"Our Church Meeting has passed a resolution to use tea and coffee that carries the Fairtrade Mark. We will also through prayer, study and action develop our witness in the area of trade justice."
Churches are still being invited to send in pledges, using these words, to record their determination to act justly in the matter of trade, so that the world's poorest people are given a fair deal.
For many of us, questions of how to act justly in this world arise as we do our weekly supermarket shop. What brands of tea and coffee do we use? And do we go out of our way to look for other fairly traded goods? The Fairtrade mark is increasingly prominent – there's really no excuse.
Church & Society Committee Convenor Tjarda Murray told the autumn Synod in 2003 that when enough pledge forms are sent in, we would be able to call ourselves a Fair Trade Synod. This goal was realised at our Synod at Kingston Park in October 2004 - but there is a long way to go yet, before all our churches are signed up!
At our Synod meeting at Roker in October 2005 we received acertificate from the FairTrade Foundation, recognising our status as a FairTrade Synod. Other Churches and organisations in the North East have been moving in the same direction, and plans are now afoot to declare the North East a Fair Trade region.
Find out more about Fairtrade from the Fairtrade website.Find out about Trading Fairly