Why Does Everyone Need Their Own Lawn Mower?

This question prompted the idea of a database of the items people have available that they don't mind sharing with the rest of church. It was a good idea that gave birth to OH bay.

Great, but perhaps a little bit exclusive. Jesus did say we'd be known by the love we showed each other as his disciples, but also called us to bring others into this love and open it up to all. So what about sharing that lawn mower with others on your street, maybe even people we don't know yet?

In Acts 2 Luke speaks of the early believers sharing of possessions as being part and parcel of life and being a powerful witness, with many people liking them and joining in. Whenever we talk about sharing within church or serving the local community, I feel a real sense of how important this is to God's agenda, not just being a means to the end of sharing a Gospel message with people, but being part of the finished product itself; this is what God's Kingdom looks like and if that's what we want to see, we should try it.

Well, I think a website I've recently discovered could be a fantastic way of meeting, serving and sharing with those closest to us (in a geographical sense). Cross Freecycle and OH Bay plus some other bits and you end up with Streetbank.

Basically, you list the things you are willing to lend out or give away or skills you've got that you don't mind others benefiting from. You can then search for items or skills you don't have that others might or just see what's on offer around your area. Streetbank makes the links.

If this isn't an easy way to be generous, community minded and meet lots of new neighbours, then I don't know what is! If meeting new people in your neighbourhood doesn't come naturally for whatever reason, but you've got the desire, then perhaps this could really help.

Looking at Streetbank for our area of Loughborough, it would seem that it's fairly new and not that popular yet; in fact the only thing I can borrow is Tim Harper's lawn mower. Now there's nothing wrong with that, except I already know Tim and I've got my own lawn mower. But I remember the days before Facebook; once a few friends of friends start getting involved, you won't be able to move for offers of ladders, quilting skills and jam jars.

So, if you're up for it, I'd like to fly the flag for Streetbank and encourage us to be the people that are available for those around us and if this helps then there's just 2 steps; sign up and let others know about it.

And if anyone needs some old plastic sheeting....

(Lawnmower pic borrowed from Infrogmation under a Creative Commons Licence)

Posted by: Phil Lyon on Wednesday Jun 9th, 2010

Comments

Logged-in members can post comments on openheaven.org news articles.

Back