Frugal Living Story

A story came across my email box today that is worth pondering. Its about a man who lived frugally and then passed on $2 million to his mother's church when he died. It raises a lot of interesting questions, not the least of which is how the church will follow or not follow in this man's way of life. But for us, it presents something of a modern-day St. Francis worth reflecting on his simple way of living. Here's the story:

Faithful son leaves $2 million to small rural church

United Methodist News Service: John Ferguson was a simple man. He drove an old pickup truck, lived in a trailer without running water and kept to himself. No wonder Hopewell UMC was shocked when he bequeathed it more than $2 million.

Clergy Debt Study

From our friends in the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church:

An interesting study on debt in clergy.

And an interesting debt calculator.

And an interesting Consumer Purchase Payment Calculator.

All good tools.

Practicing Our Faith

A website worth looking further at:

www.practicingourfaith.org

Evangelism

OSJ had a conversation tonight about evangelism. Here's my attempt to summarize what evangelism looks like for OSJ:

OSJ members will seek to build relationships with individuals and communities outside of the church and invite them to enter into new life in Christ by participation in the community of the church. Among other means, this invitation to enter into life in Christ will take place by living a holy life that is attractive to others (simplicity and hospitality being two key markers of this holy life), reaching out in mission and service and sharing our motivation for doing so (the love that God has shown us in Jesus Christ), entering naturally into conversation about Jesus Christ and the things of God, emphasizing through actions and words God's grace and mercy to transform here in this life, engaging fully the resources which already exist in the traditions and liturgies (both formal and informal) of the church, and when necessary and appropriate, reminding people of their mortality.

How does this do at summarizing our conversation tonight?

Communities of Shalom at Drew University

A website of interest to OSJ: http://www.communitiesofshalom.org. Worth exploring further at a later date.

Order of St. James - 08/09

So what is the Order of St. James up to this year? We met for the first time early in the school year and decided that we'd like to just run this whole thing as a covenant group for the year. So we're not trying to figure out all the details. We're just diving in and trusting the Holy Spirit to lead us as we go. We're meeting every other week for a potluck and conversation at a different person's house. Each meeting we focus on one of the marks of this group: simplicity, hospitality, evangelism. So here's our meeting schedule for those who are interested in joining us:

Sept 25 @ 6-8PM – Klopp’s House
Oct 9 @ 6-8PM – Bowles’ House
Oct 23 @ 6-8PM – Anyone want to host?
Nov 6 @ 6-8PM – Klopp’s House
Nov 20 @ 6-8PM – Bowles’ House
Dec 4 @ 6-8PM – Isaiah House

If you've got questions, email me: tom@saraharthur.com.

Methodist Benedictine Monastery

Someone who was reading our blog emailed me about this Methodist Benedictine Monastery. Again, I thought it might be of interest to what we're doing.

http://www.janrichardson.com/saintbrigidmonastery

Junky Car Club

I came across this website today. Thought it might be of interest to what we're doing.

http://www.virb.com/junkycarclub

Local Pastors

I met with my candidacy mentor today and shared with him this idea about the Order of St. James. He asked a question I have yet to be asked. What of Local Pastors? Its a good question. So I wanted to throw it up here so that we remembered to discuss it next semester.
Hope everyone is having a good summer living simply, offering hospitality, and sharing the good news.

We've Hit the Blog-o-Sphere

Check out Andrew Thompson's comments on our proposal.

Living Wage Calculator

Nick brought to our attention a great website that puts this proposal in perspective and offers another way to figure our potential income. Here it is. Its a living wage calculator.

Agenda for 08-09 School Year

Our fledgling group met today to discuss what we needed to talk about next year. Here's what we came up with in the order that they came up (and not necessarily by order of priority):

1. Connection to other groups/movements (Order of St. Luke, Benedictines, Neo-monastics, UMW Monastery, etc.)
2. What to do with debt?
3. Roles (exploratory, novice, etc.)
4. What do with excess money?
5. How to navigate the boundary between hospitality and the parsonage?
6. What are the various forms of hospitality?
7. Should a rule or covenant be specific and detailed or broad and general?
8. What to do when a spouse doesn't "buy in"?
9. How to plan for children's colleges, emergencies, or big expenses?
10. What should an average budget look like?
11. Does the "minimum" conference salary have any room for negotiation? (i.e. more children, graduated tithe?)
12. How would we support one another within the order itself (emergencies, etc.)?
13. How will we navigate the large geographic distances between us?
14. Will there be annual meetings and what will they look like?
15. How will we handle accountability?
16. Sharing Tips for simple living
17. Beginning now to be transparent with our personal budgets
18. A theology of evangelism, making disciples, witness
19. How to witness to the church as a whole?
20. What would lay-chapters look like?
21. What would non-UMC chapters look like?

