Seeking
Christians Interested in Building Communities for Outreach Our goals: 1) Glorify God the Father (Isaiah 43:7) by becoming like His son Jesus (Rom 8:29, 2 Cor 3:18), 2) Help “one another” become like Jesus by living in close proximity to share time, space, resources, and accountability (Heb 10:24-25), 3) Let our love and good works witness to our neighbors (John 13:35, Matt 5:16). For more details see the summary Why Live in Christian Community. Monthly Roundtable Discussion on Living in Spiritual Extended Families (Christian Community)Friday, May 18, 7 pm Signs of Life (722 Mass.) Conference Room At this and future meetings we might discuss the book When the Church was a Family by Joseph H. Hellerman. It has also been suggested that we discuss this online book
by Peter Hoover: Behold
the Lamb! (The Story of the Moravian Church). Especially
read about their community life in chapters 9 - 17. Please come share your thoughts and tell us about your community experiences! Past meetings - March 23, 2012 & April 20, 2012 We had some discussion of the community aspects of the Feb.
28th two hour PBS documentary "The Amish": www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/amish/
And then contrasted the Amish with the Hutterites who live with the latest technology but with similar community goals: www.HutteriteHeritage.com For one such example, the Amish limit their access to automobiles to help keep their communities together. While the Hutterites have nice automobiles, they have "extended family household rules" that accomplish the same goals as the Amish. "The Amish" documentary includes coverage of the Amish school shooting in 2006. A "Forgiveness Seminar" related to the shooting was held in 2010 at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The seminar ended up as a 1.5 hour dialog. An audio recording is available (privately) to those who request it. We hope to have a transcription available soon. April 2010 Forgiveness Seminar Flyer
Please note: This web site currently consists of a few personal notes of Paul Breneman (written in the first-person) but more importantly it contains links to other resources that I have found valuable. New! The Lord has opened many "doors"
in the past several years in Lawrence,
Kansas where I attend Lawrence
Bible Chapel. There was an associated large campus
ministry (community) back in the mid 70s (near KU)
and some folks involved with that still have a lot of close community. Every
summer they have a 5-day "Bible Camp" for children from 8 am
to 8 pm with 3 full meals. So it is like the children
are going away to camp except they go home every evening to
sleep. They also have a nice "Kid's Club" ministry every
Thursday evening with many of the same children, many of which
are from a working-class neighborhood (Overland Drive) right
next to the church building. The "doors" have opened for
me to rent in that neighborhood, even very close to a "Kid's
Club" leader who desires to live in Christian community.
I pray that we (and others) can serve each other and also the
neighborhood. I also attend Kidron Valley occasionally. I've also been very blessed in Lawrence to meet young people who have lived in Christian community during the past six years or who know people presently doing it.
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