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Dick Nagtegaal
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Great work Dick and Josh! You are an inspiration to us all.
August 12
When I said We've discussed this before, I meant my church.
May 24
We've discussed it a few times. What I love about it that all our Historical Confessions tell us WHAT to believe (according to Scripture) but it stops there. But Biblical Christianity was never exclusively about right knowledge, but fundamentally ab…
May 24
I think it's a great read, would be great for small group study, but do we really need another "confession" that goes unread in the back of our hymnal? Maybe the "is it a confession" debate will make more people aware of it, which would be a good th…
May 19
Fair comment. If and when the churches and individuals discuss this confession, there will be plenty of opportunity to review some of the phraseology used. If we are honest with ourselves......there are some wording issues in our contemporary testim…
May 15
Hi Dick, I don't pretend to be an expert on this confession and these questions are just that; questions that I don't know the answer to or haven't decided where I sit on this yet so please be patient. The first question is to make sure that this…
May 15
There is one key aspect that the Belhar Confession addresses that I believe makes it a unique document. It is the desire to emphasize the need to recognize equality across all races of people and the desire to become "sister communities" in Christ.…
May 15
Hi Dick, we've been trying to help get the word out about the Belhar confession -- some churches are well aware of it, some are just learning, others have yet to hear anything. What are your thoughts about it?
May 14

Profile Information

Location:
Duncan, British Columbia
Church/School/Organization:
Duncan CRC; Relationship Coffee Company
Justice issues I'm interested in:
I'm working with Ugandan coffee farmers, incorporating them into a Canadian company that imports organic, fair trade, shade grown, bird friendly coffee from Africa.
Attempting to convert all CRC churches to use relationship coffee and other fair trade farmer direct products in their weekly church functions.

I believe we can do much better that fair trade in helping producers (farmers, etc.) in under developed countries to gain access to world wide markets and benefit from their countries resources, instead of simply being a supplier of cheap labour and products to the wealthy North American and European populations.
Website:
http://www.relationshipcoffee.biz
About me:
I have been a Fisheries stock assessment biologist for over 30 years with the Federal Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans. Have also served on Christian School boards, Church council, and King's College Board of Governors.
I love life, am passionate about reducing the disparity between under developed and wealthy countries, make my own biodiesel, converted our summer cottage to solar power, and am developing a wood-fired hot tub.

RELATIONSHIP BUSINESS MODEL


Fair Trade is a good start, but the Relationship Business Model seems to be the next step and full of benefits that just can’t be delivered through Fair Trade. The Fair Trade advantage is around the assurances that are built into the system. Relationship Business Model is based on layers of trust - between the grower (Farmer Cooperative) and the processor and between the consumer and the processor.
We can buy raw products in a more sustainable and ethical manner. This involves travelling to where the product is grown, building relationships directly with the farmers, creating a joint ownership agreement between the cooperative of primary producers and a North American business involved in marketing and sales of the product, establishing standards for excellence in environmentally sound agricultural practices, facilitating the acquisition of organic certification, providing interim capital funding and micro-finance loans to help producers improve their farming practices, and developing a tracking system to record the location and environmental conditions where the product was grown. This Relationship Business Model reassures the buyer about the high quality of the product and the producer that sustainable income is being directed to the farmers and their families. For me there is something very satisfying about being able to trust people – rather than corporations.
We want to create a truly fair approach to the whole process so that the farmer is connected with the all the steps in production from the farm gate to the product sale. These Coop farmers are encouraged to be part owners in the Relationship Business so they may have a sustainable income to provide for the nutritional, medical and educational needs of their families. Ownership in the Relationship Business will provide benefit from the sale of the raw product but also from the value added product sold in Canada and the USA. The added benefit of ownership will help farmers to become more self sufficient and less dependant on North American brokers, which often take a significant piece of the profit pie.



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Dick Nagtegaal

Belhar Confession

Synod has requested that the churches discuss the Belhar Confession and it's applicability to the CRC church.
Have any of your churches discussed this confession? How many people are aware of this request?
This confession is really a call for social justice.

Here is the link:
www.crcna.org/news.cfm?newsid=176

Posted on May 4, 2009 at 1:44pm — 7 Comments

Dick Nagtegaal

ARE WE CALLED TO END POVERTY ??

"Christians are not called to end poverty"

I read this in the response given by Paul Rhoda (see comment Oct. 29, 2008) to Jeremy Heyboer comments on "A consistent ethic of life and the election".
I don't mean to target on a particular person (I haven't ever met this person), but I do want to pose the question to all justice seekers who frequent this website.

What do most people believe regarding this issue? Do most believe that we are or are not called to end poverty in this world? What is the… Continue

Posted on January 19, 2009 at 5:15pm — 65 Comments

Dick Nagtegaal

It All Started At The Beginning Of Time......

For me, the crux of the justice issue is described back in the fourth chapter of Genesis.

[NIV Translation]
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

It didn't take long before man committed a sinful act against man and humanity asked the question about being 'my brother's ke… Continue

Posted on November 4, 2008 at 8:42pm — 24 Comments

Dick Nagtegaal

Belhar Confession

I believe that it would be an excellent demonstration of actively seeking justice if as many Justice Seekers as possible would write a letter to their CRC Council recommending that their church should overture to Synod to adopt the Belhar Confession. This should become the CRC's current day confession (equivalent to the Heidelberg and Belgic confessions) that addresses three key issues: 1) The unity of the church worldwide, 2) the ministry of reconciliation in the CRC, and 3) The justice of God.… Continue

Posted on October 9, 2008 at 4:35pm —

Dick Nagtegaal

Comments on reading the Bible (Part 1a)

I was not a daily reader of the Bible. It just didn't seem to work for me. Then my wife kindly bought me an Archaelogical Bible and our pastor suggested we read the Bible in a year using the chronological approach and following major themes for each book. Well that combination really worked for me and added additional interests concerning the associated archaelogical details of things I just never heard about. For example, the temple ruins found on Elephant Island (in the Nile R.) that are belie… Continue

Posted on October 1, 2008 at 3:09pm — 3 Comments

Comment Wall (4 comments)

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At 1:37pm on July 30, 2008, Marc Peterson said…
Thanks, Dick. It had that look to it, I just didn't understand how that book got there. I guess I'd have to ask Christianity Today, huh?
At 5:44pm on May 2, 2008, Bill Crofton said…
Hi Dick, nice beard. Just found your site after finishing some meetings today in GR. Good stuff on your site. You never know where people will show up
At 2:28pm on April 8, 2008, Dick Nagtegaal said…
I have not been able to get to the Ecocongregation stuff lately but will continue to pursue it....
Thanks for your patience.
At 6:10pm on January 7, 2008, Cindy Verbeek said…
Hi Dick...nice to "see" you. Please tell me the hair's not real. Looks good on you though. I'm working on Ecocongregation again after the holidays so I'll be pestering...I mean getting a hold of you soon:-) Cheers. Cindy
 
 

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