bcmatson

The personal weblog of Bradley C. Matson.

Thursday, May 29, 2008  

There are two worlds.

One where people are poor. The other where people have money to buy things.

Color us innocent, but we think there should be one world.

So we set up Trade as One so people in America can buy things from people in the developing world.

We get beautiful and useful things. They earn a living.

That sounds like a fair trade to us.

Trade as One (TaO) is committed to selling only fair trade products, giving others in developing countries a chance at earning a stable income, and deterring women and children away from sex trafficking as a way of life. Fair Trade means TaO allows artisans from around the world to freely express themselves through their products, and use their talents to make beautiful things for us. Visit TaO, buy something for yourself or a gift for someone special, and support an economically just global trading system.

Website:

Tuesday, May 27, 2008   Small Group


Holland Small Group is Back. Small Group 2.0 is new and improved, a great time to hangout, reflect and seek some truth. All truth seekers welcome.

Meeting Tuesday nights at 8pm at 11 West 14th Street, Holland, Michigan, 49423, North America, The Earth, The Galaxy, The Universe.

Here's a rough tentative schedule of the weeks ahead-
Tuesday 8pm

May 27th - 2.0 Kickoff :: snacks, lawn games, introduction
June 3rd- Topical Study "Love"
June 10th- Love Part 2
June 17th- TBA [Bradley's in Nicaragua]
June 24th- TBA [Bradley's in Nicaragua]
July 1st- Commission Possible

Thursday, May 08, 2008   Hans Nielsen Hauge - His Life and Work





from http://www.haugeinstitute.org/



Hans Nielsen Hauge was born on April 3, 1771, on the Hauge farm in the Tune parish of Østfold and he died March 29, 1824, on the Bredvedt farm in Aker outside the city Oslo. His life corresponded with a time in Norway that was filled with suffering, war, need and great changes -- a situation which was also true for his own life. He was born as a lower-class person in the Danish/Norwegian kingdom; he died as a respected middle-class man in a new Norway. His associates, the Haugians, were good farmers, craftsmen, and merchants who came to play an important part in the building up of life after 1814.

Hauge’s life falls into four parts:

Through his confirmation instruction, devotional books andhymns, the lay folk learned to know what true Christianity was. In additionto this, Tune had an extreme pietist, that is, a Herrnhuter, as pastor. He wasinfluenced by a sentimental piety, believed in conversion and dwelt upon Jesus’ suffering and blood. However, the pastor realized that Hauge hadpromise and let him use his own private library. In addition to his bookishinterests, Hauge was handy, shrewd and rich in initiative.Two features characterized Hauge’s life before 1796: Pietistic Christianity and strong initiative and enterprise. After 1796 each of these strengthenedthe other. At the same time there was a necessary opposition to The Age of Reason and Enlightenment, theory and rationalism, which at the end of the 18th century was strong among pastors, officials and a large number of the middle class.

The restrictive boundaries the upper class gave to personal initiative, social movements and mobility. April 5th, 1796, was the soul-changing day in Hauge’s life. While he wasworking in the fields, he was singing «Jesus for Thee and Thy Blessed Communion.» When he came to the second stanza, he later wrote, «My mind wasso lifted up to God, that I didn’t know myself.» This is not the language ofa classic conversion from the awakening of Christian faith, but an ecstaticexperience with parallels in mysticism. The experience filled him with certaintythat he had a calling to be a witness to his nation. He began that sameday, first to his family, then to those in his home village, and soon to theneighbouring villages. In 1797 he began to travel around most parts of thecountry.

Hauge’s meetings and activities conflicted with the current Lutheran understandingof the pastor’s office and with a declaration from 1741, theConventicle Act. Its purpose had been to bring the pietistic lay meetingsunder control of the state. The pastor was to be informed beforehand andpreferably be at the meeting to assure that the preaching was not sectarianor attached to the spiritual or secular authorities.Hauge was not deterred by the Conventicle Act. And in late 1797 he was arrestedfor the first time while holding a meeting in Glemmen; and from thattime on, until the fall of 1804, he was imprisoned 10 times. During theseyears, he travelled most of the country, often on foot, holding meetings andwinning converts so effectively that we speak of this as the first Norwegianfolk movement. It shows, not least, the sensational spreading of the selftaughtpeasant’s son’s writing at the time.