And then very practically
1. We will meet bi-weekly next school year at one another's homes for potluck dinners
2. We will share the responsibility of writing/authoring a covenant

Did I miss anything?

A Theoretical Budget Proposal

Here is a draft budget proposal for what it might look like to live with the guidelines from the Order of St. James. Its not perfect and some of it is not even filled in. But there is $8000 left unallocated in the end. So there's plenty of wiggle room.

Income		Monthly	Yearly
Salary			35,329
Housing Allowance			10,000
Health Insurance			12,200
Pension			5200
Continuing Ed
Travel Expenses
Etc.
Total Income			62,729
Expenses		Monthly	Yearly
Auto	Fuel	150	1800
	Insurance	63	756
	Service	200	2400
	Taxes	6	72
	Saving	100	1200
Auto Total		519	6228
Blessings	Tithe	294	3532
Cash		20	240
Clothing		42	500
Dates	Weekly	80	1040
	Anniversary	17	200
	Birthdays	8	100
Dates Total		105	1340
Entertainment		20	240
Food	Eat-out	25	300
	Groceries	400	4800
Food Total		425	5100
Household	Haircuts	15	180
	Computer	15	180
	Maintenance/Repair	40	480
	Operations	40	480
	Postage	9	108
	Yard	10	120
Household Total		129	1548
Insurance	Disability	13	154
	Home Owners	42	500
	Life	38	453
	Medical - Church	1000	12,200
	Medical	167	2004
Insurance Total		1260	15311
Medical	Dentist	33	400
	Doctor	20	240
	Medicine	30	360
Medical Total		83	1000
Housing		833	10,000
Pension		433	5,200
Savings
Taxes
Utilities	Landline	30	360
	Cell	30	360
	Electric	60	720
	Gas	100	1200
	Water & Sewer	30	360
Utilities Total		250	3000
Vacation		83	1000
Loans/Debt
Grand Total		4496	54,239

Some Quotes on Money

While Wesley's "Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can" was generally looked down upon in our Ethics class and in Kelly Johnson's Fear of Beggars book, I believe that these presentations of Wesley's Sermon On The Use of Money were more caricatures than full engagements with what Wesley has to say in this sermon; especially in the context of the rest of his life. Read the whole sermon. It is well worth the time. Here is a quote from Wesley's Sermon that I think summarizes this idea of an Order of St. James:

"Gain all you can, without hurting either yourself or your neighbour, in soul or body, by applying hereto with unintermitted diligence, and with all the understanding which God has given you; -- save all you can, by cutting off every expense which serves only to indulge foolish desire; to gratify either the desire of flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life; waste nothing, living or dying, on sin or folly, whether for yourself or your children; -- and then, give all you can, or, in other words, give all you have to God. Do not stint yourself...to this or that proportion. 'Render unto God,' not a tenth, not a third, not half, but all that is God's, be it more or less; by employing all on yourself, your household, the household of faith, and all mankind, in such a manner, that you may give a good account of your stewardship when ye can be no longer stewards; in such a manner as the oracles of God direct, both by general and particular precepts; in such a manner, that whatever ye do may be 'a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour to God,' and that every act may be rewarded in that day when the Lord cometh with all his saints."

Then the other day I was reading from C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters and came across this advice from Screwtape (the senior devil) to his mentor, Wormwood (the junior devil) regarding the Christian Wormwood has been given to tempt (please excuse Lewis' gender specific language):

"If, on the other hand, the middle years prove prosperous, our position is even stronger. Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is 'finding his place in it', while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of being really at home in earth, which is just what we want. You will notice that the young are generally less unwilling to die than the middle-aged and the old."

And lastly, I was reading from Psalm 62 this morning:

"Though wealth increase, set not your heart upon it" (62:12).

Want to post?

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Non-UMCs, Non-clergy, etc.?

Can those who aren't UMCs or clergy participate? Absolutely. I imagine a lay chapter, a chapter in each denomination, and so on. This is a big vision.

Emergencies?

What about emergencies? Shouldn't we be able to put money away for emergencies? Good question. Some thoughts:

Again, the thrust of this proposal is for a community of people who come together regularly to ask questions of one another and hold one another to being faithful with their money and lifestyle. If an emergency comes up one year and a family has to spend beyond the minimum income to cover that emergency, this seems a legitimate concern. But an emergency isn't fixing your shopping withdrawal by a spending spree to the mall. I'm thinking car crash, medical emergency, house on fire, and the link. And maybe we covenant with each other to help one another out in these kinds of instances. Being supported by your social network is part of what genuine friendship is about.

