Two things we have heard/read and decided to do our best to live by –

1. If you cannot/are unwilling to share it with someone, you should
not own it.
2. It doesn't matter how much you give away, what matters is how much
you are left with.

We made a committment early in our marriage that if our salaries
increased noticeably (ha…we both work for non profits…), our
standard or mode of living would not. More money = more to give
away has kind of been our desired mantra. We decided that even if we
made 6 figures, we would not live in a way that people could tell.

Of course, this is hard to do, and of course there are all sorts of
invisble lines we have to draw in that. But I think the issue is one
of lifestyle. We have learned a lot in the last year about Living
Simply and about global and local poverty, and the typical American
lifestyle's contribution to that poverty. We have learned from
watching The Story Of Stuff (http://www.storyofstuff.com), readings from
Sojourners and World Vision, etc. It has been a long journey and we
have moments of resistance for sure.

There will always be someone richer and someone poorer than everyone,
so we can't compare to our neighbors. It has to be a lifestyle and a
heart matter, as well as priorities.

That's what I have for now. Watch the Story of Stuff. Also Soong-Chan
Rah's new book the Next Evangelicalism has a chapter on the Western
White Cultural Captivity of the Church and how our white cultural
economics mixed with our religion so that the values became
synonymous……way exposing and interesting. That's why we dont hear
this from the pulpit.

The only thing I'd question in your comment is that you said you feel "this conversation is easy to have" for wealthy Christians. Whether it's easy or not, my disappointment is that I haven't actually seen the conversation anywhere in Christian circles. And I'm not speaking of holding up thriftiness as a virtue, but rather encouraging radically challenging our current cost of living, or at least the concept that your income dictates your lifestyle. Does that make sense? Have you seen these conversations happening?

the "choice" to live simply is much different then 'having' to.

the question and dialogue becomes very different for those who struggle to make each and everyday or who come from generations of poverty.

sometimes i feel as wealthy christians this conversation is easy to have, but ends up being much more difficult for others.

So I think you've got a good place to start. If our lives don't look radically different then our neighbors, maybe we should re think how we are living/ and spending.

Right now, my wife and I are living on one mediocre salary, yet can still afford to give away a little more than 10 percent of what we make because we live within our means. We have a savings account, a retirement plan and a healthy chunk of loans to pay off but zero credit card debt and a priority to give not only to our local church but to organizations and neighbors we see in need.

Call me crazy, but I truly believe the Lord provides when we give our money away. When I do the math and see how much we have given away in the past year versus how much we've made, how much we have in the bank and what all of our bills have been to live in a tiny apartment, share a car and put food on the table I'm blown away.

Good conversation!! Hope it continues. :)

Peace.

I don't agree though that by answering this question collectively "we quickly fall into judging". The church in general is all about laying out rights and wrongs, things to do and things not to do (I'm not saying that's always a good thing, but it is what happens).
Think about the hot button issues like abortion and homosexuality. Most churches go right ahead and answer those questions and they don't accept different answers from others. And yet those same churches never try and answer the money question. Maybe they should take your advice and allow people to have come to different answers, yet still be a part of the same body. On that note, even those that do, or close friends that do have differing opinions on serious topics, are often able to answer the question, firmly but differently, and still leave it as friends and without judging. It's more difficult, but it can definitely be done.
Or take more casual issues like what type of music to listen to, movies to watch, is swearing okay, etc. The church, or just Christians in general, have always asked these questions, often come to conclusions and then expected conformity by church members (again, I'm not saying that's always a good thing).

I guess I'm just saying, of all the things to NOT talk about and try and answer, the money one seems like the most crippling to the faith community. It's the one I see most clearly put forth in scripture as something to address and grapple with, yet we spend time condemning 'secular' music and trying to outlaw gay marriage. Just seems backwards that's all.