I'm loaded. It's official.

Based on my annual income, I found out I'm in the top 3% percent of the most wealthy people in the world [Global Rich List].  Oops.  How did that happen?  I always thought I was "middle class", middle of the road, doing okay...

The Global Rich list provides perspective.

It is easy to find ways of making money disappear, then to assume that we don’t have much.  It's to easy to compare myself to the 3% of the people in the world that have more than I do.  But, as Scotiabank's tagline says, "You are richer than you think."  [Banks will say that sort of thing so that you borrow and spend more – good for them, not so much for you.  But you are most likely richer than you think].  Just because you don't have any money in the bank account doesn't mean you aren't rich.  It might just mean you spend too much, or don't make good financial decisions.

You want to know something crazy (besides me being in the top 3% of the wealthiest people on earth)?  Research has shown that the wealthier I am, the less money I am likely to give in proportion to my income[1] (likely connected to the problem of comparing myself to the 3% that have more, not recognizing how wealthy I am).


I wonder if a early step towards being generous requires accepting that I have more income that 97% of the world.  Looks like its official: I'm loaded.

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I just read a recent stat that claims Canadians give 0.73% of our income.  Less than one percent?

I think it is time that we start giving.  For real.  I am going to pick a random number that feels like it is achievable, reasonable, and biblical.  Let's say 10%.  What would it look like if Christians in Canada gave 10% of their incomes.  Well, in fact, it would look like many, many, many billion dollars.

What would it look like if Mennonites (MWC members) gave 10%?  There are about 135,000 of us in Canada.  Multiply that by 10% of the per capita Canadian income of $43,000 and you get $580,500,000.  That is more than half a billion dollars.  To put that into context, If Canadian Mennonites gave 10% of their income, they could support the worldwide ministry of Mennonite Central Committee 7 times over. [Don't quote me or pay too much attention to the exact numbers here, this wasn't a scientific study...this was only to make a point].

How rich are you?  Find out at http://www.globalrichlist.com/.

How close are you to giving 10%?

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[1] Sider, Ronald.  The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience.  2005. Page 20.  The research was focused on giving patterns of church members in the US over a 30 year period.

A Pledge

My church started pledging a few years ago. Pledging is a process where each family, household or giving unit is asked to complete a form indicating how much money they expect to give in the coming year. Churches can use it to plan their budget so they don’t spend significantly more or less than people expect to give – less likely to have a surprise surplus or deficit!

I’m on the finance committee now and I know that pledging helps the committee plan the annual budget. But the more interesting piece was the effect pledging had on my husband and me. Pledging forced us to go home and actually think and talk about how much we gave to the church.

Money is the last big taboo. We’re pretty silent about incomes, giving, saving debt and spending, even amongst family and close friends. We did talk about money in our house but I don’t really recall any conversations about giving, at least not until the pledging card showed up in our church mailbox. Once home, we set aside some time to look at our income and talk about what we felt we should be giving and what we could be giving. We ended up giving a lot more than we had previously, all because of a card and a conversation.

We’ve also set an annual target giving amount and, if it’s not all out by end of November, we sit and figure out where it’s going to go before the end of the year. It’s kind of fun to have some extra giving money available to meet needs and opportunities that arise.

What about you? Have you ever really thought about giving? Do you give already?  Have you ever talked about it?

Quietly Generous

It wasn’t until after my grandfather died that the family learned all the ways he’d helped folks. Grandpa was pretty easy going and quiet, a very gentle and fun presence in my life. During WWII he was farming full-time and hired a few of the local men that didn’t want to leave their young families, paying them with meat, milk and eggs. The farm wasn’t big enough to need any hired hands, let alone 2 or 3, but he understood wanting to avoid the war and stay home with your family.

He would occasionally stop by a family that was living hand-to-mouth a couple roads over - a single mom with a bunch of little kids to feed and clothe - and convince them to take a box of meat saying it was too much for his freezer and would just go bad. They’d be helping him out if they could use it. (One of the children remembered thinking my grandpa wasn’t very smart since he seemed to have the same problem with extra meat over and over!)

Still others had stories of loans with no interest and no repayment schedule or pressure. Questions were about how their venture was going and how the family was doing rather than when the loan would be repaid. He had a genuine interest in helping enable people look after their families.

Grandpa never talked to any of his children or grandchildren about how or why he did these things. He was a young adult when the great depression happened and he understood making do and doing without.

We weren’t surprised by what he’d done but we were surprised by the volume of stories and people whose lives had been changed by his generosity. His trust and faith in people and his interest in quietly helping improve lives is a story that lives on in our family. Thanks for your example Grandpa!

No Stuff Christmas

Christmas is about giving.

Actually, no, it’s about buying.  No, it’s about spending time with family.

It’s really about celebrating the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel – God with us.  (I can’t really say no to that… but that doesn’t cover it either).

