The Global Market

History of Global Market at Fellowship Congregational Church

Before the idea of the Global Market was born, a small group of members concerned about economic justice reacted to the first “God Is Still Speaking” T-shirts. The shirts had been printed on Hanes shirts which the group knew used “sweat shop labor.” They phoned and wrote letters to the National Office to discuss their concerns about the T-shirts. After much discussion locally and nationally, we were able to buy T-shirts from fair wage sources. Many in the Congregation had not heard of fair trade, and a dialog sermon between a member of the fledging group and a member for Awareness was presented. This group was the beginning of the Economic Justice Committee.
At the same time, two other similar events were happening. Shannon Howard was developing a mission in Nicaragua. She was returning to the USA with handicrafts that had been made there and purchased at a fair price for sale here. This developed into Esperanza Èn Acción
The second inspiration for the Global Market was a result of members of our Church going on the Community of Hope’s mission trips to Nicaragua. They were struck by the meager life of the people there. Besides the mission trips, they became aware that if the people could get a fair wage for their work, their living standard would be much improved.
One of the returning members, Debra Salazar, was awed by and dedicated to help Nicaraguans she met. As a result she made arrangements to sell fair trade coffee in our Narthex every Sunday.
One zealot, me, was bothered by the selling of things in the Narthex. Both Debra and I were on the Board of Outreach. When Debra made her proposal, I objected. Not because I was against the selling of fair trade coffee but because I was against the exchange of money in our sanctuary. After some discussion, Karen Spradlin mentioned the idea of a church store.
My father always told me that the person who sees a problem should be the one to help find a solution. Thus we began working with the Board of Outreach and Cabinet to create a place that would sell Debra’s coffee, Shannon’s Esperanza, and Awareness items. The Board of Christian Education made a wonderful offer. After the renovation of the Education and Administration Building was completed, one of the classrooms they didn’t need at the time was offered for the church store. It was approved by Trustees and Cabinet. The Board of Outreach appoints the chair of the Economic Justice Committee which oversees the church store. Nancy Eggen is the heart and soul of the Global Market and chairs the Economic Justice committee.
The Congregation then went through a process of selecting a name for the church store. This was intended to help the church feel ownership of the store. The store was named the Global Market and opened August 31, 2003 with a sale of over $240. The total sales over $71,000. We are thankful to the members of the Congregation for their continued support.
Rich Curby