Jesus has a different economy in mind than the one on offer in our world.
Jesus’ currency is love. He believes in empowering the impoverished. He also believes in every last person having the opportunity to hear his name, so that they may experience the freedom of the gospel.
But what does Jesus’ economy look like? Simply put: Creating jobs, planting churches, and meeting basic needs at the same time. Here’s why I think this and how I’m trying to live the principles of Jesus’ economy.
READ: Justice and Mercy for the Poor (Including Us)
The apostles were church planters. They were aiming to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). But they weren’t just about the word of the gospel; they were also about living its principles. And this meant addressing poverty.
From the beginning of the early church, there is a concern for the impoverished and for effective alleviation of poverty. Right off the bat, early Christians are pooling their resources for the sake of the marginalized and impoverished. Early Christians sold their stuff so that they could share resources with the hurting (Acts 2:44–45). Self-sacrifice is a core part of the gospel.
Jesus taught that we have to be willing to sacrifice our own comforts for the sake of the impoverished. As a Christian, when I witness extreme poverty, I should experience a conversion. I should be inspired to give of my time and resources to empower the poor. I should be willing to go so far as to sell my house and my belongings. That’s at least what Jesus told one man (Matthew 19:16–22).
That’s precisely what my wife and I did. We started an organization called Jesus’ Economy and put all of our resources into empowering the impoverished and bringing the gospel to the unreached. We sold our house and our stuff for the sake of the mission.
I’m not saying this to boast, because I can tell you that there is no glory in it. I’m saying this to note that I’m not asking you to do something I haven’t done myself. I’m also not saying everyone’s journey will be so radically life altering, but I do ask, “Are you giving enough that it hurts?” That’s the model of the early church.
But when the earliest Christians gave, it wasn’t about guilt (2 Corinthians 9:6-7). And likewise, their love wasn’t an empty love — one where I give of my resources without thought of relationship. I believe in intelligent love, and I believe in love that calls people to a higher standard. I believe in this, because the early church did. I also believe in love that respects the value of hard work (1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:7–8). There is a time for charity, such as meeting a basic need like clean water, but people also need economic opportunities. They need jobs.
The early church built intelligence in their giving. We see this in the appointment of deacons after an issue over distribution of charity to widows, one of the most impoverished groups of the day (Acts 6:1–7). Jesus would have us give in ways that multiply and to think about how we’re giving and to whom we’re giving.
This is why I believe in job creation efforts being a core part of the work of the church. We can meet a person’s need today, or we can give them the ability to meet their own need tomorrow. But no matter what we do, showing Jesus’ love in word and deed should be our mission. We should live on mission and empower missions, so that all can know Jesus.
READ: Clean Water and ‘The Living Water’
The early church sent missionaries out, but their goal was to train and empower local leadership. Much of 1 Timothy and Titus is about this — the appointment of local elders and deacons. We also see Paul in 1 & 2 Thessalonians and 1 & 2 Corinthians working to instruct local leaders on how to lead their own church. Paul’s model was always about raising up indigenous leaders.
Today we can do the same. We need to empower local leadership around the world. What we need is to sponsor indigenous church planting movements and to empower them with quality, Bible-focused training. And we need to empower them with strong project management, resources for community development, and let them sit at the center of an effort to renew a community.
Churches around the world should partner together, for the sake of both bringing the gospel to unreached people groups and to meet basic needs. And where there are needs to be met, we should meet them.
Near the end of Paul’s letter to the Roman church, he requests that they join him and other churches in bringing together an aid package for the impoverished in Jerusalem (Romans 15:26–29). As Christians, we need to have a holistic approach to life transformation. We need to be about creating jobs, planting churches, and meeting basic needs — one community at a time.
Imagine what could be if the church tried to live out Jesus’ economy — if we looked at the biblical model of self-sacrifice and lived with the principles of the early church in mind. Imagine how different our world would be.