Psalm 133, 1 John 4:7-21
4. Co-operation
Each week we have considered an aspect of God that is also part of us.
The first week: love and the value and equality of every person.
Second week: creativity. God is creative; we are creative.
Third week: productivity. God is productive; we are productive.
This week: co-operation.
Yes, God is a co-operative
God co-operates with God’s self
God is an “us-ness”. Right from the start when God said, “Let us make…” (Gen.1:26)
In this day of individualism we come back to basics and assert that Community matters more than each individual person. That’s not easy for us to grasp because our western mindset is very individualistic. But each week we are challenging the common thinking of our times with Bible principles derived directly from the nature of God and of humans.
Co-operation is based on love. Love draws people together with a recognition of the value and the contribution of others. God is complete and God can do anything but this is one way we are different to God – we can’t do everything and we need one another to succeed in anything we set out to do and indeed we need one another to thrive. We are born totally dependent on others for our survival. We grow to be less dependent, but we never outgrow our need of those around us. The best way to grow up is not independent but interdependent. We are at our best when we work together, when we love one another in word and in deed. And, notice: this is all about co-operation; competition doesn’t come into it at all.
Here’s a useful acronym from the word team. Together Everyone Achieves More
Exercise in co-operation: at least 6 people hold hands in a circle facing outwards. They turn around to face inwards, without anyone letting go at any stage and with their arms at their sides.
Co-operation in business
So let’s consider the implications of co-operation in economics.
The dominant ideologies of the current times are Marxism and Capitalism. Economic Theology, with its emphasis on co-operation, is different from both.
Different to Marxism which is imposed, not shared.
Different to Capitalism which is usually competitive.
Competition has a real downside. It puts people against one another, instead of for one another as God desires. Because we are all of equal value no one is to be taken advantage of, no one is to be oppressed. The Bible is strong on this.
Competition works in an atmosphere of scarcity – the belief that there is not enough to go around. So competition for jobs pushes wages down. Competition for good workers pushes wages up, for those few. While competition for sales pushes prices down, scarcity pushes prices up. eg: limited editions, like the one last week where one apparently famous person made 300 pairs of shoes and sold the lot in a very short time – people queued for them! – because they had his name on them and there were only 300 pairs. Advertising promotes an atmosphere of scarcity. You’ve heard them all: “hurry, only available for a limited time!” “Be in quick – only a few left!” Scarcity is an assumption that capitalism thinks it needs – but it doesn’t.
When we realise that there is enough to go around: there is enough food to feed everybody, there are enough jobs to employ everybody, and so on, we get into an atmosphere of abundance. Abundance fuels co-operation, fair prices, fair wages, etc.. All scarcities are created to advantage somebody (and disadvantage others). Scarcity is a product of selfishness. God provides abundantly. There is enough of what we need, don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. Co-operation is the better way.
Co-operation among businesses is not to be found in a cartel. A cartel is some of the businesses ganging up on the rest – competing – combining to increase their advantage over others.
Co-operation is as simple as not competing.
Co-operation combines and compounds the benefit of businesses’ contributions to society.
The most obvious avenue of cooperation in business is the co-operative.
‘Co-operative business’ is not an oxymoron.
Co-operatives work within a capitalist economy but differ from other businesses in the way they share the decision-making and the proceeds.
New Zealand was built on co-operatives (especially in the dairy industry). We lead the world when it comes to co-operative business and it is growing. Co-operatives currently account for 4% of NZ’s GDP, employing 43,000 people and turning over AUD $41bn a year. Our earliest producer co-op was a dairy co-op founded near Dunedin in 1871 by John Mathieson. By 1900, there were 111
co-operatives in the dairy industry and 152 investor-owned companies. These dairy co-ops must have been swallowed up by Fonterra which is now our biggest cooperative, because our oldest
co-operative today is FMG Insurance which was set up in 1905.
Definition:
What we mean by a co-operative:
An enterprise,
freely established,
that is owned and controlled by a group of legal persons
for the purpose of equitably
providing themselves with mutual benefits
arising from the activities of the enterprise,
and not primarily from investment in it
Or, from the International Co-operative Alliance:
Definition:
A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.
Values:
Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.
These are consistent with Bible values and Bible recommended practices.
The Plunkett Foundation “helps communities to take control of their challenges and overcome them together. We support people, predominantly in rural areas, to set up and run life-changing community co-operatives; enterprises that are owned and run democratically by large numbers of people in their community. They help people to tackle a range of issues, from isolation and loneliness to poverty, and come in many forms including shops, cafes, pubs and land-based initiatives, and everything in between.
“Our core values are the values of the great Irish co-operative pioneer, Sir Horace Plunkett, who founded the Plunkett Foundation in 1919. He believed that rural communities didn’t have to wait for someone else to make life better for them; they had the potential to do it themselves – with a little help. His values are embedded in the heart of what we do:
• We seek economic solutions to create social change
• We seek solutions that enrich rural community life
• We see self-help as the most effective way to tackle rural needs “ [Plunkett Foundation website.]
A couple of other examples of economic co-operation.
e.g Liberty Trust in New Zealand is a savings and loan scheme where contributers give money and after 10 years of saving are given an interest-free loan in proportion to their contributions. The loan is then paid back over 7 years. There are brochures on this scheme in the foyer.
e.g. microfinance loan groups. These gather together a small pool of money and loan it as needed to members to develop their income-generating activities. As loans are repaid more loans can be givien.
The church is a co-operative
All the Christians in the world are one entity: the Body of Christ. All the churches, all the parishes, all the denominations, all the ministries, all the para-church groups are one entity: the Body of Christ. One-ness is Jesus’ aim. We often call for unity but we are not that close. There are too many cantankerous people in the church pushing what are their own agendas. If we can’t unite fully, the least we can do is co-operate, but we aren’t even co-operating well within our own denomination. We tend to limit ourselves, staying within the borders of our own parishes but we need to get out more. In St. Margaret’s we are pretty co-operative. So, keep up the good work and when we see a way to extend that to other Christians, let’s do it.
Co-operation comes from the heart of God. It’s part of his nature and it’s part of our nature too. A competitive spirit opposes that nature. Co-operation does good. Let’s co-operate for the common good.