"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." (Acts 2:42-47)
"For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, 'Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.'" (2 Corinthians 8:13-15)
Community-supported giving to support the community. This is a central piece of the church that needs to be rediscovered.
If you don't want to believe this about community then you might as well stop reading...but don't stop, keep reading :)
I love the church, it is the bride and the body of Christ. If you take a moment to think about how powerful the church is, you'll see nothing else is above it. The effects and changes the church can do is incomparable, even to the highest funded NGO or largest government entity. And it's because we don't strive to be strong..
We have to avoid being caught up with the word "socialism" as we read through these points; the majority of Americans hate the word only because that's been tradition and, on the other side, Millennials are open to it, but we don't know how much of it is misguided. Regardless, Church Socialism is not government mandated and it is not forced by religious legalism. These verses from Acts and 2 Corinthians show a community who give out of volunteer and willingness, not out of "I have to." Don't get me wrong, there is a should mentality, but no one is being forced to. When we generously give to our community, it's not the same as when we taxes that go into a huge government pot, that gets dispersed to towns you've never heard of, with constant wonder if the leadership is corrupt and fudging the numbers. This is locally organized generosity through the local town square that is properly handled by the local church leadership that we personally know.
This is no different than what is already happening in churches except with the framework that the church believes (or whatever Christ-centered town center or "CCTC" might be in place) it is the cornerstone to that specific area's well being. What I mean by that is the CCTC takes it upon itself to make sure the neighbors are surviving or at the very least have the resources to do so, since, ultimately, no one can make another person feed themselves or stay off the streets. The CCTC should know what resources and programs are available, what government policy is or isn't working, what systemic crimes exist, care about who's having babies, who's lost their jobs, who's house needs to be repainted, who's in the hospital...what are the needs in the community. Now majority churches believe it is their responsibility to help the neighborhood, but what I want is the church to recognize they are the most responsible.
Ideally, this neighborhood church (the people) will be there for everyone in the community and help get us back on track so we can be self-sufficient, hopefully to the point where we can give back. This church will help the community progress and develop; get to a place where the community (or parish) as a whole can help other ones. However, this can't happen unless those that have been given an abundance by God allow themselves to be used as a steward and an investor in the community.
Men and women that are gifted in a way to work high-capacity positions or are able to maneuver through markets that bring in top earnings or just hard working folks that have busted their butts so they can be where they're at are very much needed to help support the church. I can't imagine how annoying it must be to get to a place financially and then be told to pay x amount in taxes or read this blog and be asked to support others that have a lower paying job, I'm sure it's frustrating. I understand the thinking behind "I worked to this point, so can anyone else." I don't want anyone reading this feel like their money is needed and to give their money away to others anymore than they already do, I just want those who are in these positions to know they themselves are the ones needed, not really their money.
But all the pressure will not be rested on them; there is no doubt those who have been given this wealth to steward are very important, but the community cannot be depended upon them. God is to be the one who should be relied on. It is with this focus on God that will steer the neighborhood towards a collective generosity, proper use of the money, desire for locals to work hard, desire for compassion, for creativity, and so on. And to help walk in this direction we need good leadership, the leadership described in pt 2.
The ones who help shepherd and love this diverse group of people have an understanding that not everyone can be or wants to be helped, unfortunately. It's a type of love that covers everyone in the parish, not just their friends and will not let one individual compromise the Good of All. This is why in Acts 2 we see a model where the money was brought to the Apostles, they were these type of leaders; and these type of servants still exist and we must submit to this design for the good of all. It's easy to be arrogant and ignore this biblical community wealth model or believe your church organization already does everything right and Acts 2 is just an old way of doing things. When in reality a lot of churches operate more like a 501c3 organization with a cross on its building than a city on a hill.
Communal Generosity
The focus in a lot of 501c3 churches (there are an abundance of beautiful exceptions!) for a long time has been 1) only spiritual salvation, not physical too 2) growing the building 3) a check-list type of outreach and 4) far away missionaries. But every church needs to have a sense of ownership/stewardship of the area they're in. Within the block radius they live in they need to care about the spiritual liberation and the physical; and a big way to help with the physical liberation is the churches or the CCTC need to help cultivate the neighborhood's economic condition; the plan is literally to take everything that should biblically happen within the four walls and spill it over.
So as we tithe, we're giving with the intention that our generosity for this particular Sunday will help with the dilapidated fence that is 5 minutes away and be okay that it has nothing to do with our church building. Or the next Sunday the game plan is to raise x amount so we can build a reserve so whenever someone can't pay rent we can help them, but with the caveat that they take a budgeting class or help them with finding work.
Pt. 3 is the essence to Church Socialism, it takes what we find security in and flips it on its head. A lot of us have found strength in our political position that lifts up individualism and personal rights and we believe that the church fits in that framework. Some of us find hope that one day we will manufacture a government so justice and equality can happen. Acts 2 says our strength comes from a community that has looked passed our "rights" and through this faith, not our government laws, will help justice and equality happen. We know the church can be powerful, but not because we strive for strength, but it comes from letting go, humbling ourselves, submitting, and trusting God that his way is better than our political world views.