No Such Thing as a Free Loan (pages 10-17) After reading this article, what kind of regulations, interest caps, limits do you think the law should impose on loan businesses, if any? Discuss. Do you think churches and faith-based organizations should be involved in people's financial lives? Why or why not? List as many kinds of debt as your group can think of: mortgage, credit line, school loans, corporate debt, individual debt, title loans, tax-refund advances, etc. What kinds of debt are acceptable to your group? What kinds are unacceptable? Talk about the difference between "good debt" and "bad debt" and discuss your differences in opinion. What influences your decisions about spending or saving money? What percent of your income do you save for unforeseen emergencies, if any? Do you have a personal budget? If so, how is it helpful to you? If not, do you think that a personal budget is a good or a bad idea? Elaborate. What do you feel when you drive through a neighborhood that has a lot of check-cashing and quick-loan services? What do you think about the businesses themselves, and the people who use their services? Have you ever been in real need of some quick cash? What was that like for you? How did you obtain it? Share stories and listen to each other without judging or offering advice.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how big of a problem do you consider debt to be in this country? In what ways do we live today in a culture of debt? How does this influence all of our spending habits? List the top three solutions you think would be most effective in fighting predatory lending and debt among the working poor. Are any of these solutions explored in the article? Does financial debt cause spiritual bondage? If so, how? What can faith communities do to help people make healthy financial decisions? Milk, Sugar & AIDS Activism (pages 18-23) Have each person share one thing from the article that was news to her/him. Do you feel that, from your corner of the world, you can make an impact on global issues? Explain. Compare the group's answers with the impact Shayne Moore and Princess Zulu are making. What is one feasible, concrete way that you could make a difference on a global issue such as AIDS and poverty? Share your ideas. Which one or two ideas might your group consider doing, together or individually? What is the closest you've ever come to the AIDS problem? How has that contact impacted your perception of the problem? Does AIDS have a face for the members of your group? Discuss those faces and what they mean to you.
Ask yourselves some of the questions posed to Moore and Zulu on pages 22 and 23. What responses do you get about effective tools that you possess and what you would like to put on a church banner? These questions can apply to any issue, not just AIDS. List three character traits that you admire in each of these women, and share why. Repairing Broken Walls (pages 24-31) The two ministries profiled here share a similar vision. What are some of the most important aspects of that vision? On page 26, David Price says that moving into the Near Eastside neighborhood of Indianapolis is "not a good investment." What does he mean by this? Do you agree? In what areas of your life have you chosen to go against popular wisdom to invest in people, projects, goals? What have you gained from those investments? What have you lost? Make a list of all the human needs these ministries address. Are they missing any? What would a perfectly holistic ministry/community look like to you? Help That Heals (pages 32-36) Ask the group to share experiences in which they were the one-way recipient of help and/or the one-way provider of help. What was the outcome of those experiences? Ask the group to share experiences in which they were part of a mutual give-receive partnership. What was the outcome of those experiences? What are those relationships like today? Compare. Consider Irena Dragas Jansen's comments on page 33: "I felt like a child, and then I felt like a rebellious teenager who just wanted all of
the Americans and foreigners gone. But then I grew out of that to a more nuanced, mature perspective that required me to communicate my needs and receive help in the right ways." Is it easy for you to ask for help when you need it? Is it easy for you to articulate exactly what you need? Discuss why or why not, and share stories about situations in which you needed help and did or didn't ask for it. Have you ever gone on a short-term missions trip? If so, what was its focus? What were the results? Were any relationships formed? Have those relationships survived time and distance? What, if anything, would you do differently if you could do the trip again? Do you believe that the Haitian churches in this article that are praying for their American church partners are offering the same value of help to their partners as the Americans are to their Haitian partners? Discuss. Celebrate! (page 5) Have the group discuss advocacy efforts they've played a role in. What victories did you see? What setbacks? What have you learned through your advocacy efforts? Toward a Demand-Based US Drug Policy (page 9) Is what the author proposing realistic? Explain. What do you think about government controls—security scans at the airport, random drug tests, speed traps, etc? Do they impinge on people's freedoms? Are they justifiable? Discuss what is gained and lost.
Speaking Up for Recovery (page 39) What does your group think about the statement that addiction is a disease? In what ways is substance addiction similar to and different from other diseases? What do groups like AA have in common with the church? Is there anything they do better than the church, and/or have to teach the church?
Â