The fact is the Christmas season has become a real mishmash of religion, culture, traditions, family, time off, angry-shopping, over-eating, gatherings, singing.  And the experience of Christmas is quite different from one person to the next.

But for many people it is associated with buying stuff. 

But not for me this year.  To celebrate the fact that Canada’s household consumer debt is the highest it has ever been, I am going to implement my first ever Buy Nothing Christmas.

Don’t worry.  I am not a downer Scrooge.  People will still get gifts.  But this year I am not buying stuff.  Here are some ideas I came up with this morning.  

Both my Reesor and McDowell families have a food-based gift exchange.  I don’t know what you call the game that we play but it involves stealing gifts from each other for about 2 hours until it miraculously ends with a selfless aunt choosing the unknown last gift from the middle (my friend Heather just told me the game is called “white elephant”...is that true?).  Instead of buying a box of chocolates, I am going to give the gift of a homemade dinner at my place.  I have been on a curry kick lately (I think the recipe is on page 171 of the More-with-Less cookbook) so it will likely be that.

For my mom, dad, brother, and Somphou (the IVEPer who lives with my folks), I am going to pay for a family night out to celebrate that we still love each other (and to thank Somphou for putting up with us…).  Dinner, a movie, a concert?  Whatever it is, it is going to be about people, not stuff.

Ok, so maybe it doesn't fit the official Buy Nothing Christmas criteria.  But you get the point.  This Christmas I am focusing on people, not things.  Let's call it a "No Stuff Christmas" (sorry, I haven't had the time to make a really cool No Stuff Christmas website yet).

Whatever you do, my suggestion is this - be creative.  And always remember to give to people who can’t give anything back.  "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."  Always remember that what you have is not yours - it is Gods.  We are stewards of what we have been given.  So give off the top, not with what is left over.

If you need some ideas on how to share what you have, consider some of these options:

1. Donate through MCC’s Christmas Giving Catalogue, or
2. Mobile Give $10 to MCC with your cell.  $10 allows MCC to buy school books and a uniform for young students around the world: 
1. Send a text to "45678" with "MCC" in the comments section where they would normally type their text message
2. You will immediately get a return text message confirming that you are about to make a donation to MCC
3. Reply with "Yes"
4. text someone else and tell them to do the same.

Merry Christmas!

Mutual Aid with Ben Janzen

Faith and money are very much connected, whether we like it or not. Often we try to avoid making the connections, because thinking about faith and money can lead to some pretty difficult decisions - ones that force us to think about how and how much we spend, give, and save (give and save?)...


And many of the habits that we develop (ones that you and I are developing right now) stick with us for most of our lives. Unless, of course, we are willing to consider some pretty tough questions, and also consider the possibility that we may have to change the way we spend, give, and save. And maybe even where we bank...

About 47 years ago, a group of Waterloo Mennonites got together to explore a response to what they were seeing and feeling in their churches around faith and economics. At the heart of their discussion was the concept of mutual aid, “bearing each other’s burdens”. That led to a discussion about how a faith-based credit union could be an ideal way for church members to support each other, their churches and to conduct financial business in keeping with their faith.

“Why a credit union and not a bank?” you might ask.

Here’s a video (thanks to some credit union friends in Alberta) that shows some of the reasons why:

Thrift dance party

If you are interested in getting involved with MCC consider volunteering at a thrift store.  They have dance parties like this most of the time.  (Watch the video...it is a good way to get your Monday started off right)

Thrift raises millions of dollars for MCC work every year.  By supporting thrift you are helping your neighbour.

For a list of Ontario thrift locations check out http://ontario.mcc.org/thrift.

MCC: Connecting the World Through Service

Ever heard the musical creations of Playing For Change?  Their motto is Connecting the World Through Music.  I like it.  A good motto and an interesting project.

"Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music...music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people."

I grew up in a family and in a community that sings a lot together.  And in my travels throughout the world, nothing has brought me closer to the communities that have hosted me more that music.  Music has an good way of bringing people together.

So does service.  If we play on the words of the "Playing for Change" motto we get a good one for MCC: Connecting the World Through Service.

Philanthropy for All: Take The 1% Giving Pledge

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-kaufman/philanthropy-for-all-take_b_678960.html
I have to admit. At first I thought this was a little ridiculous ... I mean 1%? We can do better than that can't we? Isn't that a bit of a joke?
Nope. It is not. The point is to get everyone giving... And that is good.
I like to think that everything is God's. What we have is not ours, it is God's. We are stewards, caretakers, babysitters of God's creation and everything in it. When I think of it that way, it is much easier to share...both my money and my time.
If you can give more, then do. But don't not give just because you can't give 10%. If you aren't currently giving, try starting at 1% and see if you can work your way up a bit each year.
~allan