Relational Tithe

For the last 6 months I have been a part of something called the Relational Tithe. The whole thing is a God story that I would like to share with you. This summer when I was at home I read a book called The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. I thought it was pretty good and that it put words to some things that I had been thinking about for awhile. What I thought was revolutionary is this thing called the Relational Tithe that the author was involved in. As I read about it I became very intrigued and wanted to figure out how I could also be involved. Here is part of what Shane had to say about it in his book:

Church father Ignatius said that if our church is not marked by caring for the poor, the oppressed and the hungry, then we are guilty of heresy. A new reformation is long overdue. We began to dream of what it would look like to reimagine the offerings, since God intended them to be instruments of a redistributive economy. We considered how the early church brought their offerings and laid them at the apostles' feet to be redistributed to folks as they had need. and we came up with something beautiful and small - the relational tithe.
A relational tithe is a network of reborn friends around the world organized in little cells, like in a body, taking care of each other. Like the early church, all offerings and needs are brought to the community. Unlike the early church, we have a blog and can wire money across the globe. We pool 10 percent of our income into a common fund. Regularly, the needs of our neighborhoods and villages are brought before the community, and we meet them as we are able. Meanwhile, we are building relationships that radically tear through the economic walls that divide us, from economists to homeless folks, all the time trusting that we can do more together than we could do alone.

After reading this, I did some research on the internet and found out that at this point in the Relational Tithe's development, you need to be invited to be a part of it. So I figured that was that. About a month later, my roommate Jill asked me to have dinner with her and a friend that was visiting from California. While we were at dinner, this friend pulled out his laptop to show us what he's been up to for the last year. It turns out that he was the person who created the Relational Tithe! He said that they were starting a new cluster that was going to be international and wanted to know if Jill and I would like to be a part of it. How amazing is that? So now 10 percent of my income goes into a general fund and I am part of an international cluster that makes requests in order to fill the needs of our neighbors.