Storehouse Vision

Storehouse Vision Cast (10-page PDF)
End Times Wealth Runway (11-page PDF)
Storehouse Roundtable Discussion

Editor’s Note: If you are new to the website, it is good to understand God’s Economy, Financial Slavery and Come Out of Babylon in order to put the Storehouse in context and why it it’s important…

Intro

The “Storehouse” vision is to network together local and regional Christian community in order to facilitate economic relationships in biblical truth. Part of this is facilitating the exchange of product and services among community members. But the key element of the Storehouse it is for the community to “become the bank” for itself instead of relying on traditional banks and banking. Likewise, instead of individuals in the community turning to the financial markets for investment, or businesses turning to Wall Street for capital, the community can invest in itself, providing capital to local and regional business, encouraging sustainable local economy. Finally, the Storehouse vision also looks to create local currencies to avoid total dependency in traditional money, such as the US Dollar or the Euro.

Any fellowship of believers working together in unity can create a local “Storehouse”. All it takes is where “two or three are gathered, there I am”. Where a local community of people band together in trust to exchange goods and services, support, disciple and assist one another with their time, talents, service, resources and capital.

Here is a quick synopsis of the purpose of the “Storehouse” vision and network…

There are two major steps in creating any local or regional “Storehouse”.

Step One – Establish Community…

The first step is assembling a “Storehouse Community” – this is simply a fellowship of believers committed to help one other economically in unity as needs and opportunities arise. A spiritual family, like Jesus talked about (Matt 12:49). (Hopefully some of this is already happening in one form or another in your city/region through John 17 unity of churches and ministries, as well as prayer movements which tend to reach across people groups.)

A quick way of understanding this is how the “Barn Raising” approach of yesteryear was used to help one family in need by mustering up the voluntary collective action of a whole community.

Part of any “Storehouse” community should promote “in-sourcing” – i.e. local production of goods and services (e.g. agriculture, family businesses) as well as exchange (e.g. farmers market). That coupled with forming a type of “savings club” with the idea of lending to people in need and resourcing the Kingdom of God (more on that in step 2 below).

The Storehouse community should facilitate coming together to exchange goods and services with one another (purchase, barter), keeping it ‘in the family’ rather than depending so much on big-box corporate stores with questionable values and far flung supply chains. This would also be like a local marketplace. Here is a diagramatic example of how such a Storehouse community can be structured…

… and Come Out of Babylon

Now, none of this will make sense to folks, unless the leaders and community members have committed to “Come out of Babylon“, repent of trusting in money, repent of trusting in self (both of which are like worshiping a false God and trusting in an idol), instead of truly and simply trusting in God. Here is a summary slide of “how we get there”…

How do you know in your community if the commitment to change is real? Among other things, when we no longer believe money is the critical path to achieving something. Here is more on this type of repentance…

Here is an interesting dream that Liz Adleta had recently after reading through the Come out of Babylon page the night prior…

Just woke up from a dream where I was part of what seemed to be a community, possibly a collaborative Kingdom community. It was extremely fruitful, very organic. It reminded me of something I have read —some of the things I’ve seen about tech companies, very family oriented, not business / hierarchical, but organic, relational. The flow of work was very conducive to working in rest and collaboration. People would stop everything to come together to listen to the Lord together for the creativity to flow out through them as a corporate group. Each benefitted although they represented different giftings / callings / assignments. When there came a challenge, people would come together to work on it together toward breakthrough. It was like life under the lordship of Jesus Christ corporately, in a thoroughly integrated way. All the “7 mountains” flowed together undergirding each other. It was intergenerational, education; it was more like apprenticeship or internship and flowed with life activities seamlessly. It (the community) expanded organically and adjusted itself for the growth. The life of Jesus was pulsing in the community but in a very natural organic way rather than a “holiness” type model—it was more of a shalom model: nothing missing, everything properly related, synchronized and servant-led. The atmosphere was vibrant with life and light.
Liz Adleta Jan 8, 2023 7:31am

So, it’s important to see here that coming out of Babylon and divorcing Baal are ways of repentance, not some religious exercise. It helps individuals to come out of every restriction / conformity where modern culture (Babylon) tries to distract, distort and temp people away Kingdom principles.

You see, greed, fear, selfish gain, self preservation, etc. often prevent a Kingdom reality from being reached within a community. When we fully trust God for our provision, we can give more of ourselves to the community.

Step Two – Establish a Storehouse…

Back to the savings club idea – think of it this way – the “Storehouse Community” ends up becoming “The Bank” to people within the community. Instead of a financially struggling individual feeling isolated and worried about how they are going to pay for things, feeling the only option is to borrow money from the bank, use a credit card, or maybe get a payday loan. Perhaps that person in financial need won’t even be extended credit at all from a financial institution (the unbanked), and so now they don’t know what to do.

