"Lazarus at the Gate" is a small group program in which church members gather together to talk about their relationship to money and to the global poor. These discussions create the opportunity for Christians to support each other to make concrete including living more simply and buying fair trade - products that provide more direct benefit to the poor. The four "Lazarus commitments" are:

• Spend joyfully: regularly give thanks for the blessing of our wealth
• Spend differently: Make one lifestyle change in order to consume more justly
• Spend less: Make one lifestyle change in order to buy less for personal consumption
• Give more: Make a substantial gift to fight poverty

See the Lazarus at the Gate site for more about the program in general.

In the fall of 2008, Hope Church launched our second Lazarus Group – a group of folks who agree to study scripture together and try to figure out how we can best  live out God’s call to care for the poor among us. As part of the study, we make four commitments: to do one act of gratitude each day, to spend less money on ourselves, to consume more justly, and to give some of our money away. We consider these actions in the same light that we see any other spiritual practice: as small steps, taken in grace, that lead us more fully into the lives God hopes for us.

It turns out that making these commitments is lots of fun! Here are some of the ways that Hope covenant partners have chosen to cultivate gratitude: keep a gratitude journal... give thanks for ready access to clean water when turning on the tap or going for a swim... say grace before meals, specifically thanking those who grew the food... giving thanks for a warm, safe place to live when you put the key in the lock of your front door... give thanks for the privilege of companionship when feeding the cat...

Spending less of ourselves can be pretty hard, especially when none of us that much to begin with. So it’s all the more important to recognize each step! Many of us chose to eat out fewer meals… one member disconnected her landline... one is eating less sweets… one is riding the bus to work more... one will bring her lunch to work... and one changed to a less-expensive gym membership. In most cases we found that in addition to spending less money, we freed up time and energy for other things that were more important to us.

Spending more justly is a concept that was kind of hard to get our heads around at first. In the end it just means being more aware of the conditions in which the things you buy were grown or made and deciding what to buy based on this awareness. We read a lot about bananas and so it was no surprise that many members of the groups committed to buying only fairly-traded bananas – bananas grown in ways that are good for workers, the community and the land. Others of us chose to buy fair trade coffee, chocolate, sugar and spices.

Our final commitment was to give generously. Many of us chose to give based on our simplicity commitments – taking the money we save and putting it into the pot that we will give away in 2009. When all was said and done, we realized that as a group we could give $7,010 to organizations working with the global poor. This group has chosen to support organizations in Haiti (Fonkoze), Afghanistan (Arghand), Kenya (Common Hope for Health), and one group that works globally on sustainable agriculture (ECHO).

The first group of Hope covenant partners to participate in a Lazarus Group completed their study in December 2007 and continue to meet monthly to support one another, pray, and give. Their funds are supporting work in global health (Partners In Health), projects to improve birth outcomes in Senegal (African Birth Collective) and reforestation efforts (Floresta).

Hope Church's Lazarus groups are two out of many such groups in the Boston Faith and Justice Network. By making specific lifestyle changes and contributing the money saved toward addressing global poverty, Lazarus groups in Boston have collectively given away over $120,000 to the global poor.