November, 13 2007 by Alburn.

Today we had two auditors from the conference look over the books of our church. As the new (although there wasn’t an old) Assistant Treasurer I had the fun of hanging out with them as we all dived into our financial records.

We did pretty well overall, definitely light years ahead of where we were last year. The auditors were really nice and seemed more concerned with helping us keep our records accurate than with “catching us” doing something wrong.

The real hero of the day was Andrey, our treasurer. He’s really done a lot to keep us on the straight an narrow of financial viability, and he put a lot of hard work into making the audit go as well as it did. Thanks again Andrey!!

Posted in Tithe & Finances, Church | 1 Comment »

October, 12 2007 by Alburn.

This past Sunday Lucy, Mireya and I had the pleasure of attending a workshop on
“Sabbath Economics.”

“Sabbath Economics?” You say. No, this wasn’t a workshop on what
circumstances Sabbath-keepers are allowed to spend money on Saturdays. The
workshop focused on how a conscience Christian can invest their money in ways
that help their neighbors. Chad Meyers, the presenter, used an analogy of two
banks:

The first bank is the traditional bank that we’re all familiar with. In
this bank you take your “beans” and deposit them. The bank takes your
beans and turns them into a commodity to be traded in the open market.
They might trade your beans for other beans, for oil, for coffee, anything they
want so long as it results in the maximum profit for them and interest for you.

The second bank takes your beans and gives them to the other farmers in your
community to plant with. When the farmers produce their own beans they
give back to the bank along with a little interest. This bank is more
interested in the community well being rather than getting you the most
percentage back on interest.

These analogies are, of course, very simplistic. The three of us who
attended the workshop also received 2 books about the topic and we’ll be reading
them and incorporating the best parts into the tithe appeals and hopefully other
financial workshops throughout the coming year.

Now, a long list of links that would helpful to anyone considering socially
conscientious investing.

Bartimaeus Coopertive, Chad’s ministry
bcm-net.org

UFE raises awareness that concentrated wealth and power undermine the economy,
corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide, and tear communities apart.
www.faireconomy.org

More info on Sabbath Economics
www.sabbatheconomics.org

More info on Socially Responsible Investing
sristudies.org

Inter-faith Center on Corporate Responsibility
www.iccr.org

Oiko Credit provides micro-financing to third world entrepreneurs.
www.oikocredit.org

More info on community investing
communityinvest.org

More info on community investing
opportunityfinance.net

More info on socially responsible finances
socialfunds.com

Fair-trade coffee, tea, chocolate
equalexchange.com

A socially responsible faith based bank in Chicago.
sbk.com
Socially responsible investing
calvert.com

Posted in Tithe & Finances, Peace & Justice Committee, Process, Church | 1 Comment »