Howto

Understanding the Game

If you want to grow then love your neighbour by prospering his/her soul. In God’s economy our focus must shift away from storing money and towards accumulating partnerships, products and services. Technically every time you pay R500 in a closed local economy, you have doubled its value. That is because the person who received your money can now buy the same you did for at least the same price. When we grow the products and services in our communities as opposed to climbing the ladder of monetary investments we will attract more business, jobs and people to our community, and ultimately attract more value to ourselves. Think of it as a game of Rugby. If you don’t like passing to your teammates whether out of kindness or need, they will eventually vote you out. Don’t be someone who does not want to pay for goods and services sourced from your town. Also in Rugby after passing the ball you must stay in the game. Follow the player who has the ball and don’t give up after passing it on. If the ball was your money, and you circulate it in your town, you should expect to have it circulate back to you again. Don’t just stand there, make offers, show them where to pass to, and don’t give up if the ball passes you by. Change your offers if you need to, but never treat yourself as if you’re not a valuable player. Everyone has the potential to add value, and in God’s economy there is a place for you!

A story about the value of money:

In a town where there is no money. A tourist comes to visit. He enters the hotel and puts down R1000 at the front-desk as a deposit for his room. He goes upstairs. In the meantime the hotel takes the R1000 to the supermarket to settle their shopping account. The supermarket owner goes to the farmer to settle his account. And the farmer gives the R1000 to his wife because the family also needs money. So the wife goes to the hotel to settle their outstanding account. Suddenly the tourist comes back down from his room saying: "I don't like it here". He takes his deposit and leaves. What just happened?

Money only has the value that we give it. The goal is to heal our supply chains, buy and sell from our communities, and to use currency not for hoarding but only for circulating our products and services. The currency we circulate is not the actual value distributed. It only subjectively measures the actual value of that which was exchanged. We circulate goods and services every day. Everytime we exchange currency for something, it doubles that value within the supply-chain it remains in. If community-related imports and exports are not demanded exclusively where communities have abundance but rather for the sake of survival, it negatively impacts the growth of that community. If we want to grow our local communities we must find ways to balance the distribution of supplies and demands within the community so the families therin don't become vulnerable to unjust demands that come from externally situated and relationally disconnected entities.