A voice of faith
God calls ordinary people to care, heal, seek peace

Recognizing The Fig Tree as “a communication vehicle for today’s times,” the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, challenged about 180 at the publication’s 20th anniversary benefit breakfast May 21 to help deepen its roots.

“Let us dig the roots so deep that we respond to all God’s people in the dawn of life as children, in the twilight of life as the elderly and in the shadows of life—the poor, the sick and the disabled,” he said, quoting the late Senator Hubert Humphrey.  “The moral test for people of faith today—in this decade, in this century, in this time of wars and rumors of war, in this time of extensive poverty and degradation of the planet—is that God is calling us as average, ordinary, common people to do the extraordinary thing to care for the least among us, to heal our planet on which we live and to seek peace,” Bob said.

“The Fig Tree is a paper that tries to gather our minds to think about faith and action.  It is changing our beatitude of life,” he said, citing Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount’s recognition and blessing of peacemakers, the meek and the poor in spirit.

“God is calling us to change our beatitude—or be attitude—of life.  The Fig Tree helps us to do that. We need to focus on being alert, effective, relevant, creative, focused and alive, and being part of a larger global community we call planet earth.”
Bob said people have done much good work helping The Fig Tree and donating $15, $25 or $50, but he challenged those present to “ratchet up” their thinking, given “the days in which we live.”

He stretched them to imagine the influence of the publication if it doubled its circulation in 2004, if all members of Congress and the President read it and learned what the faith community does. With all the government talk about faith-based initiatives, Bob pointed out that faith-based initiatives come from the bottom up, not the top down.

“God is calling us to change our beatitude of life and change our scale,” he said, turning to reports of prisoner abuse in Iraq and a call to deny the terrorists their victory.  “Let’s not let this nation become the nation the terrorists think we are.”

Few people have the power to bend history itself, but each person can bend a small portion, he pointed out, inviting people to support The Fig Tree so it has impact around the world.

A voice of justice
The Fig Tree turns words into action

Raymond Reyes, associate vice president for diversity at Gonzaga University, recalled first meeting editor Mary Stamp in 1984, when she wrote an article on his work with the East Plateau Indian Cooperative of the American Indian Community Center.

“We can think of ourselves either as physical beings with spiritual experiences or as spiritual beings with physical experiences.  What I find from Mary is that the quintessential identity of our existence is indeed being spirits with bodies.

“Social justice education connects the head with hands with hearts,” he continued, describing the education approach from the Jesuit tradition at Gonzaga.

He sees The Fig Tree as “the community element that transforms rhetoric into social justice activism, allowing the community to communicate with itself, giving voice to the voiceless, bringing us the sacred stories of those that are not heard. 

“The Fig Tree allows them to be heard and become part of the master narrative in the community—including, creating and inviting an authentic, multicultural, democratic dialogue about what it means to be human,” Raymond said.

A respected voice
The Fig Tree offers essential, authentic journalism

The role of journalism is to be the voice of the community, said Steve Blewett, journalism director at Eastern Washington University, speaking of The Fig Tree’s role.

“There are more voices in the community than we can possibly count or keep track of,” he said.  “Everybody wants to be heard.  We live in a world where everyone has an opinion. 
“What we really need is an authentic voice and source, a source we can look to, a serious, responsible, caring voice that speaks to the heart of everyone who is there.  That is what The Fig Tree has been.  The fundamental and essential role of journalism in society is to be that authentic source for people who need to know what is essential and important in our community and society.”

Steve said that when in 1450 Gutenburg invented movable type and the press to communicate to a world exploding with knowledge, many thought he was producing magic and it was from the devil, because nothing could be produced so quickly and so rapidly and in such huge volume.

“Journalism and communication, as Mary knows, is not magic,” he said.  “She does not just wave her wand and a Fig Tree appears every month.  It’s hard work, and it takes effort and commitment.”

In recent years journalism has been in a state of crisis, he said, leaving many wondering what its authentic role is. The Project for Excellence in Journalism captures the essence of the role.  Steve quoted from their report:
“Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.  Its first loyalty is to citizens. Its essence is a discipline of verification. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.  It must serve as an independent monitor of power.  It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.  It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.  It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.  Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.”

