A foundry is a workshop for casting metal. My only reference for this is a clip from the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers—but there are no orcs or dwarves in this story. This is about The Foundry House, a new intentional living community in Winston-Salem, NC, of which I am Prioress.
Read MoreWe invite you to read all about the Paloma House, as “AJ” shares about life there in her blog: https://ajourney82.wordpress.com/2018/02/12/the-p-house/
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My wife, Nelma, and I both completed a graduate level program offered through the Missional Wisdom Foundation...
Read MoreDear Friends,
I am writing this article after a beautiful and long house meeting at Francis (an intentional community within the Epworth Project).
Lil Smith reflects on a conversation anchored by Larry Duggin's book Together.
Read MoreHolding Loosely
by Melissa Turkett, Epworth House resident
Melissa here (of the Susanna Wesley "Swesley" House Epworth community). Over the last year and half or so we have been fully engaged in the work of urban farming, ending food deserts, and creative imagining of food forests at the Swesley house.
Read MoreLaunch & Lead Student, Diane Rheos
Diane shares here the ways in which she is using the skills she is learning to launch and lead new communities.
A Community in Partnership with a Great Lead Team
The WaySide is an intentional Christian community connected to Fremont United Methodist Church in Portland Oregon.
We are getting to know how we can be supported by our lead team, which we call The WaySide Outside. Together we hosted an all church event on Sunday July 23rd . In Portland each summer there are Sunday Parkway events. The city closes a loop of streets and hundreds of people get on their bikes and make the circuit. The WaySide house-mates suggested the idea of an event to host a BBQ and then participate in the ride. The WaySide Outside Team were enthusiastic supporters. Together we provided a BBQ lunch for everyone in attendance that Sunday morning, and then a group of people decorated their bikes, and rode on the Sunday Parkways cycling route.
Launch & Lead Alum, Mary Beth Taylor
This week’s spotlight is taken from Together: Community as a Means of Grace by Larry Duggins.
Reverend Mary Beth Taylor noticed a different kind of community while she was Associate Pastor at Littleton UMC outside of Denver. Mary Beth, also a graduate of Launch & Lead, noticed that many people enjoyed spending some of their recreational time having a cold beer and some appetizers at the local pub, just like she and her life partner, Steve. She pulled together a small group of people and formed Open Space, a community that meets monthly in a local bar and grill.
Read MoreLaunch & Lead Alum, Nora Ortiz Fredrick
This week’s spotlight is taken from Together: Community as a Means of Grace by Larry Duggins.
Nora Ortiz Fredrick is a consultant, fund-raiser, and entrepreneur in Anchorage, Alaska. Nora, a graduate of the Missional Wisdom Foundation's Launch & Lead program, noticed that the timing of traditional church services makes very little sense in Alaska. Many people are drawn to Alaska by its natural beauty and the wide variety of outdoor activities is offers, yet churches were asking people to take several hours out of the very middle of their weekends to come into an urban setting in order to sit indoors for worship.
Read MoreThe Dance of Community
by Wendy Miller
As we prepare to begin a new series of devotional thoughts in a couple of weeks, we have asked some Missional Wisdom Foundation staff members to share some thoughts with us.
Living in intentional community is a dance. I took ballroom dance lessons when I was thirteen. My older brother did just fine. I fretted over what step my partner planned next and felt tight—anxious. Not fun.
Read MoreThe WaySide Community
by Diane Rheos, current Launch & Lead student
The WaySide Community came about when pastor Linda Quanstrom had two unconnected conversations with church members. Diane Rheos is a Launch and Lead participant and had been sharing with her about Missional Wisdom and her search for intentional community. Soon after, Nathan and Laurel Howard mentioned to her that they had been researching intentional community. "Miraculously" at the same time, the lease on the Fremont United Methodist Church parsonage came up.
A new community carried by the flow of generosity.
It's amazing how fast our first four months have gone by! We began The WaySide, our intentional community, last November. Our house is located in the parsonage of Fremont United Methodist Church, in Portland, Oregon.
Friendship House
by Matthew Floding, Director of Ministerial Formation, Duke Divinity School
Friendship House is a residential ministerial formation opportunity at Duke Divinity School, Vanderbilt Divinity School and Western Theological Seminary (MI). In each of these, divinity or seminary students live in intentional community with persons with an intellectual or developmental disability. Our life is ordered around the community building blocks Jean Vanier articulated (founder of L'Arche communities), Eat Together, Pray Together, Celebrate Together!
Gifts for the Common Good of the Spirit
The Rule of Life, Week 9
by Adam White
We will use our spiritual gifts, talents and abilities to serve God within and beyond this community
-From the MWF Rule of Life
There are natural gifts and then there are learned gifts. If you ever wanted to find a way to understand what your natural gifts are and what gifts you can develop, then intentional monastic community is the place for you!
The Paloma House, a part of the Epworth Project
By House Steward and Resident, Lauren Roepken
At The Paloma house in Arlington, TX we outreach directly to the women at The Wesley at The University of Texas at Arlington. Every Monday evening we have a group of about 20 women (yes you read that right - 20 college women in one house) over for dinner, dessert, games, and a beautiful time of fellowship.
Read MoreAs we prepare to begin a new series of devotional thoughts in a couple of weeks, we are going to do sometime a little different. For the next two issues we will be telling you about some books by our Missional Wisdom leaders that will be published soon.
Together: Community as a Means of Grace
by Larry Duggins
Over the past several months, I have had the opportunity to travel to a number of cities to meet with people who are interested in repurposing a church building to be used to connect with the neighborhood in new ways.
Bonhoeffer House
by Ryan Klinck
Bonhoeffer House, an Epworth House in East Dallas, has been going through a transformation this past summer. One of the original members and the house steward of the house, Adam White, transitioned out of the house to be married (hooray!) at the beginning of the summer. The remaining members began to pay attention and pray together about this new season the house found itself in.
Read MoreThe Gathering: Burleson
by Rachel Wells
We had tears on the way to school this morning. Normally that is not a good thing. But this case was a little different - it was my eight-year-old, confessing that he was very nervous about the teacher rearranging the seating assignments today.
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