Resolution Calling the Massachusetts Conference of the United
Church of Christ to be a Fair Trade Conference
Approved by the 205th Annual Meeting
of the Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ,
June 14, 2004
WHEREAS teachings on “global economic
theory” are scarce in the Bible, the more basic story
of God standing with the powerless against the powerful is
common. Isaiah, for example, attacked the rich for their wasteful
opulence: “Their land is filled with silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasurers” (2:7a). Hosea
mocked the way they boasted in their wealth: “Ah, I
am rich, I have gained wealth for myself; In all of my gain,
No offense has been found in me” (12:8). Jeremiah claimed
that they “have become great and rich, they have grown
fat and sleek. They know no limits in deeds of wickedness”
(2:8). Amos said that unchecked, the wealthy would “trample
on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land”
(Amos 8:4, cf. Amos 2:7, 4:1; Isaiah 3:15; Prov. 22:22). “They
covet fields, and seize them; [they covet] houses, and take
them” (Micah 2:2; cf. Jeremiah 5:26).
WHEREAS the fair trade movement pledges
to:
- Pay prices which establish a living wage for producers;
- Work with democratically run cooperatives, governed by
the farmers themselves, and dedicated to equitable distribution
of income and services;
- Develop producer capacity, which means working with farmers
to enhance their management skills and marketing independence.
- Buy direct, meaning that benefits and profits go to the
farmers and their communities;
- Promote gender equality, meaning valuing and rewarding
the work of women;
- Encourage ecologically sustainable farming practices;
and
- Promote decent working conditions, meaning (among other
things) that if children are involved, their working conditions
conform to UN Conventions on the rights of the Child; and
WHEREAS several colleges (including Brown,
Yale, Georgetown and Dartmouth) have voted to become Fair
Trade institutions, many faith groups (including Catholics,
Lutherans and Presbyterians) have established partnerships
with the Fair Trade organization, Equal Exchange, and several
major grocery chains and coffee companies now offer a line
of Fair Trade coffee.
WHEREAS many UCC congregations in Massachusetts
have already joined with over 9,000 places of worship and
faith-based organizations who support small coffee farmers
in developing nations by using fair trade, coffee and have
developed programs to foster purchase of fair trade coffee
by their committees and members to help impoverished family
farmers in the developing world provide for their families;
and
WHEREAS the United Church of Christ Justice
and Witness Ministries partnered in March 2004 with Equal
Exchange to launch a denomination-wide coffee program (the
“UCC Coffee Project”) through which Equal Exchange,
in addition to the benefits of Fair Trade, will make a donation
to the “UCC Small Farmer Fund” each time a UCC
church or member buys coffee through the project; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 205th
Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Conference of the United
Church of Christ covenants together to become a “Fair
Trade Conference,” meaning that we will strive to offer
Fair Trade Coffee at official functions and thereby become
a moral example for other conferences, denominations, and
faith groups, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 205th Annual
Meeting encourages the churches in the Massachusetts Conference
to offer Fair Trade coffee, purchased through the new UCC
partnership with Equal Exchange, as the standard coffee served
during fellowship hour, and for sale in their churches; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that our churches
be called upon to dedicate themselves to take on this program
as a mission project to educate their members about how small
economic choices affect peoples’ lives in other countries.
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