“A number of years ago I (Mark) invited a group of friends into an audacious experiment in which each of us would sell or give away half of our possessions and donate the profits to global poverty relief. We were inspired by what Jesus taught about true security and abundance, deciding that an experiment would be a tangible way to explore the implications for our everyday lives.
Jesus once told his disciples, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33). And when people asked the prophet John how to respond to the reality of God’s kingdom he said, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same” (Luke 3:11). We called our experiment Have2Give1.
To our surprise over thirty people signed up to participate and together we plotted how to sell the things we owned to help the poorest people in the world. Friends traveled an hour or more each way just to be at our project meetings. We spent the next eight weeks systematically divesting of our stuff—each week collecting different items to sell, donate or recycle. One week it would be books and music, another, clothes and household items. Everyone had a list of objects in question (Can I keep my figurine collection? Should I auction off some of my jewelry? Do I really need three bicycles?).
We were excited to see how the things we owned, much of which were collecting dust, could be sold to feed and help hungry people. While selling our cars, antiques and bicycles we discovered that many of the items we thought were so precious and valuable were actually nearly worthless. Some of us wondered why we kept buying things we didn’t need or use, like sales rack clothes with price tags still attached after years in the closet. One Saturday we held a garage sale and put out a sign saying that all proceeds would go toward Tsunami relief in Indonesia. With the leftovers we did a swap and then donated the rest to a local thrift store.
This flurry of activity led us to ask deeper questions about our heart posture towards money, possessions and consumption. One night we decided it would be a good idea to share how much money we made and where that money was spent. We did some further investigation into what Jesus taught about God’s abundance and wrestled with how his teachings offer a subversive critique of many of our commonly held beliefs and practices. We came up with a list to summarize the qualities we had explored: contentment, gratitude, simplicity, abundance, frugality, generosity and trust.
We decided to make a public statement about what we were learning by having a postcard printed with the following phrase written on it:
A new way is possible
Sell your possessions and give to the poor
For where your treasure is there your heart will be also
Ask and you will receive
Seek and you will find…the secret of contentment”
Mark Scandrette in Practicing the Way of Jesus (Downers Grove: IVP, 2011) 11-13.
This is a wonderful contemporary example of disciples choosing simplicity in community. It reveals what our family is learning: simplicity is more than giving away something to bless someone with the resources. The subversive call of Jesus to divesture frees us to depend on Him rather than ourselves for sustenance and empowerment in mission. It positions us to find contentment in the only place it can be found. It is about taking hold of life in Christ’s Kingdom.