As part of our practice of living into the economics of the kingdom of God through sharing, we are intentional about sharing our stuff and our skills.
When we need something, our first impulse is often to buy something for ourselves. Instead, we want to form the habit of sharing our wants and needs with our church family, and seeing if there is an opportunity for sharing our stuff and skills rather than buying.
Library of Things Google Sheet
Those who have stuff and skills that they are willing to share have added their things to a Google Sheet. We use this Google Sheet to help people see some of the things that they could borrow, and to manage when items need to be returned.
If you would like access to this Google Sheet, email Ryan Donoho [ryan at thetableindy dot org].
Guidelines
- A standard lending period would be from Sunday to Sunday, but terms are worked out between the lender and borrower.
- Some items are communally owned and the current steward is contacted for borrowing the item or transferring stewardship.
- If an item is damaged or lost while you are borrowing an item, consider being generous and offer to pay for the item.
- If an item is damaged or lost while you are lending an item, consider being generous and telling the borrower that they do not have to pay for it.
- If an item is damaged or lost while it is being lent out, and neither person can afford to replace it, the owner can submit a request to the benevolence fund.
- Practice good communication with the person you are borrowing from or lending to.
GroupMe chat
We also share things beyond what is listed in the Google Sheet. We share our wants and needs in our GroupMe chat, and we help each other. To get added to the GroupMe chat, email Ryan Donoho [ryan at thetableindy dot org].
