Holy Currencies

A group of church leaders set aside a day for mutual support of each other’s ministry.  I was honored to be their facilitator.  I began the day with the affirmation of the Respectful Community Guidelines.  Then I invited participants to share on the following topics:

            What are the gifts I bring to ministry?

            What has been fruitful and fulfilling and why?

            What struggles and challenges do I face?

In the sharing of the first 2 questions, they shared their passion to serve, to care, to teach, and to preach.  They shared how fulfilling it was to increase relationships and connections with the wider community.  They named being able to speak the truth and work for justice for the poor and powerless as fruit of their ministries.  They talked about how they had facilitated wellness, healing, and reconciliation among people in their communities. 

When it came to sharing their struggles and challenges, the recurring theme was the lack of resources, especially money. With all the talk about ministry, at the end of the day, they felt that their “success” was measured by how much money the ministry produced.  Since most of the participants served low-income, poor communities, they constantly got the message from their denominational leaders that they were not good enough.  Some of them said that their churches were growing in number but even if every member gave at the maximum level, they were still struggling with money—to pay the staff, and to maintain the building, etc.  As the conversation continued, they seemed to spin around the issue of money again and again.  It was like they were doing a ritual dance around a “golden calf” called money.   It also became apparent that these church leaders felt overworked and underpaid, and spiritual and physical wellness was raised up as a key important issue to address in the future. 

As part of the agreement, I was also invited to do some teaching at this gathering, and I decided to share an overview of Holy Currencies—a new model of sustainable ministry I have developed.  Basically, I propose that a sustainable ministry should pay attention to 5 other currencies besides money.  Furthermore, these currencies need to flow – exchange into other currencies – in order for the ministry to activate the Cycle of Blessings.  The 5 additional currencies are:

1. Time and Place
2. Gracious Leadership
3. Relationship
4. Truth
5. Wellness

I invited the church leaders to learn how to recognize these currencies that they currently produced and circulated.  They also needed to find ways to communicate to others that the 5 currencies were equally valuable, if not more valuable than money, and should be counted as part of their “success.”  For example, instead of just collecting money at the offertory during worship, they can invite church members to share how many new respectful relationships they had established, where and to whom they have spoken the truth about the needs and concerns of the communities, how they have used their time and place to serve others, and how they have facilitated healing and reconciliation within their church and in the wider community in the past week.  It is my belief that if all 5 of the currencies are flowing, the 6^th one, money, will also flow and that money will not be an overwhelming issue.

I will describe more fully each one of these currencies in future blogs.  For now, I would summarize how these currencies flow using the experience of this gathering of church leaders.  After they agreed that this kind of gathering was helpful and empowering and that they should meet again, I summarized, “I am thankful that you decided to put aside this time and come to this place to dialogue, share, explore and support each other.  During this time, I hope I have exercised gracious leadership to facilitate the strengthening of the relationship among you and to enhance your ability to speak the truth about your experience and ministries.  In speaking the truth, we naturally move toward naming spiritually, physical and economic wellness as issues that we need to address.  I am glad that you decided to meet again because taking this time to do this is like taking a Sabbath, a discipline toward wellness.  I believe that when we are well spiritually, we will find creative solutions to sustain our ministry socially and economically.”

Holy Currencies, as a 4-day training program, will be offered on February 27 – March 1, 2012 in Los Angeles.

Reflection Questions for Proper 23 (Year A) Exodus 32:1-14    What are the “Golden Calves” in today’s world? Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23  What does it means to relate to a God who changes his/her mind? Isaiah 25:1-9   How do the images of God in this text connect with you? Psalm 23   How does this Psalm help you address your fear? Philippians 4:1-9   What are the things we need to keep doing so we can have peace? Matthew 22:1-14   What does this parable say to you about forming a sustainable community?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Come to Los Angeles in 2012 to study with The Sustainist, the first  two opportunities: February 27–March 2, 2012 Kaleidoscope Winter Institute Holy Currencies Conversations on Money and Sustainable Ministry March 14–18, 2012 Face to Face Seeing and Hearing Each Other . . . Knowing God Creative liturgy & music for a diverse and changing world An ecumenical gathering of church leaders to create worship experiences that are authentic, relational and missional