Instead of sending someone in need to a financial institution, they can turn to the Storehouse Community “bank”. We don’t want to send people in this situation to the welfare offices of government assistance, or the unemployment line – we want to help “Assist” them (see “Assist” KBI below). Ultimately, what we are proposing here, is for believers to come together and help people they personally know with their immediate financial needs, in order to get them back on track and economically productive, get them out of debt, so that they can “pay it forward” and graduate to becoming the “lender not the borrower”. Part of this is offering non-recourse, no interest loans. The type of debt that does not enslave through interest or pledging essential assets (house; car; pawning valuables). This is a part of Christian discipleship we must reintroduce back into the Church. This is also a form of evangelism by helping people in need with the love of Christ.

It can be as simple as 10 people coming together and putting $100 each into a coffee can. From that $1000 “bank”, further money can be deposited, lent out, given away, or withdrawn for payment of goods/services. The Storehouse Community “bank” can have individual accounts where individuals maintain decision making, as well as a larger “Storehouse Fund” which would be overseen by elders/leaders in the community for the benefit of helping those in need from a pool of contributed resources, like in Acts 2/4. Further, such a “Storehouse Fund” can be coupled with a syndicate of “New Breed of Businesspeople” looking to make biblical loans to entrepreneurs within the community operated by Kingdom minded business owners. In otherwords, capital from the Storehouse community fund can be augmented by individuals wanting to invest “side-by-side” or shoulder to shoulder.

Another early step in this is when God’s people in the local Church community become convinced to come out of financial institution borrowing. Financial institutions today no longer have meaningful relationships with their retail customers, and so when their customers need help in making their repayments, they have no authority, nor desire to help their customers. This is due to market “innovations”, such as mortgage securitization, which have resulted in the separation of “sales” from “servicing” of loans. This is a major part of the depersonalization of finance. Your friendly mortgage broker and real estate agent that helped you buy a home? They are not so friendly nor helpful a few years down the road if you can’t make your mortgage payments. They might respond, as they did to us: “Sorry, I wish I could help you. Good luck.”

… and set the captives free

Today, people in our 21st century capitalist economy are just a number, a credit score, a profit center. We have become slaves to debt, and financial systems. (Read “Am I a Slave?” for more on socio-economic slavery in the modern day). Today, if you can’t make your mortgage payment, there is no appealing to your friendly neighborhood “George Bailey” savings and loan officer (ever watch It’s a Wonderful Life?), because he already sold your mortgage to a robo-entity run by outsourced consultants, with no real authority to help struggling borrowers. Instead, they will tell you the only option is to foreclose on your house, repossess your car, or sue you for repayment. This is why the Church – the Storehouse Community – must take back what has been outsourced to the world’s bankers and the brokers.

Typically, Storehouse loans are set up as non-interest bearing and non-recourse according to the scriptural guidance not to treat a “brother” as a creditor would (Deut 23:19; Exodus 22:26), but instead open your hand wide and “lend to your brother freely, not expecting to be repaid” (Deut 15:8; Matt 5:42).

The second step of starting a Storehouse community, is to foster a “Community Based Wealth Model” for investment and support. To create a “Storehouse” fund, or series of funds the local community can collectively invest in.

For those who have accumulated wealth through investments in the financial markets, real estate, or savings in the bank (for a rainy day, retirement, or any other reason) should consider the abundant scriptural evidence that it is better to take some or all of our wealth out of “the world” – i.e., a variety of secular investments (investment portfolios, publicly traded stock, bonds, pension plans, insurance plans, bank savings accounts, real estate, brokerage accounts – these financial systems often idolize capital and profitability, persecute religious liberty, violate biblical sabbaths, exploit the poor, the land and other resources all in the name of profits for shareholders) and reinvest the proceeds back into the local community – people you relate to and those committed to advancing the Kingdom.

In other words, Christians can move beyond simply giving 10% of their income as tax-deductible gifts. We have to make our investments and savings available to God as well. Christians can and should take their money out of the “Babylonian” markets and banks and begin to lend to people in need, investing in private family and Kingdom building businesses and enterprises, according to biblical principals.

Let’s consider the following scriptures:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
1 Timothy 6:17-19

And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Acts 4:34-35

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
Luke 16:9

The second step to establishing a “Storehouse” is establishing a “Storehouse Fund” or series of funds, where provision is set aside and made ready. Earlier, we spoke of a “savings club”. The Storehouse Fund is like a collective pool of contributions, or savings that can be redeployed back in the community. This can be thought of as a grain silo full of wheat set aside for a time of famine (like Joseph’s Storehouses in Egypt). Or, like our National strategic petroleum reserve. Or a “Storehouse Fund” of ready to deploy capital.

