7th August 2025
According to the Book of Acts (Acts 2:42-47), one of the features that attracted people to the first Christians was their willingness to share what they had with each other, to hold their belongings in common.
Living simply, sustainably, and joyfully within the limits enough, would logically involve sharing and holding possessions in common. This enables things to be shared. It also means that fewer possessions are needed overall which makes for better use of limited resources.
Some people share the use of a communal car or subscribe to a car sharing scheme. (1)
Libraries provide a collection of books (as well as dvds, audio tapes etc) which are held in common for everyone to use. And there are also toy libraries and Libraries of Things as well as street sharing schemes, that allow a community to own things such as electric drills, lawn mowers, wallpaper strippers, that the whole community can use.
Churches are places kept open for the use by anyone in the community. Church/village/community halls are large gathering spaces that anyone can use (for a fee and terms and conditions will apply).
Roads are communal spaces where anyone can drive, cycle or walk (again terms and conditions apply).
Green spaces and parks are publicly (or sometimes privately) owned which are kept open for the whole community to enjoy. Ditto public sports centres and swimming pools (fees and conditions may apply) – few of us could afford, either in terms of finance or space, to build and own a swimming pool for our own use, but having a public one kept for common use makes real sense.
In Cambridgeshire there is a village owned heat pump to which householders can opt to connect! (2)
The more we can hold and use in common the better.
- https://www.como.org.uk/shared-cars/overview-and-benefits
- https://www.positive.news/environment/pumping-hot-inside-britains-first-heat-pump-village/
The Green Tau 