Last Sunday was Pentecost and my church (Ringwood UCA) launched an idea that has been bubbling away for a month or two. Pentecost is celebrated in the church as a great out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, like fire and wind that fueled growth of the movement. My church decided that it would fuel a great rushing wind of new ideas, projects and imagination in our little patch of the world.
How, I hear you wondering? By giving every member of the church who was interested, regardless of age or other barriers, $100 to kickstart something God is calling us to. We were told to seek the will of God and to share what we are going to do so we don’t all do the same thing. Feed back also helps us celebrate the ideas as they take shape and happen.
It is about stewardship but this is not a money making idea where we hope to raise more than was given out. It is not some weird ‘use your talents’ Biblical interpretation used to back up capitalism in the church. It is not ‘you have to spend money to make money’ thinking. Rather it is about generousity, creativity and birthing new ideas that may not otherwise happen.
People are encouraged to think beyond simply giving it away to an existing cause as that is an easy option and we already do a fair bit of that. Interestingly, lots of people were finding it hard to get past ideas that were simply giving it away or making more to give away more money. ”Captive to that thinking are we”, says Yoda. The ideas which people are sharing are broad and many of them came back to projects which are already supported in some way, but there was a need to push past the ongoing funding of the project to something more personal and new.
Many of the conversations people are having are about making personal the concepts of poverty, justice, community, support and mission. Collaboration, collectives and affinity groups
