|
The Ministry of Money E-zine August
2008 |
|
New Ministry of Money Headquarters
|
|
 Reminder:
We've moved!Our new address is:
Ministry of Money
1640 Columbia Road, N.W.
Washington, DC 20009
Phone: (202) 737-7692
Fax: (202) 737-7682
Email: office@ministryofmoney.org
|
Rubber Meets the Road:
Musings on the Journey
|
|
|
Dear Friends,
 I've
just returned from a two-week pilgrimage to Kenya,
leading another group of faculty and staff from
Georgetown University. This was a particularly poignant
trip as we heard from many Kenyans about their
experiences during last winter's violence following the
presidential election. Most everyone we talked to knew
someone who'd been killed or had their home burned down
or had to vacate their land and were now living in a
displacement camp. People are in mourning - not only
for the dead and others who experienced some type of
loss, but perhaps even more so, they are grieving that
their country was this susceptible to hatred and mass
violence between its neighbors.
Yet there was also a sense of hopefulness in that many
people now understand how deeply the divisions among the
various tribes are and that everyone has to actively
work at bridging the divides for their country to move
forward. For all of the pain involved, there is a deep
feeling of forgiveness and a clearer understanding of
why things happened as they did, especially how poverty
and the remnants of colonialism played into the events.
It is in encountering painful situations and reflecting
upon them that we can open to greater compassion and
clarity - which seems to always lead us to renewed hope
and the energy to take the next steps.
While in Kenya, The Daily Nation newspaper printed an
article written by a Kenyan who is involved in the
Millennium Promise Alliance and who had just returned
from a meeting in New York. I'm sharing the article in
this Ezine as I believe it says much to us here in the
West.
Another recent hopeful encounter was an opportunity I
had to speak at a day-long conference on Jubilee
Economics hosted by the Servant Leadership School in
Washington, DC. In addition to Ministry of Money's
presence, the event included presentations and
workshops by Dr. David Hilfiker, Relational Tithe,
Anacostia Hours, Jubilee USA, and Empower DC. I can't
tell you how pleased I was to look out at an audience of
nearly 70 people, 80% of which were under 30 years of
age. These were young people excited about living
differently, believing that Jesus called them to
envision alternatives to the current economic system. We
explored the roots of Sabbath and Jubilee and
brainstormed on what the core messages were and how they
might play out in the context of our lives in the 21st
century. Our young people have a lot to say and have
learned a great deal by watching those of us who are
older - both positive and negative. I came away
energized and relieved that there are young people
stepping up to take their place on the next phase of the
journey.
There are a lot of things happening at the ministry
these days - things that will be shared in the upcoming
MoM printed newsletter and the fall Ezine. We ask for
your prayers and support as we move into our next phase
as an organization.
Blessings for these concluding days of summer,
Jan Sullivan, MoM Co-Director
|
Does Anybody Deserve To Be So Poor In A World of
Riches?: From Kibera to New York
|
|
- by Pete Ondeng,
from
The Daily Nation, 6/20/08
(Photo
is of recent MoM/Georgetown University group walking
through Kibera, a large slum area in Nairobi, Kenya)
This was my third trip to New York City since joining
the Millennium Promise Alliance just under two years
earlier. As an African working for an American
organization, I had the privilege of straddling two
completely different worlds. And what a contrast it was.
Sipping on a rather cold cup of coffee, I listened
keenly to Professor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth
Institute, as he outlined some of the challenges
impeding global efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger.
Professor Sachs is an incredibly intelligent man who has
made it his life mission to challenge the global
community to invest more towards the alleviation of
poverty in Africa.
He co-founded Millennium Promise to mobilise resources
for an integrated rural development project called the
Millennium Villages Project.
As usual, he delivered a passionate presentation that
set the tone for a two-hour strategy meeting at Columbia
University.
I couldn't help marveling at the breadth of collective
knowledge and experience in the small boardroom where we
met. At the same time, however, I felt an old familiar
knot in my stomach as I struggled to reconcile the two
worlds that I straddled.
Continue reading the rest of the article . . .
|
What Does Sabbath Economics Mean for Your
Household?
|
|
 A
Special Money & Faith Retreat
October 17-18, 2008
University
Congregational United Church of Christ, Seattle, WA
Cost: $150 (non-residential)
Sabbath Economics: economics should focus on how
communities of production and consumption can steward,
share and distribute the gifts of Creation equitably and
sustainably.
