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The church board decided that the money should not simply be added to general revenue. Instead, the money should be given back to the people of the church, for them to invest. (Board members had read about this idea being tried elsewhere.)
On Thanksgiving Sunday, 1995, a ten-dollar bill was given to anyone who wanted one; 75 people each took $10. The instructions were that the money was to be invested in whatever kind of project the person could devise; then, in one year's time, there would be a day of reckoning. The minimum age limit for participants was 10. Participants in this "seed money project", as it was called, would be allowed to combine their $10 for larger, joint projects. The proceeds would be divided equally between Mennonite Central Committee and MB Missions/Services.
On Thanksgiving Sunday, 1996, the entire morning worship time was devoted to hearing people tell stories about their projects and tallying the amounts earned.
Projects included manufacture and sale of various items, including Menno Simons T-shirts, home-made candles, home-made noodles (created by two teen-age girls), knitted slippers, dolls, painted eggs, decoratively wrapped gift boxes, string-art greeting cards and oven mitts.
Two families baked breads, buns and Rice Krispie squares and sold them.
One person made chocolate fudge and sold it each week at the farmers' market.
One family baked a pizza and delivered hot samples into the surrounding neighbourhood to take orders. A week later, they baked and delivered hot pizzas to those neighbours who had placed an order.
One person built a cedar lawn chaise and accepted sealed bids for it.
A tax accountant who was visiting from the Fraser Valley that morning, invested his $10 in his tax preparation business, and sent it back with interest.
One young couple spent their $10 on much-needed baby formula. They then used the empty formula can to collect spare change over the period of a year, at a considerable "profit", which they contributed.
Not all projects worked as intended. A farming couple bought a bag of seed potatoes and planted them, only to discover at harvest time that almost all the new potatoes had rotted in the ground. They compensated for their crop failure with a donation.
Another person intended to sell raspberries and sweet pea bouquets, only to be thwarted by rain and frost. He used the remainder of his $10 to buy ice cream and topping so that he could invite his neighbours over for a treat.
Still other persons discovered that the crafts they had made just wouldn't sell. One person from this latter group organized a garage/craft/food sale on two consecutive Saturdays, to assist fellow entrepreneurs who needed access to a market.
A few "investors: have disappeared, and/or didn't report. Others have projects which are still continuing, such as building birdhouses and selling firewood. As of October 13, 1996, the $750 of seed money came back as $1874.94. What is more important is that we had fun taking part in this project. Even those people who didn't receive money to invest, enjoyed seeing the project unfold. Our children learned valuable lessons in creativity, unselfishness and Christian stewardship. Everyone's imagination was stirred. People experienced the power that exists in teamwork and co-operation. We even had to work through the disappointment of failed projects. Finally, the deadline of Thanksgiving Sunday reminded several people that procrastination also costs: Instead of submitting proceeds from a project that never got started, they gave back the $10 "plus interest".
John F. Klassen, pastor
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