I passed my driving test a few years ago and since then people have often asked me when I am going to buy a car. As a teenager I’d always wondered how people paid for cars and was amazed when my brother explained to me the concept of ‘Finance’. Knowing the traditional Evangelical view on debt I came to conclusion I would never own a nice car. I still haven’t bought a car though I might need to at some point in the future. I’ve always fancied a car with character like an old Mercedes, BMW or Land Rover Defender but then my desire to care for the earth that God has given us gets in the way of purchasing a polluting machine. If I purchase a new car then I get something that is greener and economical but would almost certainly get me in to debt. You may think “Why on earth are you going on about this?”, well I think that as christians it’s important that we wrestle with issues instead of following the crowd whether that be those within or outside the church.
I thought I’d highlight some guys who are wrestling with this very issue in an active way. They call themselves the Junky Car Club and they’ve decided that instead of getting fancier and fancier cars that they will instead buy cars outright and use the money they would have spent on a monthly finance deal to support social justice projects or organisations helping the poor. It’s a simple but great idea, we know that following Jesus costs a great deal, some like to philosophize that away to such an extent that it isn’t an actual real monetary cost, not these guys. Check it out here www.virb.com/junkycarclub