Kids College?

How do you pay for your kids college expenses?

I don't have a lot of great answers for this one either. But I do know that Duke is now free to anyone who gets in and whose family makes less than $40,000! Read about it here. Oh yeah, and Harvard is now free for those who make under $60,000. Check it out here.

It appears that the less one makes, the more financial aid that is available.

Excess Money?

What to do with the excess money? Suppose someone's spouse makes $80,000. That means the family has $80,000 over the UMC minimum salary. Do you give it all away? Do you put it in a trust fund and give away the interest? What do you do with that much money left over?

And the answer is: I don't know. But wouldn't it be a great conversation to have?!

Poverty?

Is this a proposal for poverty? Absolutely not.

This is not a proposal for poverty. Don't forget that as a pastor in the UMC you will have on top of the salary the following: a parsonage (often with the utilities covered), continuing education funds from your local church, travel expense funds from your local church, health insurance for your entire family (my church back home also did disability and life insurance), and a pension. This is no poverty.

Those who aren't in the UMC would need to determine how these kinds of considerations should play into a minimum salary amount.

Children?

I have been asked several times about children. The question of children and those who might try to live out this proposal while also having as many children as they desire is a good question. Here are some thoughts:

First, let me suggest that thrust of the proposal is for a community of people who covenant together to talk about this kind of stuff. The specifics of the proposal, are just that, a proposal.

Second, I think the questions raised about children vs. single folks are excellent questions. I suppose the minimum salary ought to be a ceiling. Thus, Sarah and I ought to be able to live on less than the minimum while those who have three kids will probably be tight. But this covenantal group should never frown on having children. There might be some kind of exception for those who have more than a certain number of children (maybe a $1000/yr addition to the minimum salary for each child...I'm just guessing on amounts here...).

Lastly, I tend to think that some of these issues are more a crisis of imagination. After living in Isaiah House for a year and a half I can imagine things I couldn't imagine before. Living in community with others makes that possible.

Feel free to push back. There are still lots of loose ends out there.

Peace,
Tom

A Proposal

Here's the original proposal. Several issues have been raised which I will present in further posts for discussion.

April 9, 2008
Dear Friends,

Peace and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I've been wrestling with an idea for some time now, and I think it is time to give birth to it.

Here's my dilemma: how does an itinerant Methodist Preacher (don't tune out, non-Methodists) live faithfully following Jesus amidst the pressures of materialism in our culture? Here's my proposal that I'd be interested in meeting with others to help flesh out and covenant together around: a new order, The Order of St. James. This would be a voluntary order of individuals who are willing to covenant around two practices (possibly three): simplicity and hospitality (and possibly evangelism/making disciples).

The mark of simplicity would be voluntarily living as a family (both salaries) no higher than the minimum annual conference standard for a UMC elder (those who aren't UMC would need to discuss how to set such a mark of simplicity).

The mark of hospitality would be to offer at least weekly hospitality in the parsonage (this could be as much as having someone live with you or as small as having a weekly meal for the single parents in your community).

The mark of evangelism/disciple making is a little more fuzzy to me. After speaking with Ron Sider (of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger fame), he suggested this as a third discipline for this order. It's "mark" may not be as evident or clear-cut as the other two, but I think it is a central part of the mission of the church and thus, the mission of the church's elders. And it may help keep the other two disciplines rooted in the grace of the gospel rather than becoming ends in themselves.

This order would share deeply and openly with one another to help one another live in this manner. It would include regular national meetings (probably annually) and regular annual conference chapter meetings. It also could spread to include a lay chapter. It could also include chapters in several different denominations. I imagine several steps into this order (similar to a monastic novitiate, etc.) that would include a progression of becoming debt-free and learning to live at this level of simplicity. It will also have to include spouses in some way given that the commitment would be a family-wide commitment. I also imagine local annual-conference chapters meeting at their annual conference and sharing very openly about how they are doing (think: sharing income tax files, etc.).

Envision a church not hampered by the salary ladder where pastors regularly go “up” and “down” the ladder. Envision pastors living simple lives in such a way that their actions speak as loudly as their words in the pulpit. Envision building friendships with those who are different than we are, and in the process meeting Jesus. This is the kind of vision I have for an Order of St. James. I offer it to you, because I need your help, your community and covenant, to be able to live into it myself. I cannot do it alone. Let me know if you’re interested in further discussion.

Peace,
Tom Arthur

Order of St. James - Blog

So Here is one possible way for those who are interested in exploring further the proposal for a new voluntary order called the Order of St. James. More info to come soon.