praying with our wallets

As I was reading one of my favorite blogs today, Consumerist, I happened across an article about a gentleman who had a great deal of trouble with his internet service provider, Earthlink. The first sentence of the post mentions that Earthlink is run by Scientologists and I found out through a quick search that it was founded by a Scientologist, Sky Dayton. I don’t remember if I already knew this, but it sparked a connection in my tiny mind: the church with which I was previously employed used Earthlink as its ISP. Thus, the church was tacitly supporting Scientology every month when it sent in a check to Earthlink.

I am positive that no one at the church knows about the Earthlink – Scientology connection, and if they do they probably aren’t aware of the church’s ISP.  Nevertheless, it disturbs me that the money people give to further the mission of Christ is being funneled to Scientologists. In this case, it would seem better to give our ISP dollars to some giant, faceless corporation.

As the Church, we need to be aware of where our resources are going. Our choices communicate a message to the world and that message ought to be fulfilling the aims of Christ. There are other choices we, as the Church, make with our resources that are unwise and can be changed for the better. I wonder what size the landfill is that permanently holds all those styrofoam cups from coffee hour every week. I imagine that churches throughout this country throw away thousands upon thousands away each week. What message is that sending?

Often, the churches I have been a part of manage to buy the cheapest acceptable coffee possible, usually the Costco brand. Not free trade, not organic. One church I was a part of, First Presbyterian-Bellingham, had the foresight to switch to Pura Vida, a fair trade coffee company with organic options whose mission is to empower the indigenous coffee growing populations around the world. The coffee is more expensive than the Costco special, but with each sip they contribute to bettering the lives of the poor communities that raised the beans. Churches usually think that good stewardship means spending the least amount of money on the resources they use (like my ol’ Earthlink church).

We want to save our money to improve the church or to give to missions. But when we invest our resources to purchase goods and services that promote the common good (like Pura Vida; or at least that don’t support cults, like Earthlink), our spending is missional. We spend a little extra for coffee that ensures that we aren’t exploiting people when we take a sip after a Sunday service. Perhaps we bring our own travel mugs to church, instead of using another styrofoam cup.

As the Church, we can use every dollar we have to do the best we can to promote Christ in the world, we simply have to take the time to make the effort. Next time you see me in church, I will have my travel mug.

thanks for reading my inaugural post.