Steve concluded, saying:  “That’s what The Fig Tree does.  It’s what it has done for 20 years, and we hope it will do into the unforeseeable future—continue to maintain that level of authenticity and commitment to excellence.  It insures that those people who would otherwise not have the opportunity to speak or be heard have that opportunity.

“That is the essence of essential, authentic journalism and of The Fig Tree,” he said.

A voice of hope
The Fig Tree tells how people do make a difference

YWCA director Monica Walters said that people in the nonprofit community react to mainstream media headlines every day with outrage and despair: babies killed, women stabbed by ex-boyfriends, hate crimes in North Idaho, teen suicides and more.

Seeing those headlines, it is easy for nonprofit leaders and volunteers to think that what they do every day has no impact.

“Then The Fig Tree comes, and we see acts of kindness and goodness from everyday people doing everyday things as part of their daily lives, and making a difference.  We know we are in community with others,” she said.

The Fig Tree brings together the faith traditions and leaders in government, civic groups, nonprofits and neighbors, she said.

“We not only feel hope because we see those acts of goodness on a daily basis, but we also can share our stories as storytellers, telling what we do every day in the trenches, telling those stories in a safe place because The Fig Tree makes it safe.  We know the story will be respected, and it will be told in a way that respects the readers.”

In contrast, she said mainstream media sound bytes or quoting a sentence or two out of context miss the whole story.

“That’s the beauty and gift The Fig Tree is to us in the nonprofit world.  It connects us.  It gives us the opportunity to see what others are doing, how other people are creating new ideas of how to respond to human needs,” she continued.  “It gives us a voice that speaks in depth about what is happening.

“The Fig Tree allows conversation about difficult topics—not only about racism and oppression, but also about the abuse and sexual assault of women and children—to become part of the faith community’s conversation.  Often those conversations were not happening.  Now they are happening,” Monica said.  “It gives us a voice.  For 20 years, we have had this wonderful gift. It’s up to us to keep the gift coming.

A voice for these times
The Fig Tree newspaper and website hold people together

Valarie Compton, coordinator of the anniversary planning committee, said: “I’ve said often this newspaper contains so many and so broadly diversified stories that it’s a wonder it doesn’t explode.”

She invited people to take home and plant tree seedlings provided by the Spokane County Conservation District as table decorations. 

“They are ‘fig trees.’  They just don’t look like it,” she joked. 

“They are yours to take home and plant to remind you of this day when we made big dreams for The Fig Tree.”

A voice of opportunity
The Fig Tree website opens new opportunities

Looking to one future project, the Rev. Jim CastroLang, a United Church of Christ pastor involved in the Fig Tree’s Interactive Website Advisory Team, said:  “We heard that this is a time when we must do extraordinary things. What if the circulation doubles?  What if it explodes into a fuller ministry on the web?”

He cited a prayer in Ephesians that people of faith would have the power to comprehend the breadth, depth, height and length of Christ’s love.
For 20 years, The Fig Tree’s mission has been to discover faith in action wherever it might be found in the Inland Northwest and to write about it, he said.

“With the emergence of the internet and the worldwide web, The Fig Tree editor and board began to dream of expanding the ministry onto the web.  We have begun to work on that dream.  This summer, phase one will begin.  Of course we need money,” he said.

In phase one, the plan is to prepare a prototype of The Fig Tree ministry on the web, expanding coverage in the newspaper through audio, video, photographs and graphics.

In phase two, the goal is to expand the coverage of faith in action activities to the whole Northwest, increasing exposure to and providing content of seminars and other grassroots faith-based events.
 “We hope to provide a C-span type coverage of certain types of action and events.  In this phase, we will develop interactive features to this website, so it is more than an information source, but it also connects people, ideas and activities in a way that builds on creative energies and encourages more faith in action.  Of course we need money,” he reminded.

“It is not our goal to distribute more newspapers by going onto the web, although that would be nice, but to expand the ministry using all the tools of our age,” Jim said.  “We believe that by using many facets of multimedia technologies, not only will The Fig Tree make a bigger splash, but so will the people and activities that put faith into action every day.

