Community Fund (Please read!)

[Tony] I was recently compelled in my spirit to share one of our latest house endeavors with you.

Last week all of us at Ekklesiah sat down together at a close-by Wells Fargo, and with the help of our friendly Wells Fargo personal banker, Victoria, we officially set up a Community Fund. Because we are not officially a recognized non-profit organization (at least not yet), we set up what is basically a joint personal checking account. Each one of us has our name listed on the account as well as our own personal check cards with equal access to both deposit and/or withdraw money. This is a huge step for us in that it directly challenges our conceptions of what is “mine” and what is “not mine.”
Here are some of the most general reasons for our decision to move forward as a community into this new place of trust in each other and in God:
In the last year here at Ekklesiah, one of the most profound truths and challenges we have faced personally as well as in community is the profound implications of the act of abandoning possessions. From our start last September, together, we have made considerable progress in the practice of that world view. We are constantly identifying those things in our lives that we lord over, that we don't want to share, that we were convinced we had a “right” to have as our own, and laying them down to God and to the community to be shared and enjoyed by all, as God sees best fit. This was an adventure that began with hats, as we realized that if we all put together the hats that each of us owned, we would still have those hats, and we would have all of the other hats to choose from as well. Sharing is a concept most children are exposed to via Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street throughout childhood, however, I don't know if any of us had any idea of what that simple concept actually looked like in practice until this last year. We now share hats, clothes, neck-ties, scarves, books, instruments, food, personal space, computers, shoes, jackets, etc. as we grow into an ever growing understanding of what those early Christians meant when they said “abandoned possessions.” It is time for us now to share our money:
By having a joint personal bank account together, we are able to start small. Right now, the general idea is that we all continue doing our own finances separately. So, if I get a paycheck, it still goes into my own personal bank account, and this is where I will still pay my bills from, manage expenses from and maintain savings from. The joint bank account is then an additional account to which each of us will be able to contribute as we feel led. Basically, this is an account to which each of us will “tithe” to as our own personal responsibility to the “church” community that is Ekklesiah. This money will then be used to bless others around us with.
Because none of us are really rollin' in da Benjaminz, there is definitely a collective constraint to our ability to give financially to serve the needs of those around us. At least, on our own, we have very little financial freedom to allow for consistent financial giving. Together, however, a joint bank account will allow each of us to contribute what we can afford, leaving a collective sum of money that is much more than we are able to give on an individual basis and a channel through which we can give more, yet do so in a much healthier and more responsible way.
This joint account will also teach us, first hand, the value of Christian money management. We have called each other to budget a set amount of money (which each will determine on their own) and budget for that donation on either a weekly or monthly basis. There will be profound accountability values through a shared account, as each of us will have full access to online banking statements. Every one of us now carries a responsibility to use the money in this account in whatever way is in the best interest of the others in the house as well as in our local community. This is a dramatically different and challenging approach to how our culture teaches us to manage our money. In a free market capital system, the value of money is meant to serve one's own self-interest. We work to receive income, we receive income so that we may use it as we see best fit for our own interests. In contrast, in sharing our income, we declare to ourselves and to those around us that we do not truly “possess” that money on an individual basis. In other words, in community, we recognize that God provides for us not so that we have the ability to serve our own interests but so that we have the ability to serve the will of God as well as the needs of those around us before our own.
Furthermore (and worthy of its own bullet point), we learn not only to trust in one another, but also to trust God in much deeper and directly applicable ways. Over the last year we have seen in tangible ways a direct correlation between our ability to trust and our ability to abandon possession. The more we learn to trust in one another, to do as Christ did and become vulnerable to the love and grace of those around us, the easier it is to let go of those things we are called to let go of so they can be shared and used as gifts God has given to all of us. We must learn to trust each other in those things that have the potential to impact us in direct ways. It is also in this way that we come to a deeper understanding of our God who provides. In order to come into that understanding, we must first be able to trust that He is that, to lean on Him, knowing that He gives what we need, but not always what we want.
