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Coproduction: What we’re really made for |
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Written by soulster
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Wednesday, 15 November 2006 |
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 While in Chicago over the past week, my friend Jared and I had a chance to hang out with Ron Pate, director of the Association Metro Urban Ministry (AMUM) program with SCUPE. Ron’s working on a doctorate in urban development. He’s working on the idea of time banks and coproduction as a basis for community formation and renewal. The idea is you do something for someone else and earn time dollars you can spend to have someone do something for you. That way you meet people in the community, build a sense of cooperation, and find solidarity with others “not in your demographic” by emphasizing what everyone can do, rather than what they can’t.
For Ron, this idea ties closely to a thelogical concept called “coproduction”. Consumerism and one-way production are not all that Biblical. Humans weren’t created to passively consume or produce on their own. They were created to work with God and others to create and re-create our world. This ties in closely with my thinking on the questions, “Why did God create all this?” and “Why did God create me?” While there is mystery in it all, I think the answer goes something like this cycle: God creates reality for revelation — so he can know us and be known by us. Such knowledge produces participation in each other’s life (coproduction). This participation births community which mirrors the nature of God himself and becomes the context for increased revelation. So how about setting up a time bank in your area to practice the nature of God?
Original content by: http://blog.thetruthtree.com/?p=5.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 04 December 2006 )
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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.