“We desire to add to the breadth and length, the height and depth, to the living of the faith throughout the Northwest through churches, service organizations, ecumenical and interfaith groups and spiritual people everywhere.

“Of course we need money,” he repeated.  “So I hope you will help us to expand that dream.”

A voice of diversity
The Fig Tree seeks helpers as it unravels stereotypes

As The Fig Tree unravels stereotypes, makes connections and introduces readers to faithful people and groups who find  creative ways to travel their faith journeys, Fig Tree board member and editorial team member Nancy Minard said it uses new and old-fashioned means of outreach.

“While some ministries covered have obvious worldwide implications, some seem relatively small,” she said, “but there are no small ministries.  We don’t know how far the ripples will travel.”

While production has gone from literal cutting and pasting to a few clicks of the computer, Nancy said no matter how sophisticated the equipment, the tools are just expensive toys without people with old-fashioned communication skills to recognize a story and to write, edit and place it in an attractive format.

“The new equipment makes it possible to create a larger paper and put it on the web,” she said, “but every step of the way has to be fortified with people.  That means staff and volunteers.”

In addition to funding from several denominations supporting the Rural-Urban Connections Project, funding and volunteers are needed to make wider coverage and distribution possible.

Nancy visits her mother in Newport and delivers The Fig Tree to churches there.  Volunteers who travel regularly to or from outlying communities are needed to help with distribution. She also asked for volunteers to write features or sell ads to support pages covering outlying communities.  She invited people to advertise their businesses and events, to help with office work and to be sure The Fig Tree is both distributed and used in their congregations.She urged people interested in recycling to share the May article on a church’s recycling commitment with people in their congregations. 

“We have an office now which will expand possibilities for volunteer help,” she said.  “It’s all about facilitating communication among people of faith, because there are no small ministries,” she repeated.

A voice needing support
Deepening Our Roots Campaign raises funds for media

In an appeal for funds, Pat Copeland Malone uplifted the power of words, The Fig Tree’s expanding possibilities for a ministry of sharing faith in action and the challenge to deepen commitment to God’s shalom. 
“Our theme is words of hope, because folks have been inspired to act in faith because of The Fig Tree,” he said.

Many people have had their stories, deeds of hope and commitments to action shared through The Fig Tree model of ecumenical communication, he said.
Typically, The Fig Tree has asked for the minimum, he pointed out—recalling involvement with it when he served on the former Spokane Council of Ecumenical Ministries Board of Directors. 

“To move into the future, however, The Fig Tree is now asking for what it really needs to expand its circulation and cover more of the many, many stories of hope and inspiration,” he said.

Pat suggested that some people might consider major gifts and commitments for up to five years to support the $27,000 annual budget for the Rural-Urban Connections Project and $55,000 annual budget for the Interactive Website Project or the $75,000 annual Fig Tree budget.

“This is a big vision.  It won’t happen right away, but it will never happen if we don’t begin to realize the dream now.  Our world needs this now,” he said.

The Rural-Urban Connections Project is increasing coverage of and circulation in outlying areas to build awareness of the larger circle of faith in the region.  Its new vision is to have correspondents responsible for area pages.

 The Interactive Website Project will provide a communications infrastructure for the faith and nonprofit communities of the Northwest, to pool resources and extend the circle for sharing hope-giving stories.
Pat suggested small groups work together to raise major gifts to give The Fig Tree leverage to secure grants to realize the dreams.

He also asked for commitments of $1,200 or $2,400—or any amount—for up to five years to create jobs and make ongoing publication, educational outreach, and special events possible.

“We encourage you to stretch your giving to strengthen and deepen our roots and our ability to send forth new shoots of life,” Pat said.  “The Fig Tree started small—from the seeds of an idea.  It has grown slowly from a seedling to a tree, branching out, greening with leaves and yes, bearing fruit in the region.

• “Share in the vision, so we can live in a region, society and world in the shalom God intends and The Fig Tree sees as possible. 

• “Share in the dream, to invest as our editor, staff and volunteers have invested their lives to make this ministry grow and bloom.”

For information, call 535-1813 or 328-0822.