Thanks everyone for last week’s discussion. I have collated the best ideas below on how to get over the recession and added, as I usually do, my own thoughts.
– Seek God. (Mike Lane) Maybe this recession is an opportunity for a midcourse correction, a time to reconnect with God, retool and get ready for the next season.
– Restructure training and gathering events to make them accessible and sustainable (Becky Garrison, Charlie Boyd) Give preference to local leadership for teaching over long-distance celebrity speakers (Rob Karch) In your thinking, think about houses instead of hotels, kitchens instead of restaurants, festivals instead of conferences, joining something larger rather than starting your own.
– Start micro-businesses (Zack Newsome, Bill, Mike, Bill Cummings). Start something. Start a few things. Its a great way of becoming financially sustainable and it also opens new doors into the community. Social enterprise and micro-business has been a normal activity for overseas mission for many centuries.
– Move in together. (Mike Todd, Andrew Jackson) Intentional Community is a wonderful way for a small community young people to mature together. Its ridiculous that we all need big empty houses for one or two people. Fill up those empty bedrooms. Maximize what you already have, or think about downsizing. And no . . . I am not suggesting you move in with your girlfriend.
– Live frugally – (Jordon Cooper). Beware of credit. Learn from the monks who took vows of frugality and poverty. Borrow stuff instead of buying it (Luke 10). Learn to cook. Learn how to do all kinds of stuff you don’t know how to do. Walk instead of drive.
OK – heres the next question. How would you invest a million dollars to help the church get over the recession? Its not rhetorical – there are people out there who have a million dollars to invest and a little bit of crowd wisdom would go a long way. Start here.
I don’t want to discourage folks though from bringing in speakers on occasion – I have benefited greatly over the years by hearing from a wide range of voices. It just seems that we’re relying too much on outside experts instead of seeing what a community can grow locally – this recession could be just the ticket to get us to grow our own generative gardens instead of buying our produce elsewhere.
Hence, I would encourage us all to explore how to take advantage of technology to connect us – one thing that seems obvious is to have webcasts of talks through the use of sites like Shapevine. The glitches seem to be working out of these programs to where it’s almost like being there – Except for getting the autographed copy of the book and the bragging rights to say you had beers with so-and-so. Depending on how much the group wants to open up the event, then other groups could gather locally and connect virtually.
Seems like a win-win situation – the group gets to gather and interact with each other, folks get to hear from a speaker that is of interest to them, and whatever costs associated with this event can be handled with a free will offering so those who can’t afford to even pay for a pub talk can contribute. And the speaker gets word out regarding their book – author tours are on the way out. Hardly any publishers do them anymore and they’re starting to be seen as kinda cheesy these days especially during a recession.
I look forward Andrew (and others) to your thoughts regarding how local groups and gatherings can take advantage of technology to move the dialogue forward in future posts.
Living by the numbers.
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also, live within your means.