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Dear Friends: Kevin Cashman and I have just returned from leading two groups on pilgrimage in Kenya. Kevin led students from the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pennsylvania on a service learning trip. I accompanied a group of faculty and administration from Georgetown University in Washington, DC on a spiritual formation and solidarity-building trip. Though the groups had different focuses and itineraries, both had an opportunity to visit schools and AIDS outreach programs within Nairobi's Kibera slum - considered the largest slum in all of Africa. Also one of the largest in the world, over one million people live in a 630 acre settlement along city railroad tracks. Trip participants who visited Kibera would have a difficult time describing what they saw and what they felt walking through the narrow passageways with rivers of raw sewage running between the maze of make-shift shacks. Sometimes there is not adequate language to express that kind of abject poverty. But I would venture to guess that they would exclaim that they'd never felt so welcomed or so appreciated for their mere presence. In the midst of the overwhelming challenges Kibera residents face on a daily basis, they so genuinely express their joy and hospitality - through warm welcomes, dancing, singing, caring for one another, lively and worshipful faith, and a deep sense of community. And the MoM groups left Kenya with a hunger to experience more of those things back here in the U.S. and a deep desire to reach out in solidarity to the Kenyan people in whatever ways God leads them. Every time I return from a MoM trip abroad, I am further convinced of the importance of these 'pilgrimages of reverse mission' to our organizational Mission. Opening ourselves to the realities of the lives of the materially poor around the world - lives different and yet so similar - breaks down barriers so we can truly become brothers and sisters in God's extended family. It is a mutual exchange - we have so much to learn from one another, so much of God to experience in one another. So, how do we as people of faith in the wealthy world live in this shrinking global environment and in our expanding global economy? How do we reflect God's call for justice and faithful discipleship in this era of globalization? How do the choices we make with the resources we have access to in our everyday lives impact the structures and livelihoods of others around the globe? These are important questions for people of faith to be considering. And for this reason, Ministry of Money has scheduled a retreat on September 16-18, 2005 at Wellspring (metro DC area) entitled, "Transforming Boundaries: Living Faithfully in a Global Economy," with Barry Shelley, economist and author, and Michelle Tooley, Christian ethicist and author. We invite you to join us! This issue of the MoM ezine seeks to broaden our perspectives and insights on the intersection of our spiritual lives and our resources - both our collective resources and our own personal resources. I hope you find these articles relevant and the organizations/publications publishing them of interest as well. Be sure to check out our MoM retreat and pilgrimage calendar - as well as our Benefit Dinner scheduled in Washington, DC in October, with author and activist, Dr. David Hilfiker, MD. Blessings for the remainder of your summer,  Jan Sullivan Dockter, Editor
- By Abid Aslam, OneWorld US, July 9, 2005 (MoM Editor's Note: I include this summary of the G8 Summit from an alternative news source, OneWorld, which gives perspectives other than and in addition to mainstream media coverage. Having just returned from Africa and with the recent Live 8 Concerts held around the world to raise awareness of the devastating poverty facing Africa, I wanted to highlight the uses of some of our collective resources.) Leaders of the world's eight dominant countries drew mixed reviews after announcing an aid boost for Africa and pledging to address global warming at the conclusion Friday of an economic summit. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who hosted the summit in Gleneagles, Scotland of the Group of Eight (G8), termed the outcome an ''alternative to the hatred'' evinced by terrorist attacks on London that overshadowed the leaders' gathering. Rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof, self-styled Africa advocates, welcomed the announcements; but African and Western aid and environmental groups looked askance at the pledges made by heads of government from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States. These, they said, delivered too little aid and debt relief and virtually nothing on trade and global warming. ''The G8 leaders have come not with bold actions but with more promises and empty words,'' African civil society groups said in a joint statement decrying the lack of specific commitments to concrete action in the official summit documents.
A special Money and Faith Retreat with Barry Shelley, economist and author, and Michelle Tooley, Christian ethicist and author. This weekend retreat is scheduled for September 16-18, 2006 at Wellspring Conference Center in Germantown, Maryland. How do we apply our Christian convictions to our economic lives? After an accessible - but not simplistic - introduction to economic globalization we will consider our participation in the global economy in ways that reflect God's call for justice and faithful discipleship. Cost: $250 - all inclusive.
What is the "Prophetic Plunge?" Ministry of Money and Wellspring Mission Group are offering this collaborative five day event, scheduled for October 5-9, 2005. At Wellspring Conference Center, we will have an opportunity to explore the intersection of money and faith from Biblical, emotional and socio/economic justice viewpoints. Kevin Cashman (MoM Director) and Jan Sullivan Dockter (MoM program director) will present several teaching sessions, and Wellspring Mission Group will facilitate large and small group conversations and lead a silent retreat and corporate worship. A highlight of the event will be an experience in inner city Baltimore (the Sandtown/Winchester neighborhoods in west Baltimore) where we will be guests of Pastor C.W. Harris and his New Born Community of Faith. While there for a day and an overnight, we will visit and participate in some of the outreach ministries they have started as they battle the injustice and poverty of their neighborhood. We will learn from the community, and community families will host retreat participants in their homes. The event will begin with dinner on Wednesday (October 5) and end with lunch on Sunday (October 9). It is very important that participants plan to stay and participate for the whole event. Cost: $350 - all inclusive. Scholarships may be available.