There are three distinct places in the bible in which the text implies that in a community of people, there was not one person who did not have their needs met by God. In these three instances, we see glimpses of a world that is functioning without the immediate reality of poverty, homelessness, starvation, malnutrition, or struggle for basic needs. The first place we find this is in the Garden of Eden. Here, before the fall, we see that, in the unity they shared with each other and with God, they lived in complete dependence on the provision of their Creator. In the Garden, every need was provided for. The next book of scripture, Exodus, then gives us an interesting parallel. Like the Garden, after the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, a new community of people is formed. God takes the Israelites from their oppressors and, for 40 years, isolates them together in the wilderness. Here God begins to deconstruct and reconstruct the way in which they see themselves, God and their relationship to each other. During this time, the Israelites, like Adam and Eve, were completely dependent on God. There is a particular instance, early in their 40 year adventure together, in which God pours down manna from the sky to provide His people with food. After doing this, God gives specific orders to His people: take what you need, and only what you need. The Israelites obeyed this command, and because they did, scripture tells us that everyone in the community had what they needed. Everyone had enough. Finally, in the book of Acts, we find another new community. After the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, these Christ followers devoted themselves to living according to the way Jesus had taught them not long before. Like in Exodus, the followers of Jesus are led to share their possessions, leading them into a fellowship together in which “there were no needy people among them.” The implications throughout these three parallel passages give us a lens through which God continually calls His people to see the world through. The God that provided to Adam and Eve is the same God that provided to the Israelites is the same God that provided to the earlier Christians and He is the same God who is providing now. There are enough resources in the world: enough food, enough clean water, enough energy, etc. to provide for the needs of every person on the planet. Yet, some have excess and many have almost nothing. Some of us have taken more manna than we need without considering that by doing this, we will leave another person with less manna than they need. My point:
In sharing our things and our money, the fellowship and community that God forms between us is one in which there will be no needy people. We become a reflection of what God desires to do through us: to deliver justice, to bring salvation, to set the oppressed free. We put our faith not in the false assurance of what we can provide on our own, but in the trust and faith that we are to rely on the provision of a God who loves us dearly and the God who dwells within those Christians around us.
Our community fund is a small venture now. It is simply a place where we can collectively put resources towards a vision that we agree on, have discerned together and desire to move towards. Perhaps, one day, in the near or far future, we will be ready to take this idea on in greater capacities, but for now, its a donation/collection fund.
Like I implied earlier, we have discussed and decided that the way in which we feel God is calling us to use this money is for those in our surrounding community whom we are ministering to. This will be money used to buy food for families we know who struggle to put food on their tables. We will use this money to buy hats and mittens this winter for kids who go to school across the street whose parents simply can't afford them. We will also use this money as a resource for when we host community events. For example, this money would have been used to buy poster-board for signs, coffee and doughnuts for our free yard-sale earlier this summer. In many ways, we see ourselves as a church, and through our prayer and discussion together, this is how we have decided that God would have us use this money as a church.
I wish I could keep writing about this, as it is ideas like these that will keep me forever captivated and fascinated by the way in which God calls us to live alongside one another. There are two reasons why I have posted all of this for you to read: first, we love to teach, we love new ideas that are actually old ideas, we love to be in dialogue about what God is doing here at Ekklesiah, and we desire to share that with many. Second, over the last couple of weeks we have been working through and discussing a formal vision outline for the house to continue to move towards. We have agreed that our ministry is three-fold here. First, is our internal community. Basically, building fellowship together, as brothers, that is founded in, for and because of Jesus Christ. This is the ministry that we provide for each other, as we walk together towards God. Second, is our ministry to the neighborhood around us: to invest in relationships, to meet needs when we can and to provide other resources to connect those with greater needs with places that can meet them, and to allow the fellowship and way of life we have within the house to be an outward expression towards our neighbors. Last, we will invest in a ministry to the Church. Here, we will align ourselves, contributing resources to the initiatives of other local churches as well as being a channel through which faith-based initiatives can support missions such as our own. The act of sharing our money, collectively and openly in the magnitude in which we are doing so serves all three areas of our ministry to some degree. We grow, we serve our neighbors, we invite others in. Given that context, this joint bank account will also allow for outside contributions to be made to Ekklesiah as a community instead of just one person with it. I am not going to ask for money. I simply am writing now to make it known that the possibility is there, it is organized and it is open to accountability. We have had a handful of people ask if there is a way to donate to Ekklesiah as a faith-based organization. Now, we can honestly say that, yes, if that is a call God has put on your heart, we have the means in which to do that- and we are very very greatful for your obedience and compassion.

Sorry this was so long (even though, if you know me well, you know I had a blast writing it)
God bless