What do you own and what owns you? You can find this question asked many times in several different contexts. Are you looking to find some kind of financial freedom? How about trying to live simply in a complex world? Has a mountain of stuff invaded your home garage to the point where parking a car inside is only a dream?

The early Church practiced a radical form of fellowship called koinonia, which literally means “sharing in common.” Those who had homes and other major possessions would sell them and then place the proceeds in the care of the Apostles to be shared with the entire community. People focus mostly on the fact that people sold all their possessions for the benefit of the community. However the real point is the action that occurred after every selling: the proceeds were given to Church authority, in essence, to God first. I wasn’t just selling my house and then giving the money to random people. My offering was to God and it was for the Apostles (those who personally encountered Jesus and now represented him on earth) to decide how to divide up the wealth.

Why do such a thing? One could say it was so that no one wanted for anything. If we push that thinking too far, as some in history have done, we can create a system that takes from some to give to others. Nothing was taken from anyone in that first Christian community. It was freely given. And perhaps the reason why people were moved to do so lies at the heart of stewardship: because all we have already belongs to God anyway.

-Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS