Responsible Stewardship Idea: Vested.org

As highlighted in Money Enough: Everyday Practices for Living Faithfully in a Global Economy by Douglas Hicks, investments in Microfinance can have the highest impact-per-dollar for individuals in impoverished countries looking to improve their quality of life.

Microfinance is the practice of becoming a lender on a small loan to a party who would benefit greatly from the loan. A $50 check in America would amount to a night at the movies for two and a couple of burritos for dinner. To a family in Ethiopia, however, the same $50 would allow them to purchase cattle to help with farming, nutrition via milk, and potentially cattle offspring to multiply their resources.

A microloan will typically still serve the dual purpose of a traditional loan wherein the recipient has immediate access to capital and the loaner receives their investment back plus interest over time. While microloans may not offer the same returns as traditional investments, they do offer some return by the way of interests, are offered in terms of various lengths, and help preserve capital while putting that same capital to use in a globally responsible way. 

One website that helps bridge the gap between the individual investor and the microloan recipient is Vested.org. While they offer other types of investments in addition to Microloans, they can be filtered by category and several investment opportunities are available under the MicroFinance category. Opportunities include helping Haitians get a fresh start in life, improving sanitation conditions in a village in India, and constructing structurally sound housing in Colombia.

A website like Vested.org provides an immediate opportunity for the Financial Responsible Investor interested in stewarding their resources in a way that helps their brother's and sister's attain a better standard of living across the globe. 

http://www.Vested.org 

 For more information on how Microfinance works, please visit:

The Wikipedia Microfinance Page 

Statement of Faith

I believe in divine inspiration. 

I believe in the infallibility of Scripture. 

I believe in proper exegesis.

Jesus' teachings should often be against your instinct, or you're doing it wrong (see Prov 14:12). In many ways He's not big into traditional "responsibility" (eg Mt 6:19-20, Mt 8:22, Mt 19:21, Mt 26:10, Lk 12:22, Lk 16:8) or "efficiency" (eg Mt 26:10, Lk 15).

Fiscal responsibility is praised in Scripture (eg, Pr 13:22, Pr 21:17), and at the same time there is an understanding that money is one thing that battles God for primacy (see Mt 6:21).

Fiscal Responsibility: Prudent Long-Term Stewardship of Resources

In Luke 12:13-21 we see a parable with 2 sub-stories that illustrate this dynamic. Fortunately, the text clearly lays out the conclusion of each sub-story (vv 15, 20-21). One should also consider the following verses (vv 22-34) for context. Looking at the Rich Fool specifically, we'd note:

• The rich fool is focused on his pleasure (v 19) and not on those things God cares about (v 21). (What does God care about? Long lists can be made, but Mic 6:8, Mt 22:36-40, and Mt 28:19-20 would be good places to start.) 

• Another man came to Jesus and also placed money above God; Jesus diagnosed this and addressed it directly (Mk 10:27) 

• Being well-off and following God are not mutually exclusive (eg, Abraham, David, Solomon, Josiah), and following God does not imply that one will be well-off (eg, Jesus during his incarnation). The question is where one's first love is (see 1 Tim 6:10). 

• We have an obligation to give generously. As God has given generously to us (monetarily but more importantly non-monetarily), our giving should be generous (see Lk 11:41, 2 Cor 9:6-11, 1 Tim 6:18) but cheerful (2 Cor 9:7). After all, what we hold is not our own, but we are stewards (1 Pet 4:10, Lk 16:10-12, Mt 25:14-30), just as the life we live is also not our own (1 Cor 6:20, Gal 2:20, Eph 4:1, Col 1:10). 

• There are many things to learn from the secular side of /r/FinancialIndependence, including preventing lifestyle inflation, investing, being able to dedicate time to non-work tasks (ministry and raising kids), and so forth. I've found that /r/FinancialIndependence and /r/PersonalFinance are in general quite anti-giving either implicitly or explicitly (it's hard to save 50% and give 25% if your tax burden is in the 20% range), and these are aspects that I cannot integrate. 

• People don't get there in a day. Obedience isn't manufactured, it's lived out in a growing relationship with Jesus. Thus if someone says "I want to follow Christ but I just can't see myself giving 10%" I'd tell them "once you are willing to put God first over everything including your finances, then He'll bring you to the place where you can give what He calls you to give, whether that's 0% or your life."

This statement of Faith vis-a-vis money will serve as the looking glass for future reflections. Credit for much of the foundational references goes to /u/Seahawksbandwagoner from a post on the topic of Christianity in /r/FiancialIndependence.