Kleipot Gemeente is in a very good yet dangerous time.  Over the weekend we had a stewardship meeting and we talked about the exciting prospect of giving!  Our philosophy is that God gives bread-money and seed-money (2 Corinthians 9:10).  Some finances go inward and some outward.  We believe all is His and has to be used for His glory.  When we work with finances there’s always a tension between ‘sound business principles’ and ‘crazy God-inspired giving’.  We believe in the tension and that navigating it builds faith and trust.  Yet.  It is so easy to let go on one side, we either become crazy (in the real sense) or we become super successfull.  For the three of you who are following our journey (and is therefore in a way part of our community), please pray of us.  We want God’s perspective on things.  I’m going to give you a Jean Vanier quote on the subject.  Please read it and it would be so helpfull to leave a comment on how you think we can maintain a healthy tension …

“The dangers of becoming rich”

At the start of a community, God’s action
can often be felt very tangibly – in the gift of a house or money, the arrival
of the right person at the right time, or other external signs. Because of its poverty, the community is
completely dependant on him. It calls
and he responds. It is faithful in
prayer. It lives in insecurity, it
welcomes whoever knocks on the door, it share what it has with the poor, and
tries to take all its decisions in the light of God. In these early days, it is often
misunderstood by society. People judge
it as utopian or quite simply crazy; to a degree, it is persecuted. Then with time, people see that this crazy
project is working; they discover its values and radiance. The community is no longer persecuted; it is
admired and becomes renowned. It has
friends which meet its needs. Gradually,
it becomes rich. It begins to make
judgments. It becomes powerful.

Then there is danger. The community is no longer poor and humble;
it is self-satisfied. It no longer turns
to God as it did before; it no longer begs his help. Strong in its own experience, it knows how to
go about things. It no longer takes
decisions in the light of God; prayer becomes tepid. It closes its doors to the poor and the
living God. It becomes proud. It needs to be jolted and to go through some
serious trials if it is to refind its child-like quality and its dependence on
God. Community and Growth p.158-159