Giving can be Fun Again. Kiva and the New York Times Video.
Written by Justin Forman
Thursday, 30 August 2007
Eight months ago Kiva (http://www.kiva.org/) opened the door for me to become a micro-lender to two start up entrepreneurs in Ghana. It wasn't more than $100 but when pooled together with that of 32 other people from around the world it helped finance the launch of two businesses in poorer regions of the world. Next month I'm scheduled to receive the last re-payment of that loan (it's already 90% paid back) and I will have the opportunity to re-invest it with another business.
Kiva made helping some else fun. 82,000 people have thought the same as they have directly been a part of funding loans over $9 million.
It has made giving fun in a way that it hasn't been in years. They went so far above and beyond anything else I've experienced. They were intentional about saying thank you, they showed me specific details about where the money was going, they invited me to get to know who else was on the team funding the project, they documented how it was being paid back and the change that took place.
Whats even more, it was sustainable. I get the privilege of taking the repayment of the loan and "passing it on" to someone else. I wonder how much of that should be applied in church circles? Should the church be more of a banker to the poor and agencies? Should we expect some return that can be passed on to others rather vs one time consumption? How far does it go?
Scott Bartchy is a radical. He believes in a subversive system that embraces those on the fringes of our society and seeks to establish a new way of life that goes against the status quo.
Kind of like Jesus.
Bartchy, currently the Director of the Center for the Study of Religions at UCLA, notes a great gap between the original, early form of church in the first three hundred years of Christianity, and the modern concept of doing church today.
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Scott Bartchy is a radical. He believes in a subversive system that embraces those on the fringes of our society and seeks to establish a new way of life that goes against the status quo.