From the early communities ordered under St. Benedict to the many that followed, the Cluny's, Cistercians, Franciscans, Moravians, and more recent ones such as L'arche, Taize, and the Sisters of Calcutta, Jesus has and continues to reveal himself as God incarnate. When his followers choose to walk in ways and to pursue Him together, a beacon of light shines out into a world of darkness, life comes forth from death.
Unfortunately many have pursued this life and have found it too difficult, too real, too close to the reality of the resurrection. It brings us back to the words of Jesus and to his life, reminding us that before there is a new creation, there is the death of the old. We have to be crucified within so that the life of Christ can be raised in us and through us. We are forced to face our frustrations with others, with ourselves, and with our lives and soon discover that the battle of community is the enemy within. We are exposed and more often than not disappointed with what we find, but in the midst of that process we find Jesus meeting us, transforming us, healing us. This is the life of intentional community. A life we trusts He is calling us to in this place and in this time.
Questions For All:
1. Why did we or would we choose intentional community? What are/were our motives?
2. What do we expect of others in community? Of ourselves?
3. How would we define intentional community with others? Geography, proximity, mission, values, what is it that makes a community a community?
Questions for those living in, or have lived in, intentional community.
1. How has our understanding of community changed by our experience within it?
2. What did we discover about ourselves through our experience in community?
3. How has God revealed himself to us through our experience?
I'm currently living in intentional community, a Knight of Green Gables. :-)
ReplyDelete1. Living in community is not just a means to smooth out my rough edges. While cleaning up after myself is helpful, it's not the same as letting others into my struggle, the things I can't actually do for myself, like confronting me with my sin. It's also not the same as investing in the people in my house, doing things for others that do not really profit me.
2. I get defensive when I'm confronted with things. The hardest thing for me to do is go out of my way to ask for help when I'm anxious. I'd rather hide by myself.
3. I love this question because I need to think about it all the time. God has consistently provided resolution to the conflicts I've faced. Moreover, He has prevented our hearts from turning against each other. It's a grace to me that I don't deserve. Praise the Lord for my community!
1. I was primarily drawn to intentional community by the idea that simplifying, sharing and consuming less would allow us to have more time and resources to reach the lost. Though living this way may have enabled us to better do mission, the primary fruit has be relational within our house and community that we're a part(A2J). Having times of accountability and prayer for healing.
ReplyDelete2. This is a hard question. (Don't have a real answer, but I will ponder and pray about this.) However, my expectations for myself and others are the same. That we are seeking Christ and transparent. This has been sometimes hard, but mostly natural.
3. Living this way without the Holy Spirit could never last and is never welcome. The typical, non-familial, living situation in the world is: "Here's your space... pay in full and on time... and stay out my business."
We go deep. We don't merely live together, we invite one another into life together. We discuss and pray through burdens, struggles, conflict, past hurts, sin... and that is the only way this can work. It is God through and through that we find healing and relationships that flourish. This is only possible by God being at work in us. I am also unsure whether this level of intimacy is possible without living together. BTW we also party together, which is the easy part, and better when you're christian;P
And yes, word to the KGG! A2J represent!!!
ReplyDeleteVery cool to read your responses, friends! I'm excited that we're all jumpin' into this important topic together.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna take a crack at a couple of these questions.
1. How has our understanding of community changed by our experience within it?
A few years ago, while in college and living in an apartment with Shannon and a couple other gals, I found myself continually frustrated by the disconnect between what I said I believed and how I actually lived day to day.
I stumbled upon a book called "The Irresistible Revolution" and was intrigued by a compelling portrait of what life in the Body of Christ could be like!
I desperately longed to live a more intentional life of following and knowing Jesus, and a Christian Community seemed like my ticket! I had also heard about Jesus People USA in Chicago and was determined to move to one of these communities.
My amazing hippie mentor (Steve!) said, "you know Amber, maybe God wants to do something like that right here in Phoenix." It felt far-fetched when he said it, but it turned out to be a great insight. (I moved in with the Malakowsky's short thereafter, and now here we are almost 4 years later at Apprenticeship to Jesus!)
Looking back, I see a very genuinely passionate girl... but I can also see how naive and idealistic I was.
Somehow, I thought Christian community was going to be a constant Jesus party all day long that would just sort of fall into place if we all lived together. I envisioned spontaneous Bible Studies, daily shared meals, drum circles, etc. Sure, I knew we'd have to work through some stuff, but I didn't really want to dwell on that.
Turns out, this is way more work that I ever thought it would be.
Christian Community is significantly more challenging and painful than I could have imagined.
STILL! It has also turned out to be far more incredible and life-changing than I ever dreamed.
4 years ago, Christian Community existed in a realm of fantasy in my mind. Now, it's the daily, nitty gritty grind of life. We definitely enjoy all sorts of amazing and joyful expressions of community like shared meals, daily corporate prayer/worship times, etc... but it isn't just a bed of roses.
In order to truly reap the benefits of living in intentional community, we have to make selfless decisions to commit to each other, even when it's not convenient or easy... We have to stick it out together even when we seriously hurt each other. We have to keep showing up when all we want to do is hide away and cry. We have to make sacrifices daily.
We have to confess and forgive and confess and forgive and confess and forgive and confess and forgive.
Sometimes community feels like a warm hug and other times it feels a lot more like sandpaper.
It has required far more than I thought it would...
And it’s all worth it. It doesn't look how I thought it would... Life together with Christ as our Center and our very Heart Beat is more rich, deep and satisfying than I ever thought possible.
It has sobered me up... and although reality can be painful, it's also where REAL LIFE springs forth. This experience has made me hungry and thirsty for more of this reality with Jesus.
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ReplyDeleteMy second novel is not quite as long, haha.
ReplyDelete2. What did we discover about ourselves through our experience in community?
Before this journey with A2J, I was living a very "typical" sort of life. I went to school, church on Sundays and Wednesday, and occasionally made plans to hang out with friends. I was a junior high youth group leader and truly had a spark in my heart to be close to God, but in reality there was very little consistency in my Christian life. I'd have spurts of passionate desire to read the Word, but could go weeks without even really cracking it open.
On the surface, it seemed like I was fine, but I wasn't. It was easy to think I was okay (or even doing really well) when I was disconnected from others and had places to hide away when things got really ugly in my soul.
Living closely and pursuing God daily with other disciples has revealed many many thing about myself that have been painful (and at times excruciating) to truly face and start dealing with. In areas that I had thought I was mature, I discovered that, in reality, I was (and am) actually quite immature.
I have had to face (and am still working through) the deep wounds in my soul and the many sinful and harmful patterns of behavior that stem from them.
I have come to realize the strong patterns of self-righteousness, self-sufficiency, and self-protection in my life.
BUT!! The AMAZING part is that all of these realizations have driven me to Christ! They are daily forcing me to fall into the grace of my Maker! They are drawing me so much nearer to the One I'm made for. God is using this journey to remove all the roadblocks that keep me from maturing and experiencing a deeper relationship with Him.
I haven't just seen this in my own life!
Because we live life closely with one another, I get to see this work of transformation in my brothers and sisters as well!!!
I have been living in Christian community for a few years now and believe I am BARELY SCRATCHING the surface of knowing and following God!
Thankfully He lavishes grace upon grace.
Sooo thankful to be on this adventure... So excited to dive into this book study.
Thanks everyone for sharing. This is beautiful and exciting to be a part of. Amber I am curious see your response to the 3rd question although I see bits of it interwoven throughout your previous responses. Keep it coming!
ReplyDelete