A Warrior Has No Safety Net - by Kirsten George I walk on the precarious edge of the new and the old, wanting to shed the locks and lies of a mechanical world, eager to dive into the smooth cool water of abundant life. I am young, I am a woman, I live in a land where I can choose.
- By Jacqueline L. Salmon, The Washington Post WASHINGTON - Numbers have always defined Richard Semmler. He can explain how to find the derivative of a polynomial and solve complex equations. But in his private life, Semmler, 59, has reduced his existence to the simplest equation. In the past 35 years, by working part-time jobs and forgoing such everyday comforts as a home telephone and vacations, by living in an efficiency apartment and driving an old car, Semmler has donated up to half his annual income or more to charity. His goal: $1 million before he retires.
- Excerpted From Living from the Center: Spirituality in an Age of Consumerism (c) 2000 by Jay McDaniel. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They
neither toil nor spin; yet even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like these. - Matthew 6:28 I know a man who gets up in the morning, looks in the mirror, and finds himself asking: "Am I rich enough? Am I attractive enough? Am I successful enough? Am I famous yet?" He doesn't know that God loves him just as he is. As the day unfolds, he then falls into a compulsive busyness, frenetically on his way toward a happiness that never quite arrives. He wants to be just a little more "successful" or "recognized" or "appreciated" than he is. He doesn't feel like he has "made it" yet. He wants his day in the sun. I know his children, too. They think that he is successful when he takes time to listen to them, when he plays basketball with them, when he helps them with their homework. They wish he would work less and relax more. They think that he has already "made it." They think that he is having his day in the sun, when he is enjoying their companionship.
- An Interview with Pamela York Klainer from Issue #29 of the More Than Money Magazine MTM: In your book you talk about "the power that money always conveys." What do you mean by that? The power of money is creative. You don't have to have as much as Bill Gates does to experience that power. You only have to have a little more power-a little more money-than others. In a relationship or in a friendship group, there are subtle things. For example, people will often defer to you. They'll ask where you want to go to dinner. If you're part of a faith community and you're a donor, you may be treated differently than if you aren't. In our culture, the power of money is the power to set the agenda. To not recognize and lay that on the table is naïve. And it is wasting opportunity. Money is a power source, like electricity, which can be used for good, but which can be fatal if mishandled. You can use money to open up opportunities, to create things, to heal, to create linkages. You can also use it to shut down access, to manipulate, to cause people great harm. Once you realize you have money and money is a power source, you can choose how to use it. 2.8 billion people in the world live on less than two dollars a day. For those of us with money, what does it mean to create goodness in an atmosphere like that? For some, the answer might be charitable giving. For others, it might be starting your own business. One thing I know: when you use money to create goodness, it is a moment of astonishing joy.
More Than Money More Than Money helps individuals live more joyful, balanced, and principled lives-through publications and programs that provide a rare opportunity for people to step back and consider how their individual economic activity aligns with their most deeply held values.
TakingITGlobal
The next issue of the MoM ezine will arrive electronically in mid-October 2005. And watch for the upcoming issue of the MoM print newsletter that will be out in mid-August with a theme of "Budgets as Sacred Documents." If you'd like to subscribe to either 'free' publication click here.
Retreats: September 16-18, 2005 Wellspring Prophetic Plunge Retreat Wellspring Conference Center, Germantown, MD Cost: $350 October 28-30, 2005 Money & Faith Retreat All Saints' Church, Milwaukee, WI Cost: $65 February 3-4, 2006 Business, Faith & Money Retreat Walla Walla, WA Cost: $TBD March 24-25, 2006 Special Money & Faith Retreat with Bishop Peter Storey Wellspring Conference Center, Germantown, MD Cost: $TBD Pilgrimages: Israel/Palestine PilgrimageSeptember 23-October 7, 2005 Cost: $3,500 Registration Deadline: August 10, 2005 Ethiopia Pilgrimage January 22-February 1, 2006 Cost: $1,150 Registration Deadline: September 30, 2005 Haiti/Dominican Republic Pilgrimage May 5-19, 2006 Cost: $TBD Registration Deadline: February 20, 2006 India Pilgrimage Stepping Free of the Culture: A Benefit Dinner for Ministry of Money October 22, 2005 - Save the Date!!! Festival Center, Washington, DC Speaker: David Hilfiker, M.D., activist and author of Not All of Us Are Saints and Urban Injustice For information about any of these events, please contact Ministry of Money at (301) 428-9560 or by email at office@ministryofmoney.org
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