Destroying Evil with Generosity

Last Monday night, our Capacity Core Team hosted a conversation around Circle of Hope's Common Fund Budget. We are committed to the counter-cultural act of talking about money. Believing that how we allocate our common resources is a reflection of our values, 32 people gathered to discuss where we stand on Sources (income) and Uses (spending) half-way through the calendar year. We heard about some significant new uses in 2013 on technology, speaker honorariums, and QuickBooks online - which are all increasing our Capacity for meeting the next person in our region. We discussed a new way of allocating our World Hunger Giving, and will be sending a percentage of our Common Fund giving with Macha Mission, a community, hospital, and malaria research center founded in Zambia. Finally, we brainstormed in small groups about how we might allocate our resources in 2014 - centered around our 3 main uses: Human Resources, our shared spaces, and technology. We hope that this conversation serves as a springboard for further discussion about how Circle of Hope shares our common resources.

If you would like to continue the conversation, please reach out to Capacity Core Team members Alison Wear, Michael Heneghan, Kyle Zieba, or Aaron Foltz. If you have shared with Circle of Hope's Common Fund in the 2nd Quarter of 2013 (April, May, June), you will receive a Statement via email in the next week or so. Please check your statement for accuracy, and contact Operations Manager Matthew Abraham with any questions or concerns.

Reporting: Alison Wear

Debt Annihilation Team - Another Round

On Monday night, our second round of the Debt Annihilation Team officially commenced. Our first group launched in 2010 with five people - nine lines of credit totaling over $22,000 in consumer debt. With $8,000 of seed money, our plan would save thousands of dollars in interest to credit card companies, expedite freedom from debt, and teach a number of healthy financial habits and understanding through being formed into a little community within our church. This first group, whom we affectionately referred to as the "astronauts," took a lot of risks and courageously demonstrated that our ideas can work. We learned a lot along the way as people grew, their situations changed, and four of the five made it to the finish line and are nearly complete replenishing the seed fund - which will be most of the money we need to prospect for a third group.

Our second group, now underway, is five people again. This time with nine lines of credit and over $26,000 of consumer debt. Our $10,000 seed fund and improved relational structure would save over $7,000 in interest to predatory credit card companies over the next two plus years. After 21 months, the debt will be erased. After 38 months, the seed fund will be replenished for a future group to use. In July, we'll have our first meeting hosted by one of the Group members, a simple meal at their home to help foster love and enjoy hospitality and generosity as part of Christ's antidote to shame and scarcity.

Keep the Debt Annihilation Group members, their Everence-trained coaches, and our administrators in your prayers as we take some huge swipes at bondage while taking strides towards more freedom together.

Imaginarium: Getting Free of Mammon

Joshua Grace speaking to us on sharing, saving, spending.

On Monday night, Circle of Hopers gathered for an hour to discuss money and how as a community we should use it. Among the personal anecdotes shared, there was also some insight that the common perspective of spending, saving, and sharing—a perspective that is rooted in how much one makes—should in fact be flipped to sharing, saving, and spending, and that sharing money was even reported by research studies to bring much more happiness than spending on yourself. 

The group also took an in-depth look at how Circle of Hope gives away our money and the various ways in which we are attempting to practice sharing, saving, and spending. The hour ended with Vanessa Caruso leading the group in pooling ideas that would help us take steps to getting more responsible with the way we spend and how we share. Some of those ideas included war tax resistance, sharing stories of giving, learning economic policy, tracking a congregation's spending, and practical workshops.

Rob Wetherington ended the hour by leading the group in a prayer toss where the group prayed for our wisdom in how to handle money, and as a symbolic action threw money at the wall.

Some of the results of our prayer toss.