Hauge’s practical sense and his enterprising ways saw all the unused possibilitiesaround him. He thought it was wrong that only the worldly-mindedshould harvest the earnings from merchants, factories and the like. For himwealth was an expression of God’s blessing. The correct Christian understandingwas not to let the material bind one but to be a faithful and wisesteward over what God had given one.He began a business in Bergen in 1801, and for him the work of running a businessand preaching went hand in hand. With such ideas he not only opposedthe pastor’s station, he also threatened the merchant’s patrimony. The result ofthis was a reputation for economic success and growth among his followers.

Some Consequences of Hauge’s Work.During Hauge’s time, the farmers were bound to the farm and the areawhere they had grown up, a tradition that had remained for centuries.Sons took over their fathers’ farms and people remained where they hadalways been. There was no tradition of leaving one’s place of birth, andneither was there any tradition of getting established elsewhere, nor ofdoing anything else. Hauge was born into this particular tradition.Hauge’s preaching released a spiritual liberation among the people inthe provinces. It stimulated individuals to making independent choicesin spiritual and eventually in practical matters as well. As a result farmers’sons moved away from their farms to establish themselves as tradersin the towns, or moved to other parts of the country to live and work invarious fields. Over a period of time, there were businesses run by theHaugians all over the country and many of them, encouraged by Hauge orother brothers, moved to other areas to start or run businesses.

Some established shops, others started with handicraft while yet others startedup factories and other industrial projects. A mental and spiritual liberationoccurred which was without comparison in Norway at that time.Interest in Hauge’s letters and writings stimulated the majority of thepeople to learn to read and write. This contributed to a general increaseof knowledge in the population. It was well known that Haugians read agreat deal and that they were knowledgeable people, which contributedto the fact that many Haugians received positions of trust and influencein the community.

Hauge also preached equality between men and women. He encouragedmen to learn to do housework and women to work on the farms. This wasrevolutionary at that time, and not everybody took it seriously. Hauge hadno objection to placing women in leadership positions, whether it was inbusiness or as preachers or.... in the Societies of Friends. The most importantquestion for him was placing the right person in the right place. Healso placed great emphasis on the equality of the sexes in his teaching,but after his death this idea eventually faded out.It is difficult to document to what extent Hauge and the Haugians influ-enced the historic events that unfolded in Norway at that time. However,certain basic traits of the Haugian movement represented somethingcompletely new and contributed in their way to the revolution. For example,the fact that the Haugian movement was countrywide was one ofseveral factors, which contributed to broadening individuals’ perspectivefrom the local to the national view. During Hauge’s lifetime, people wentfrom considering themselves as part of a class in the districts somewherein the country, to considering themselves as mobile individuals, citizensof Norway with the responsibility and the possibility of influencing Norway’sfuture.

The fact that people learned to see themselves as individuals in a national context to a greater degree contributed to the development of a strongernational identity, and this consciousness in turn contributed to a growingnational spirit of community. This eventually led to an increasing desirefor national independence, which the farmers’ uprising induced. In 1814Norway received its own constitution. Hauge himself was not present atthe writing of it, but of the 112 men at Eidsvoll there were 3 Haugians.After Hauge’s death, the Haugians contributed to the abolishment of theConventicle Ordinance in 1842. The clergy had so far enjoyed a monopolyon the preaching of the word of God for a hundred years. With its disappearance,there occurred a tremendous blossoming of freedom to organise religious groups towards the end of the 1800’s. Missionary organisations,temperance societies, and political groups saw the light of day, and to this day Norway has the largest number of organisations in relation toits population.Earlier, trade and trading had been considered incompatible with living agood Christian life. Nonetheless Hauge and his Friends proved that it waspossible to combine spirituality and practicality in an exemplary fashion.

They were honest and dignified in their business dealings, while they understoodthe need for profit and profitability. Instead of laying up as muchmoney as they could for themselves, they used it to reinvest in order tocreate new benefits for a continually growing number of the population.While trading had been reserved as a privilege for the middle classes, ithad now become a living for a growing number of people from all walks of life. This made for a continually growing number of new ventures, andNorway now received a new middle class made up of farmers and othersfrom the labouring class who had found a living through some other venturethan traditional farming.

