Last winter, Lezli showed me an article about a church who gave seed money to congregants and asked them to use their talents to triple the money for the congregation. Even individuals who felt they had no intrinsic talent were challenged to find something to offer. Some members sold crafts and some sold services. One man provided rides on his motorcycle for a fee. (I wish I could find a link to the article, but I've been unsuccessful.) When we read the article, we were very struck by the sweetness of it and the self-discovery that accompanied the congregants' generosity.
In searching for the article, I came upon the website Kingdom Assignment. About this program, I am more cynical. Based on Matthew's Parable of Talents, Kingdom Assignments, a nonprofit organization, encourages congregations to implement their 90-day program which is structured around three pillars: Talent, Treasure, and Time.
On the homepage, I was interested to see a banner for On Assignment, "multiplying corporate generosity through empowered employees." Instead of using the three pillars to build money for a congregation, On Assignment aims to increase seed money provided by the organization (less a management fee) for the benefit of the organization's chosen charity or cause. Besides the philanthropic motive, On Assignment promises to reinforce company values, build morale, and improve teamwork.
This is a program I should love--it allows employees to engage in social action presumably in a very personal and self-directed manner. At the same time, this particular program makes me uncomfortable. It feels a little too mega-church.
Dear Social Action at Work,
ReplyDeleteI read your comments regarding the Kingdom Assignment with interest, as my wife and I are the authors of the book and keepers of the website. In actuality, you may have missed a couple of important aspects of the assignment. One, congregates were incouraged to use their talent, treasure, and time to advance God's kingdom OUTSIDE the church. This is not a fundraising project for the church, but rather an assignment designed to empower the local church to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the world. Secondly, the program "ON ASSIGNMENT" is a kind of Kingdom Assignment designed for the secular business community that enables a company or business owner to drive biblcal values of integrity, compassion, accountability, and stewardship through one's company by empowering employees to voluntarily and creatively manage, multiply and distribute the company's philanthropic investment into people, causes, organizations, and situtions in the community. Thanks for the opportunity to respond. db