Sabbath Economics concerns the theoretical, spiritual
and practical tasks of imagining how we might limit and
shape our economic activity in order to keep the gifts
of creation circulating justly among all living
communities.
Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries has developed a model
for helping people interested in Sabbath Economics to
focus practically on their own household economics. The
approach is predicated on the conviction that our
current lifestyles are unsustainable, that we must make
changes, and that the most enduring personal changes are
ones we make
incrementally and deliberately.
The primary question we will be working with is "What
are the next steps I/We can
and will take to journey deeper into Sabbath Economics
here and now, in the context I
live and work in?" No step is considered too small, and
no step too large. We will use the BCIC Sevenfold
Covenant model, which includes addressing our Surplus
Capital, Negative Capital (Debt), Giving,
Environment/Green Living, Consumption, Solidarity and
Work/Sabbath.
As we engage in this discussion, we will see how deeply
related all seven aspects are and where we individually
get "stuck." Though the covenant work we'll do is not
by itself "sufficient" for creating a world that
conforms more deeply to God's dream, it is
"necessary" for the slow but steady transformation into
the Sabbath Economics
vision of there being enough for all.
Retreat Leader:Ched
Myers
Ched holds a Bachelors degree in Philosophy from the
University of California at Berkeley (1978) and a
Masters degree in New Testament Studies from the
Graduate Theological Union (1984).
Ched's books include: Binding the Strong Man: A
Political Reading of Mark's Story of
Jesus (1988), Who Will Roll Away the Stone: Discipleship
Queries for First World Christians (1994), and Say to
This Mountain: Mark's Story of Discipleship (1996,
coauthored), all published by Orbis Books.
Download retreat brochure
|
|
Reflection |
|
- from
A New Climate For Theology: God, the World and Global
Warming by Sallie
McFague, Fortress Press, 2008
Since September 11, 2001, terrorism appears to many
people as the major kind of destruction we face.
Terrorist acts are sharp, clear, and horrible: we all
react instinctively to them with fear and loathing.
Terrorist acts encourage us to see ourselves as good and
the destroyers as evil; they provide us with an enemy
for our world's troubles that is not ourselves. Of
course, when we dig deeper and look at the roots of
terrorism - things such as poverty, racism, market
greed, the struggle for arable land and clean water - a
whole different picture emerges of who is to blame. But
our current popular analysis of acts of terror does not
encourage this kind of thinking. Rather, it tells us
that the terrorists are evil and we, on the other hand,
are good, or at least okay.
But there is another kind of destruction that is slower,
deeper, and involves us more clearly, epitomized by
climate change. Here it is more difficult to escape the
root analysis that, as with terrorism, we are somehow
involved - our understanding of who we are and how we
should be acting is part of the world we see before us.
More people, including children, die in a world being
destroyed by climate change than from terrorist acts;
the dying is slower and for the most part out of our
sight. As such, it allows for our denial and
indifference; in other words, for sins of omission.
Unlike terrorists, we don't actually have to commit evil
acts to participate in the evil of climate change: our
very existance as well-off North Americans living the
good consumer life assures that we are involved. Even
when we try to hide our heads, saying that we don't yet
have all the facts about climate change, we know we are
rationalizing. We know we would rather focus on the
terrorists and their blatant evil acts than on ourselves
and our less obvious but more damaging acts of omission
and indifference. More people and plant life die from
our neglect and overconsumption than from acts of
terror.
So where does this leave us? Burdened with guilt but
helpless? Sorry for what we are doing but not knowing
what else to do? Yes, all of these things, but something
else also comes to mind: repentance. The first step in
behaving differently is admitting that we have not
really and truly been asking God for a better world, not
asking with our whole heart. Do we have the willingness
to turn around, to change, to see ourselves and the
world differently? This is an enormous question and
would take a lifetime to answer, for we would have to
live it, not just think it. But let us at least begin to
think differently with the hope that we might also begin
to live differently.
|
Get Inspired:
The Path to Financial Well-Being
|
|
- by Laura Rowley from
MoneyandHappiness.com
The path to financial well-being begins when we align
money behaviors with core beliefs. What's the best way
to bring them together? You can express your values in
the way you earn money; the goals for which you save;
the things you buy; the investments you make; and your
charitable giving. Following are three ways to help
align your money and values. Focus Your Buying Power
American women represent the largest economic force in
the world -- spending nearly $5 trillion a year, by one
estimate. That's an incredibly powerful force for
change. Check out
www.responsibleshopper.org, a site that offers
information on the ethics of the brands you buy and the
stores you frequent. You can find out if they are
polluting oceans, violating human rights or engaging in
other bad practices. The report also looks at a
company's positive activities, whether it's humanitarian
giving or a commitment to improving the environment.