Conclusion Hans Nielsen Hauge was an unorthodox man who broke both new groundin religion and economic life in Norway. He walk the talk, and influencedpeople wherever he went, whatever their station in life. Hauge contributedactively to a spiritual and mental liberation, making people more independentthan ever, in particular farmers and workers. The influence ofthe Haugian Movement on the Norwegian population contributed to theformation of a national spirit of indentity and community, which was tobecome one of the fundamental pillars of the Norwegian independencemovement. Time has proven that the opinions and principles that Haugelived by, in both his Christian life and his business ventures were timelessand universal. They would be well worth following today.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008   Myanmar Cyclone Help

World Vision
Southern Asia Cyclone Relief Hundreds of thousands of people in Myanmar are suffering in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. They need your help, and quickly. Donate Now As part of World Vision's emergency response efforts, you can supply a Family Survival Kit and emergency assistance to help those who have been affected. Each gift of $25 helps provide a Family Survival Kit, containing things like: Emergency food Clean water, Clean water, Blankets and temporary shelter, Cooksets. Your gift will also enable World Vision to stay in disaster-affected areas for the long haul, rebuilding communities and lives. The need is great; please respond today with your generous support.from http://www.worldvision.org/Worldvision/eappeal.nsf/egift-disaster-response-southern-asia-cyclone-relief?OpenForm&campaign=11365555&cmp=KNC-11365555


International Aid:
Send aid to help those in Myanmar Make a Donation
from http://www.internationalaid.org/help_now/myanmar_cyclone.php

Articles:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/burmamyanmar/1932796/Burma-Cyclone-Nargis-death-toll-tops-22,000.html
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2008/05/07/89772.htm
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files_156/burma_483/events_6317/tropical-cyclone-nargis-05.05.08_11207.html

Tuesday, May 06, 2008   from http://www.businessasmissionnetwork.com/


God at the Base of the Pyramid - Moses Lee


A key concept when operating a business at the base of the pyramid, or in any place for that matter, is contextualization. And by contextualization I mean a deep understanding and embrace of local culture. A simple example of contextualization in business can be observed by comparing the McDonald's menus in Asia and the United States. For instance, it would be impossible to find any McDonald's in the state of Michigan serving a curry burger. Why? Because people in the state of Michigan don't have a taste for curry burgers and wouldn't buy the product. Indeed, it is critical that businesses be aware of local patterns of human behavior – such as lifestyles, tastes, and social involvement – and develop products and services that suit these behaviors.What I have mentioned thus far is nothing new and probably very elementary to the NextBillion community. However, I would like to suggest that we have left out of the conversation a very important component of culture: religion. It is a subject that is very polarizing and often taboo to discuss in business. But it is important to bring up because religion is very important to people in the communities that we in the NextBillion community are trying to serve.Recently, this dawned upon me as I listened to a presentation by some MBA students from the Ross School of Business on improving the penetration of insecticide treated nets in Ghana. One recommendation that particularly jumped out at me was the following: leverage the church's influence. The presenters noted that in Ghana, Christianity is widely practiced, and as a result, the church is a very powerful and influential social institution.I noticed that most in the room listening to this recommendation, including myself, appeared to have immediate reservations about this recommendation. But why? Perhaps it is because we in the West have been conditioned to separate business from faith. Or perhaps at a deeper level, it is due to relativism that pervades our culture when it comes to faith: what's right for you is right for you, and what's right for me is right for me.Despite this, the fact of the matter is that religion plays a huge role at the BoP. Let's take for example Christianity in Africa. Though the faith has been dwindling in Europe and North America, it is exploding in Africa and Asia, regions of the world where there is a substantial BoP population. In Africa alone, there are approximately 380 million Christians, an unbelievable number considering that there were only 9 million Christians in Africa at the turn of the century.Nicholas Kristof wrote a op-ed piece in the New York Times entitled, "Where Faith Thrives," and made the following observations on faith in Africa:"One of the most important trends reshaping the world is the decline of Christianity in Europe and its rise in Africa and other parts of the developing world, including Asia and Latin America. I stopped at a village last Sunday morning here in Zimbabwe - and found not a single person to interview, for everyone had hiked off to church a dozen miles away. And then I dropped by a grocery store with a grim selection of the cheapest daily necessities - and huge multicolored chocolate Easter eggs. So where faith is easy, it is fading; where it's a challenge, it thrives. "When people are in difficulties, they want to cling to something," said the Rev. Johnson Makoti, a Pentecostal minister in Zimbabwe who drives a car plastered with Jesus bumper stickers. "The only solution people here can believe in is Jesus Christ."If faith is such an important part of the social structure at the BoP, the question that inevitably arises: Should a BoP enterprise involve or partner with religious institutions? And if so, how should BoP capacity builders (i.e. funders, supporters) from the West respond?This follow-up question is very important because many large aid organizations and foundations from the West would find it very difficult to support an enterprise that incorporates religion. But should this be the case? These are indeed weighty questions, but they are necessary to raise as the BoP movement continues to grow and mature.
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