So much talk about the economy, but what is the economy? Is it just pounds and pence? Dollars and Euros and cents? The Cambridge dictionary defines it as:
the system of trade and industry by which the wealth of a country is made and used.
For convenience sake it is measured in monetary units, GDP etc. Money though has been inflated to the position of a god, all powerful, all knowing, all encompassing, it rules our lives or does it? Money has it’s uses, it is more convenient than bartering at the local shop with a sack of potatoes. Money though is beginning to lose it’s shine, the facade buckling under pressure as people start to ask with louder voices “Is this it? Is this all our lives are reduced to? Measured by the amount of money we earn?”
I have just spent the last four years studying firstly Development Management, as in the type of development of countries and communities and then more specifically Managing Sustainable Rural Development and through it all I have tried to imagine what can shape our economies differently. I have tried to imagine what Kingdom economics would look like. How would God define economy? I am not sure I am much nearer to the answer of that one, but I have discovered lots of different ideas where people have dared to try something different.
In Argentina after their financial crisis, some reasonably comfortably well-off middle class citizens were suddenly and bewilderingly plunged into poverty. How could these people manage? What could they do? Someone had the idea of setting up bartering communities with a local trading currency. This in many ways kept some people going and increased the use of the creative gifts, where people baked pies and cakes and were able to trade them for a hair cut, or a present for a family member, something they couldn’t usually do without normal government issued money. It helped kickstart some businesses and helped a distraught community get by (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,199474,00.html).
Another idea, The Transition Network, started in of all places Totnes in Devon, looks at a world with less oil, imagining what that would look like (http://transitionculture.org/about). They also look at how to improve communities resilience to shocks. Although these ideas preceded the Occupy movement they are similar, people re-imagining what their world could look like with different priorities to the god money.
Kickstarting a new economy requires imagination. Can we imagine what the Kingdom economy would look like? Perhaps God’s economy could start with this?
Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ? …
Maybe the next step is Luke 10:7
……the worker deserves his wages.
Where it doesn’t just apply to pastors and preachers but the person who makes the t-shirt you’re wearing, the suit you wear, the food you eat, the hotel you stay in, in other words the products you buy or the services you use. Let your imagination soar and picture a world based on God economics not the world’s, based on justice not greed – then go and live it!
thanks joanna for this common sense approach. i feel the same about politics. it’s a job. governing a country. i want someone who is good at the job to do it. instead we get people who are good at promoting themselves and that becomes an end in itself, winning or losing is the outcome. neither the “economy” or “the government”, or even the ” presidency” is some magic end in itself. like you say: “Is this it? Is this all our lives are reduced to? Measured by the amount of money we earn?” (or the position we hold).
Thanks for your commentsLiz. I think the Occupy protests certainly showed a different style of politics, much more involved and participatory. In some ways it maybe a slower process to get change done but that is not always a bad thing. How many laws do we really need to change anyway! A move away from the politics of popularity would certainly be a good move
Great post Joanna, think there is a lot to be learnt from other situations – really liked the Argentinian response, think it has something for us in Europe. Can’t get away from a growing sense of forced radical changes and a grass roots response of people on a local level – at some point someone has to start to do something different and see what happens. Be good to keep in touch on this journey into the unknown. I agree imagination is one of the keys..
Journey into the unknown, it sure is. I am excited to see what God stirs in our imaginations for the way forward
Joanna, I’ve only just read this (duh but busy) but yes, I agree. To quote a recent song, “we are the people we’ve been waiting for” and we’ve often thought of that in church context but we need to think wider than that. We are creative in the image of God and I do feel that Totnes and now Bristol (see Bristol Pound) are on to something for this generation (and dare I say, for Europe?) Instead of waiting for politicians to do it (they’ve amply demonstrated they can’t and if they do, it’s controlled to the nth degree) we need our positive creativity to spring into action. Where there is a need, people often respond and if it’s something that will help them too, how much more meaningful is that? Good post. Jane x
Hi Jane, thank you for your comments. Better late than never they say
I know what you mean about politicians and control to the nth degree. I live in Latvia where many things are more controlled than the UK, but that partly comes from a Soviet past. I am moving on to do some research into how the authorities can start to make the space for creativity, how they can look at the communities they wish to develop and then provide the spaces needed for people to own their own development ie let people have their say without fear and how to encourage them to provide their own solutions. I do hope that this will bear fruit. The problem here and in many ex-Soviet countries is expecting the government to solve all the problems – it ain’t gonna happen that’s for sure.