Meanwhile, at
www.sweatshops.org, you can find out how to avoid
buying products made in sweatshops. Both sites are
sponsored by Co-op America, a non-profit group whose
mission is to harness consumer strength to create a
socially just and environmentally sustainable society.
It also sponsors www.greenpages.org, a directory of
companies that have agreed to be screened by Co-op
America for good practices.
|
The Backlash
Against Tithing
|
|
As
Churches Push Donations, Congregants Balk; 'That's Not
the Way God Works'
Can you put a price on faith? That is the question
churchgoers are asking as the tradition of tithing
-- giving 10% of your income to the church -- is
increasingly challenged. Opponents of tithing say it
is a misreading of the Bible, a practice created by
man, not God. They say they should be free to donate
whatever amount they choose, and they are arguing
with pastors, writing letters and quitting
congregations in protest. In response, some pastors
have changed their teaching and rejected what has
been a favored form of fund raising for decades.
The backlash comes as some churches step up their
efforts to encourage tithing. Some are setting up
"giving kiosks" that allow congregants to donate
using their debit cards when they attend services.
Others are offering financial seminars that teach
people in debt how they can continue tithing even
while paying off their loans. Media-savvy pastors,
such as Ed Young in Grapevine, Texas, sell sermons
online about tithing. And in a shift, more Catholic
parishes are asking churchgoers to tithe, says Paul
Forbes, administrator of McKenna Stewardship
Ministry, a nonprofit that says it has encouraged
more than 500 parishes to tithe in the last decade.
Popes haven't requested tithes in recent decades.
Church leaders say tithing isn't just a theological
issue, but a financial one. Americans gave an estimated
$97 billion to congregations in 2006, almost a third of
the country's $295 billion in charitable donations,
according to Giving USA Foundation, a nonprofit
educational organization in Glenview, Ill. But giving to
religion is growing more slowly than other types of
giving, says Patrick Rooney, director of research at the
Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. That's
partly because people are attending church less
frequently, says Mr. Rooney, and are giving to a wider
array of causes, including secular ones.
- Continue reading the rest of the article . . .
|
|
Comic Relief |
|
 |
|
Ministry of Money Calendar of Events |
|
Septmber
19-21, 2008
Money &
Faith
Retreat
Rapha
Community,
Syracuse, NY
(closed
event)
September
26-28, 2008
Ministry of
Money Board
of Director
Meeting
Washington,
DC
October
17-18, 2008
What Does
Sabbath
Economics
Mean for
Your
Household?
with retreat
leader,
author and
activist
Ched Myers
University
Congregational
United
Church of
Christ,
Seattle,
Washington
Cost: $150
(non-residential)
Contact:
Harriet
Taylor
(202)
737-7692 ·
email:harriet@ministryofmoney.org
Download
Retreat
Brochure
October 6-8,
2008
Money &
Faith
Retreat
Birmingham,
AL Pastors
Retreat in
Washington,
DC (closed
event)
November
1-2, 2008
Money &
Faith
Retreat
Parkway
Presbyterian
Church,
Winston-Salem,
NC (closed
event)
January 2009
Pilgrimage
to Nicaragua
Cost: $TBD
Trip Leader:
Mike Little
Contact:
Harriet
Taylor
(202)
737-7692 -
email:harriet@ministryofmoney.org
Spring 2009
Pilgrimage
to
Israel/Palestine
Cost: $TBD
Trip Leader:
Harriet
Taylor
Contact:
Harriet
Taylor
(202)
737-7692 -
email:
harriet@ministryofmoney.org
|
|
Quick Web Links |
Register Online for Events
MoM Calendar
Links
More About MoM
Ministry of Money is now able to take credit
cards for donations, fees for
retreats/workshops, study circle handbooks, and
for pilgrimage fees. Contact Harriet at (301)
428-9560 for info or visit the MoM web site as
online credit cards payments will be available
soon!
|
|
$cholarships May Be Available |
There may be
scholarship funds available for people needing
financial assistance to participate in Ministry of
Money Retreats and Pilgrimages. Contact Harriet at
the Ministry of Money office for more information:
(202) 737-7692 or by email at
harriet@ministryofmoney.org
|
| |
|
|
