planning and marketing, he says.

The Collaborative MBA will cover these topics too, says Smucker. In addition, however, “our program will have an The Marketplace March April 2014

explicit orientation toward the well‑being of people, community and planet. We will situate making profits within the context of ethical practices and contribution to the common good.”

Collaborative MBA students can choose from eight concentrations: leadership; health care administration; finance; leading non‑profits; conflict transformation; sustainability; intercultural leadership and self‑designed.

The program calls for a week of residential courses at one of the three sponsoring

schools and a week of residency in an international setting. It also features distance learners joining students and professors via interactive video conferencing, as well as students pursuing projects and interacting with professors on a mutually convenient schedule.

While it is expected that there will be a broad range of students from a variety of backgrounds, a key target student is someone holding a full‑time job in a small-to medium‑sized business or organization, perhaps with family responsibilities, who needs

Did missionaries help make a dent in poverty?

It’s no secret that democracy and good governance can give a country a leg up to reduce poverty. Could it be that the Christian missionary enterprise played a role in spreading these values, thus helping to create a climate where democracy — and, by extension, development — could flourish?

Missionaries are often blamed for looking the other way when colonialist behavior kept nations in chains, but a sociologist/political science scholar is trying to prove the opposite – that evangelical missions actually bolstered the health of nations.

Robert Woodberry’s efforts to create a statistical model to examine the link between missionary work and civil health is featured in the January/ February 2014 issue of Christianity Today (“The World the Missionaries Made” by Andrea Palpant Dilley).

Woodberry, who has taught at the University of Texas and

is now at National University of Singapore, has for years explored how missionary work helped fuel the rise of liberal democracy. He found it was not easy to go against received secular wisdom that missions were a drag on local cultures, but the more he probed the more convinced he became that there must be a reason why some countries developed stable democracies and flourished while their neighbors suffered dictators and conflict.

“Areas where Protestant missionaries had a significant presence in the past,” Woodberry says in the article, “are on average more economically developed today, with comparatively better health, lower infant mortality, lower corruption, greater literacy, higher educational attainment (especially for women), and more robust membership in nongovernmental associations.”

His research found that evangelical missionaries gener22 26

to be able to pursue graduate studies in a flexible manner, says Horning.

The curriculum is based on the concept of “leadership for the common good” which includes values of spirituality, community, leading as service, justice, sustainability and global citizenship.

“In keeping with our Anabaptist‑Christian roots,” says Lehman, “all of us involved in this program have a holistic view on how all of our decisions and actions affect other people, the community, and the world.”

— Bonnie Price Lofton ally did not support colonial abuses, as is sometimes charged, but in fact raised an outcry against them. “One stereotype about missions is that they were closely connected to colonialism,” he says. “But Protestant missionaries not funded by the state were regularly very critical of colonialism.”

How did missionaries, intentionally or otherwise, lay a base for democracy? One way was to focus on literacy and education. Woodberry claims it is no accident that wherever evangelical missions thrived they left more book-printing capacity and more schools per capita. British missionaries in particular established schools and printing presses that raised the level of education and thus laid a foundation for civil society. At play was evangelical Protestant belief in the priesthood of all believers, which held that if everyone is equal before God and has direct access to God, they need to be able to read God’s Word in their own language.

One missions expert quoted in the article asserts that “literacy is the main thing that helps you rise out of poverty.

Unless you have broad-based literacy, you can’t have democratic movements.” ◆

Canadian dignitaries visit soybean project Last year ended on a high note for MEDA client Baala Ajara as she was selected “best soybean farmer” in her local district of Ghana. The honors kept coming in February as Ajara, 37, was invited to tell her story to a delegation from the government of Canada, which sponsors the MEDA project of which she is a part.

Among the visitors were Paul Rochon, Canada’s deputy minister for international cooperation, Christopher Thornley, Canadian ambassador to Ghana, and Kenneth Neufeld, regional director of Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), successor to the Ca-

nadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Members of MEDA’s GROW project (Greater Rural Opportunities for Women) told how the new venture helped 4,000 women farmers last year (with ultimate target 20,000) boost income and family nutrition and improve marginal soil by growing soybeans. Seventeen other agencies also provided a look at how development projects were affecting government and farmers at the local level.

Catherine Sobrevega, MEDA’s country project manager, highlighted market links strategies and key successes and challenges from the first

Award-winning client Baala Ajara, right, with Paul Rochon, Canada’s deputy minister for international cooperation. year. She reported later that many attendees approached her afterwards to say they were impressed by MEDA’s business approach.

When the delegation visited Baala Ajara, the awardwinning farmer commented,

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“If you work hard, this is what you’ll get. It’s very motivating for me to continue.”

For his part, deputy minister Rochon told the group that “We love this country, and we’re going to stay in this country.” ◆

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