Many people today bemoan the “loss of community.” For many that involves some nostalgic dream of a simpler time when people “had time for each other.” It involves mourning the losses of neighbors getting together and people actually doing things together. For most what it doesn’t involve is a plan to actually do something to change anything.
Let’s face it; we like our iPhone, grande-latte life. We like the convenience of buying what we want on Amazon and having it shipped to us the next day. We like the ability to “connect” with our 3,000 Facebook friends (even if it is only virtually.) We have many substitutes to replace real relationships, which are the bedrock of real community. Media, messaging, and mobility keep us moving on to the next new person, place or thing with little thought of where any of this is going.
My Place
I am thankful for media, messaging, and mobility. It has opened up my world immeasurably. I have been introduced to ideas, to people and to places that a farm boy in the 19th century could never have dreamed of, and I’m better for it. However, I experience all of it with my feet firmly planted in a place. Unlike most of my placeless peers, I grew up firmly rooted in a place. My great-great-great grandfather had owned the land where I grew up. Generations of my relatives have attended the 150 year old church that I attended as a young boy. I never realized how rare this was until I went away to college and later worked in the inner city. No one puts down roots like that now. You move for work, for pleasure, or for the weather, but you never really commit to a place. Communities grow a lot like trees; slowly over generations.
Victory Acres
Victory Acres Farm started as a place of hospitality and healing for broken people from the inner city where we were working. As it develops, we see it becoming a community of opportunity. We want it to be an intentional community founded on Jesus’ vision in the Sermon on the Mount. A place where Christians can work together (literally) while welcoming people among us from other backgrounds and walks of life. Personal free enterprise is encouraged. There is loving interdependence, but a rejection of “common purse” communalism. We will develop housing options that make it possible for singles, couples, and families to live in close proximity to each other. We will develop infrastructure that will make it possible for more people to work together on a daily basis. However, each enterprise will be individually owned and operated. Employment decisions will need to be made based on what is best for the employer and his business needs.
For instance, just because Joe needs a job doesn’t mean that Stan needs to hire him. Does he need someone with Joe’s skills? Would he hire him if he didn’t live at the farm? If not, then he probably shouldn’t hire him. Having said that, it could be that in the world’s system, Joe couldn’t get hired because of his past felonies or drug issues, but in this community of opportunity, people are willing to give Joe a second chance.
Housing
Housing is the first piece of this community. Having affordable, safe, adequate places for people is the first necessity of building a lasting community. We need a variety of options – temporary, seasonal, and permanent.
People
Finding the right people to join us is the next challenge. We want people who are coming to Victory Acres for the right reasons. They are not just looking for a hand out or a cheap place to live. They want to share life with other Christians. They see the farm as a safe place to raise a family, to do good work, and to draw closer to God. Their hearts are open to others. They are willing to welcome people who “aren’t like them.” They are generous. They give more than they take. They are humble They are willing to be corrected. They are honest and hard-working. They enjoy the interaction of other people in their life.
An Oasis
As this desert world gets more hostile to Christian values, we will need the oasis of intentional Christian community like never before. Just like the early settlers, our very lives will depend on sticking together. Before the cultural storms on the horizon are fully upon us, we would do well to think seriously about the kind of shelters that we should be building.
I am thankful to be part of the community life at Victory Acres, and I look forward to seeing how God will use it in the years ahead.
The Gathering at Victory Acres 