Previous | Next 

Niagara Falls, Ont.
Power of love and forgiveness highlighted


The napalm that burned her skin during the Vietnam War was powerful, but for Kim Phuc, “Love and forgiveness is more powerful than napalm can ever be.” Her words resonated powerfully with the over 500 people attending the Oct. 30-Nov. 3 “Business as a Calling” convention in Niagara Falls, Ont. The convention, sponsored by Mennonite Economic Development Associates, brought together North American Christians in business and the professions to focus on the theme “Overcoming Adversity”.

Phuc recounted the day in 1972 when, as a nine-year-old girl, she was photographed running naked and burned after being bombed by a misplaced US air strike against her village. She described her painful recovery, her later life as a propaganda tool for the communist government of Vietnam, her conversion to Christianity and her eventual escape to freedom in Canada. For Phuc, the challenge was how to forgive the people who had hurt her so terribly. “I asked God to help me learn to forgive,” she said, adding that just as she was healed physically from the burns, God had the power “to heal my heart”. Today she travels around the world raising awareness about and money for children who are caught in war. “I have known war, so I know the value of peace,” she said. “I have lived under government control, so I know the value of freedom. I have lived in poverty, so I know how to value the many things I have. And I have known the power of faith and forgiveness.”

Convention-goers also heard Tom Caldwell, chair of Caldwell Securities in Toronto, describe how he saw himself as a “missionary in the investment business”, called to show God’s love to “customers, colleagues, suppliers and competitors”. Everyone is called to ministry, Caldwell stated. “As Christians in business, we’re in the front line. We have an absolutely essential role to play in society.” He went on to give practical examples of how Christians can show their faith in action – by how they treat their employees, by paying bills promptly, by exercising rigorous honesty in business dealings and by showing fairness and forgiveness. “When I think about the end of my life, I ask myself: ‘Will the world be a better place because I was here?’” he said.

New MEDA president Allan Sauder (middle) talks to convention-goers Rose Burkholder (left) and Katie Kensinger (right).

The convention closed with a presentation by Phil Ebersole, former director of MEDA’s business training program in Toledo, Ohio. Ebersole described how his faith was deepened following adversity in his family. Using Paul’s words in the book of Romans, he recounted how he had found that suffering produced perseverance, character and hope. “In our lives, [bad] stuff will happen. The question is: What are we going to do when [bad] stuff happens? How are we going to experience God?” He went on to say that his own experience of adversity helped him become aware of his own weakness and need for God; increased his compassion for others going through similar experiences; and caused him to “discover new layers of community and relationships” with other Christians. He encouraged convention-goers to “bless the furnaces of adversity in our lives – it can refine us, and unleash us to be Kingdom people.”

Another highlight of the convention was the passing of the presidency of MEDA from Ben Sprunger to Allan Sauder. “I am grateful to have been part of an organization that develops livelihoods for poor people through sustainable development,” said Sprunger in his farewell comments. “I firmly believe God’s hand is at work through MEDA.”

In his remarks, Sauder said that he wants to more “explicitly recognize the contribution” that businesses owned and operated by MEDA supporters make in their communities, and at the same time challenge “each other not to forget the most needy and vulnerable”. He went on to say that MEDA can make a “unique and powerful contribution to the global outreach of the church.”

At MEDA’s Annual General Meeting, also held at the convention, convention-goers learned that in 2001-02 MEDA:

was involved in 27 countries and served 200,000 clients through the work of 179 staff, most of them non-North Americans; had microcredit contracts and investments worth $25 million in 20 countries, and agribusiness contracts and investments worth $10.2 million in 13 countries; is now helping low-income entrepreneurs in 10 cities in the US, Canada and Mexico through its business training program called ASSETS; is helping children in the work force in Egypt to obtain education and increased workplace safety; received $1.9 million in donations.

Next year’s “Business as a Calling” convention will be held Oct. 30-Nov. 2 in Winnipeg.

 – John Longhurst, MEDA

Previous | Next 

Last modified January 10, 2003.

© 2003 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.