THE LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
FAIR TRADE COFFEE PROJECT
Brewing Faith and Coffee
By Tim Bernard, associate pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church, Marquette, Mich. Pastor Tim was teaching about and serving fairly traded coffee long before the LWR Coffee Project was launched in 1997.
"Why is the Church getting into selling coffee? I thought Jesus chased out the people who were selling things in the Temple?" This was, initially, one of the concerns raised with Lutheran World Relief's proposal to launch the LWR Coffee Project as an LWR Parish Projects promoting Fair Trade coffee, tea and cocoa.
In the Bible, the moneychangers outside the Temple were extorting the people who were coming to the Temple to worship. They were taking advantage of others' plights and hindering their ability to worship God.
Today, we, Christians and non-Christians alike who live in the USA and other economically prosperous nations, are the moneychangers.
Whether we know it or not, we are taking advantage of others in this world, hindering their ability to worship God because we hinder their ability to live. It calls into question who we actually worship: God or money?
Several years ago, as LWR considered starting a new project to promote fairly traded coffee, a staff member told me, "LWR has an outstanding tradition of offering relief to those people around the world who really need it. We offer quilts, layettes, health kits, school kits, and more. These are tangible expressions of our faith. And the offerings we put in the plate on Sunday morning help us to carry on this vital mission in Jesus' name. But our consumer dollars are hurting the very people our offering dollars are trying to help."
Thus began LWR's pursuit of justice in a major product we purchase. Coffee is one of the most heavily traded commodities. This means that it affects a tremendous number of people globally. Also, coffee is primarily grown in economically disadvantaged countries, and much of it is consumed in economically prosperous countries, like ours.
But, it is the injustice in the trading of coffee that makes this the perfect product to raise the consciousness of all consumer goods.
Most of the labor for putting the coffee into a useable form is done by the small farmers who grow the coffee, but most of the profits go to the "middlemen" who handle it at various stages and the "coyotes" who prey on the small farmers. The coyotes offer farmers much needed cash—today—for beans later. It is only later that the farmers realize that they really did sell their coffee "for beans." Now they will not have enough money to make it to the next harvest, leaving them at the mercy of the coyote once again. The cycle, once in place, is very difficult to break.
Equal Exchange is a for-profit, 100-percent fair trade organization that partners with coffee farming cooperatives and purchases directly from them. No coyotes, no middlemen. They give the farmers access to capital to improve their product, and incentives for organically grown coffee.
The mainstay of their relationship, however, is the guaranteed minimum price that is paid for the coffee beans. The price will never go lower than $1.26 per pound, and will go up if the market goes up. Having a minimum price set, farmers can rest knowing they can make a living. They call this fair trade. People of faith need to be world leaders in the area of Fair Trade. We need to look into our cups when we drink and ask, "Are the few pennies I am saving by purchasing conventional coffee a faithful choice? Who is it helping? Who is it hurting?" And most importantly, "Who am I really worshipping?" Asking questions like these about coffee "filter" into other areas in our lives, raising awareness, and making us more wise and faithful consumers.
Back to LWR Coffee Project
Questions? Email fairtrade@lwr.org to learn more.
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