Three Types of Funding of projects – Kingdom Base Initiatives (“KBI’s”)

Assist –

There is a general inclination or act of charity encouraged by God for all people to assist others as they move through various trials in life. These tribulations may come from issues of health, financial set
back, natural disaster, etc. that are for a season beyond the ability of the individual or specific group to deal with. However, God has not intended for this to be a perpetual state of an individual or specific
groups existence. Therefore, we believe benevolence includes practical assistance as well as a path of restoration and healing whatever the circumstances. The US founding fathers called this
“calculated compassion”. People or groups not willing to pursue a path of restoration must be evaluated as to whether they are truly a candidate for assistance. Consider: Judges 19:18-21

Equip –

We are to help transition people from assistance/benevolence by equipping them for their God given destinies. This includes funding for training. This also includes debt consolidation and cancellation. The equipping track process must be shepherded, so individuals/groups in need are moved to individuals/groups that help. Consider: Acts 19:8-9; Dt 15:1; Jer 29:11

Destiny –

The next step in this process is to take people who have been restored and equipped and guide them into their God given destinies. This would include incubating and funding people’s entrepreneurial endeavors (lending as investing in businesses). This too is a shepherding process that involves wise council/mentoring as they move out into the process of engaging their destiny. Consider: Heb 5:13-14, Philipp 3:12.

As you may start to understand, some of the above three categories have more potential to yield a return to the investor. If we think of biblical lending as an investment model, we start to think of giving and receiving, rather than contractual obligations. Where trust is established, the “borrower” can repay the “lender” principal, and beyond that a dividend if their pursuit generates a return or if God blesses them in other ways. Have a look at this diagram below:

The idea also is to create a “Storehouse Network”, where by cities and regions are linked together and they can cross-support and invest in one another’s local “Storehouse”. This is like moving capital to where it is best needed and utilized, but also where one region can “sow into” another region, and let God multiply it.

Local Currencies

At first, many of the local Storehouse implementations will be denominated in the national currency (USD for example). But that doesn’t mean that we have to stay there. In fact, if you look at the diagram below, you will see the concept of “breakaway bridges”, which is a way of creating a local currency (legal in US – see Regional Digital Currencies post). Local currency can be backed by hard assets, even locally produced goods (such as wheat). By creating the bridge, we can move in and out of the national currency freely, and by doing so, if the national currency is impacted or fails, the local currency can continue.

Seeding Storehouses

Why a Storehouse?

Part 2 – https://newbreed.co/2022/08/24/why-a-storehouse/Seeding Storehouses

Digital Technology

Everyone thinks of Crypto Currency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) whenever alternative currencies are discussed. The Storehouse vision contemplates this. We plan to use blockchain technology for decentralized digital ledgers for transparency purposes. We also want to deploy technology such as an App based UI designed for simplicity of use, scalability, security through cryptography, replicability across regions (software, central infrastructure). But we never want to replace relationship. The building block of Storehouse Network of currencies is always relational. It is to never depart from relational interaction. Crypto’s stated goal is the opposite of this. Crypto claims to disintermediate 3rd parties (such as banks), but in the process it also removes trust (such as relationship), such that one has to trust anyone else. So as far as the Storehouse vision goes, we want technology to facilitate relationships, not disintermediate them. We want to foster relational trust. This is fundamental to an economy of giving and receiving, rather than just transactional and survival of the fittest. Local storehouse currency has to do more with facilitating the basic building blocks of local community relationships, not replacing nor eliminating them. Instead we look to enhancing them, making them more efficient, cost effective, and replicable. See slide below.

Regional Storehouse Examples

West Central Florida (OMC 5-fold) – Gary Crawford

The OMC Storehouse (3-page PDF)
Manatee County Storehouse
Gary Crawford – Cities of Refuge

New England Center for the Abolition of Poverty (NECAP) – Jonathan Friz and Gregg Healey

NECAP discussion, interview and overview

Financial Faith with Jonathan Friz

Texas – Christopher Lucey

JAMA example – The Ark

Go Fund – Student Loan Repayment

Mission Grove – Affordable Housing

San Antonio – Jonathan Serenil

Mission City

Apostolic Ministry Centers

Portland – Lucienne Sawyer

Rea’ International

Kansas City – Doug Tjaden

Doug Tjaden

Currencies with Doug Tjaden

Faisalabad, Pakistan – Jonathan Gill

Jonathan Gill

Burton-on-Trent, UK – Antoinette, Alexis and Angela

Burton-on-Trent AAA Team Intervie w – Antoinette, Alexis, Angela

Other country / states / cities that have been prototyping or considering working toward: Michigan, Rhode Island, Bristol CT, Uganda, Ghana, Miramar, Honduras, Jamaica and more…

Coming to a city near you? Perhaps you would like to Pioneer a Storehouse in your city? Email us at info@newbreed.co.