Posted 701 days ago

How to Help the Most Vulnerable

By Rick Reynolds, Operation Night Watch

 

When times are bad, people dream up survival strategies—ways to live more simply in order to get through financial struggles with some money left over. When times are good, they live as though money grows on trees. Christians, conversely, should think about stewardship all the time—not the legalistic 10 percent tithe, but using all our God-given resources for the good of the Kingdom.

With economic collapse looming, we need to look at stewardship in fresh ways, if not new ways. “Survival strategies” from the past are a great jumping-off point for responding to the current crisis. The five responses highlight the importance of interdependence in true Kingdom stewardship:

1. Shared housing: I have never seen the need to shift our 1970s “Christian commune” thinking, and can’t imagine living any other way. My wife Lorri and I have shared our home with more than fifty people during our marriage. These people—foreign students, young adults in transition, homeless people, disabled workers—have enriched our lives. We believe our home was given to us for the purpose of blessing others.

Americans tend to hold onto rigid requirements for personal space, but emigrant communities in our area can teach us that home-sharing has been a response to tough times forever. House-sharing can actually be extremely beneficial to the most vulnerable in our society. Imagine an elderly widow living with a single mother and child: companionship and care for the widow in exchange for free shelter, stability and even childcare, depending on the circumstances, for the mother and child.

Churches can be a catalyst for bringing people together, and could potentially provide by developing existing properties.

1. Tools and Skills Bank: Churches went crazy making tool and resource lists in 1977, all done with pen and paper. These lists help church and community folk know who owns a miter saw to loan out, or who has the “gift” of plumbing knowledge. Now computers speed data collection and minimize the labor of keeping such lists up to date. Even better, churches can host basic skills training to help folks do those tasks that, in better times, they might have paid someone else to do: basic plumbing and home repairs, car maintenance, even money management.

2. Square-Foot Gardening: An incredible amount of food can be grown in a 4x4 plot of ground. How much church and parking strip space is wasted on grass that requires mowing, edging, watering and fertilizing? Instead, we can maximize food production and share produce with friends, neighbors, and food banks, which, during an economic crisis, will be relied upon by so many struggling people.

3. Childcare cooperatives: Childcare is a major expense for younger families and can cause problems for parents trying to stretch limited incomes and deal with inflated prices. Providing childcare for free or through a barter system is a great way to save money and help reduce stress for parents. Anything churches can do to reduce family hardships has economic implications.

4. Crossing the street: What? Yes, crossing the street may be the best thing you can do. Cross the street to other congregations, and find your common ground in Christ. Cross the street and find new neighbors. New challenges and new opportunities await you. But the first step is the hardest: venturing outside your bubble. Turn off the TV and the computer, leave your church building. Stronger church and community relationships will bring a wealth of new ideas, new initiatives that will strengthen survival strategies for everyone.

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