Roarcry
A roaring lion drawn in black ink, tearing forward through the sheet of paper it was drawn on.

The commons

Held in common

Six things this congregation owns together, what each one is for, who keeps it, and exactly who may walk up and use it. Most of them are open to people who will never join.

Why we bother

A cooperative church is not a commune and not a charity. It is a congregation that decided owning a few things together was cheaper, kinder and more honest than everyone owning everything alone.

It started with a tiller. Four households were each about to buy one, each would have used it two weekends a year, and someone said out loud that this was a stupid way to spend four families' money. The shed grew from there.

Nothing here is a condition. No household hands over property, income or a key to anything. Membership does not cost money, and what you use from the commons is never weighed against what you put in.

It is not a hardship programme. The tool library is used by people who could afford their own tools, which is the point — a thing only poor people use quickly becomes a thing poor people are ashamed to use.

The books are open. Every holding below is listed at the annual meeting with what it cost, what it earned, what broke and what was written off. Any member may call for the full ledger at any time and get it within a week.

The six holdings

Numbered as they appear in the ledger. Servants keep them; the congregation owns them; the elders cannot sell any of them without a vote.

01 Kept by the servants Open Saturdays, 8–12

The tool library

A shed behind the building holding what a household needs a few times a year and cannot justify buying: tiller, chainsaw, pressure washer, tile saw, extension ladders, jacks, a decent socket set, a carpet cleaner, and a log splitter that three churches now share.

Borrow it, use it, bring it back cleaner than you took it. There is a clipboard, not a contract. Nothing is rented and nothing is charged, including to people who have never set foot in a service.

Who may borrow
Anyone in the county
Cost
Nothing
Deposit
None
Longest loan
One week
If it breaks
Tell a servant, that is all
02 Four acres, north of town Planting from April

The garden

Four acres worked in rows rather than plots. Members take a row for a season; whatever comes off it goes first to the table, then to households that need it, then to anyone who shows up on a Saturday with a bag.

Nothing is sold. The moment produce has a price, the row stops being a gift and starts being a small business with volunteers, and we have watched that go badly elsewhere.

Rows
Twenty-eight
Commitment
Planting to harvest
Work days
First Saturday, monthly
Produce sold
Never
Open to
Members and neighbours
03 A record, not a currency Always open

The labour book

Hours given to the church or to another household get written down under your name: wiring, a roof, childcare, hauling, sitting with someone in hospital. It is read at the annual meeting so the work is seen rather than assumed.

Read this part carefully. Hours are a record of service and nothing more. They are not money, not credit, not a claim on anything, and cannot be spent, traded, redeemed or carried anywhere else. Nobody is owed help because they logged hours, and nobody is refused help because they have none.

Kept by
The servants
Redeemable
No
Transferable
No
Creates a debt
Never, in either direction
Read aloud
Once a year
04 Held by the elders Ask an elder

The relief fund

Rent, a utility bill, a car repair that stands between someone and their job, groceries, a funeral. Given, not lent: no interest, no repayment, no schedule, and no expectation that you come on Sunday afterward.

Two elders decide together, usually the same day. Amounts are never announced and the person's name never appears in a report. Anything above three months of operating reserve is swept into this fund rather than held.

Open to
Anyone who asks
Repayment
None
Decided by
Two elders, same day
Published
Totals only, never names
Strings
None
05 Twenty-two households Set by the month

The childcare rota

A standing arrangement so that a night shift, a hospital stay or an interview does not become a crisis. Two households cover each week, and the list is set a month ahead so nobody is calling round at ten at night.

Every adult on the rota is background-checked and no adult is ever alone with children who are not their own. That is not distrust of anyone; it is the ordinary care any church owes the people who hand it their children.

Households
Twenty-two
Cover
Two per week
Screening
Every adult, renewed
Two-adult rule
Always
Open to
Members
06 Owned outright, no debt Book the hall

The building

A hall, a kitchen, four rooms and a car park, held free of any mortgage. The congregation voted years ago not to borrow, which is why the roof took two summers instead of one and why nothing here can be repossessed.

The hall goes out free to funerals, wakes, recovery meetings, union locals, birthday parties and anyone who needs a room with chairs in it. Sweep up and put the tables back; that is the whole rental agreement.

Debt
None, by vote
Hire fee
Nothing
Capacity
About 120 seated
Kitchen
Included
Sold or mortgaged
Only by congregational vote

How the commons is kept

Five working rules. They exist because shared things die of vagueness, not of use.

01

Sign it out

Name and date on the clipboard, even for an hour, even if you are a servant. A thing nobody signed for is a thing nobody looks for.

02

Bring it back better

Clean, fuelled, charged, sharpened. Ten minutes from you saves the next person an evening.

03

Say when it broke

Breakage is expected and costs you nothing. Silence about breakage costs the next borrower their Saturday, and that is the only version we mind.

04

No one keeps score

Nobody is asked what they have contributed before they borrow, and nobody's use is compared with their giving. Ever, by anyone.

05

The vote decides

Adding a holding, retiring one, or spending above the servants' limit goes to the congregation. Elders administer the commons; they do not own it.

Not held in common

Stated plainly, because the word cooperative makes people picture things that are not true here.

Your house, your wages, your accounts. Nothing is pooled. No member has ever been asked to sell anything, and any teaching that made that a condition of membership would be a false gospel, not a bold one.

Your family. Households raise their own children, make their own decisions, and answer to no committee for how they spend an evening.

Your conscience. Schooling, politics, medicine, drink and calendars are yours. The commons is about tools and time, not about opinions.

Your labour, on demand. Taking a share of work is voluntary and seasonal. Nobody is rostered against their will, and stepping back requires no explanation.

Membership, for money. Nothing in the commons can be bought into or bought out of. Giving buys no standing and withholding costs none.

Anyone's privacy. Who drew on the relief fund is known to two elders and to God. It is not in a report, a testimony or a sermon illustration.

Borrow something

You do not
have to join
to use it

The shed is open Saturday mornings and the hall can be booked any week. If you need the relief fund, write or call and say so plainly — there is no form and no interview.

Emailservants@roarcry.com
ShedSaturdays, 8–12
LedgerRead aloud at the annual meeting
Plan a visit How people join How churches join