Intentional Christian Communities with Urban Ministries
Amistad Catholic Worker, New Haven - CRECHE, Boston - Englewood, Indianapolis
Participating in the Atlanta urban ministry class left me hungry to learn from intentional Christian communities who have an urban ministry component to them. Given they are contexts I know I gravitate to and feel so comfortable in, I was wondering whether learning from intentional Christian communities (ICCs) might inspire me further. They did!
Below I provide an overview of the work of three rather different ICCs and some associated reflections, with a bit more of an urban ministry bent reflecting what I’ve been learning and thinking about the past couple of weeks.
(N.B. In areas I used bracted italics to make a direct reference to my class/previous post on urban ministry.)
Amistad Catholic Worker, New Haven
I first heard of the Amistad Catholic Worker when I visited Yale Divinity School. Unfortunately, a visit didn’t work out when I was there, but I was glad that my urban ministry class stimulated me into requesting an interview with them (listen here :).
Overview
The Amistad Catholic Worker started in 1994 when Mark and Luz and their two children moved to an economically deprived neighbourhood in New Haven seeking to live according to Catholic Worker principles.
They had previously been community organizers in the South Bronx, and when they first arrived in New Haven they intentionally got to know the community, by doing things such as sweeping their front sidewalk or giving out donated doughnuts and bagels from their front step.
Spending time with the community revealed that there was a huge issue around unhoused persons being criminalized for sleeping on unused public land - such criminalization, though enforced by certain states, being illegal according to UN Human Rights.
In response to the needs of the unhoused population, Amistad Catholic Worker opened up their backyard and gave people the plot of land their tents resided on. Blankets and tents were of course handed out as necessary, and electricity and running water were also provided. In contrast to many homeless ministries, the Amistad House’s kitchen was also provided for open use, with food distribution left for the residents of the backyard to figure out together and between themselves. Mark reports this approach has had its challenges and its joys.
Now the backyard includes 14 tiny homes, and a few people still living in tents, which operates as a community. Few things are enforced other than backyard residents must gather for a compulsory meeting every Tuesday where community life is discussed and community rules are decided upon together. Residents must also maintain the Amistad Catholic Worker house as a place of outward-facing hospitality, helping with things such as food distribution to those in need.
Rent is not charged, but the community is now in a place of requesting donations to help cover water and electricity. Mark and Luz have also now moved out of the original Amistad Catholic Worker house to enable its fuller use by the backyard community, which is now also in the process of becoming an independent non-profit as the ‘Rosette Neighborhood Village Collective’. Mark and Luz live just next door, and remain involved but they are also conscious of not being too present as to enable a new generation of leadership to rise.
Reflections
Institutions, Protest & Relationships: In keeping with the Catholic Worker spirit, Mark mentioned not needing the church, or a social agency, or the government to help those in need. In political times such as these, I find this a helpful reminder - the institutions around us might be failing us, but that does not remove our agency and power to help build the kind of society of love and care we desire.
On the other hand, however, I do realise I am not anti-institution, and I do believe that institutions can be powerful allies. Whilst the Amistad Catholic Worker are more in the work of resistance against the local government - e.g. taking lots and setting up little tent cities, which were often dismantled by police within 48hrs and one time also included being arrested - I notice that I personally feel less comfortable engaging in this way. Rather, I feel more so drawn to the work of developing relationships with local officials over time, in ways which can lead to a respect of each other, and a working together. Is it naive to think that a relationship with a local official hostile to unhoused persons might change the way they treat the unhoused population? Maybe. But when it comes to different methods of effecting change, this feels more like ‘my style’ (and I am grateful for how others are able to effect change in ways which aren’t my style!). (c.f. Kingian Nonviolence principles of negotiation coming prior to direct action, and direct action as a last resort).
Improvement vs. Entrenchment: The Amistad Catholic Worker deliberately does not operate as a shelter, freeing people from restrictive curfews and rules around substance use (which whilst understandable, do preclude people with severe addictions from using shelters). When asked about long-term support, Mark mentioned a check-in once every 3-4months with backyard community residents to discuss and support long-term goals. Amistad CW also partners with a nearby Catholic Worker who have a farm and who provide stable employment for residents of the backyard community
However, Mark did also reflect on how in some cases, he did feel the backyard set-up had enabled people to only go deeper into their addictions and harmful ‘rabbit holes’. It strikes me as a fine line between providing the spaciousness and providing the structured support people desire and need to live the lives they want to live.
Personalism: Compared to some other ministries covered in this post, the backyard community is necessarily small, as limited by the size of the backyard. I was unable to visit the Amistad Catholic Worker in person (though I hope to!) but I am really curious about the nature, and potential depth, of relationships which can be fostered in such an environment, vs. in larger, ever-growing, ministries.
Lazarus: I found it interesting to hear Mark’s sincere reflection on feeling like the rich man who steps out of his house and walks past the sore-covered beggar Lazarus [Luke 16:29-21] (incidentally, I’ve only just realised that Lazarus, as a beggar, is named but the rich man remains anonymous). How does one reconcile living in a house when your neighbours don’t?
Mark made the valid point that providing rooms in the house would create a dynamic of the virtuous helping the needy, but providing land from the backyard enables autonomy (and when temperatures have dropped dangerously low, the house has been used to provide warm shelter for those who need it). There’s more to unpack here, but I appreciate the raising of this very real wrestling, and the complexity of charitable dynamics.
CRECHE, Boston
I had the most delightful time staying with a CRECHE community the last time I was in Boston. At the time, scheduling an interview didn’t work out, but once again, this urban ministry class provided the impetus to reach back out and learn more about CRECHE from Isaac, the Executive Director (listen to the interview here).
Overview
CRECHE - the Charles River Episcopal Co-Housing Endeavor - is currently a network of five intentional Christian community houses in the Boston area with a mission to:
create a community-focused alternative to the for-profit housing market that is rooted in relationship and mutuality: co-housing communities in which people live like families, sharing meals, common spaces, and the rhythms of home care.1
Each of the five houses were acquired in different ways. Two are rented from churches. Two have been crowdfunded by a handful of people liquidating their savings and loaning them, having signed a promissory note outlining a 10-year repayment period at 4% interest. And the fifth house was generously donated.
Though originally CRECHE houses were established in partnership with Episcopal churches, the network has expanded to include non-episcopal church affiliations - though church-affiliation remains important to the CRECHE model, with congregations helping to support the communities, and the communities enriching the congregations. For example, the congregation provides stability, resources, pastoral support and wisdom, and the community provides vitality and actively participates in the life of the congregation e.g. preaching, serving as vestry members and teaching Sunday school.
CRECHE members pay ~$600/month each to contribute to house maintenance costs. No other money/rent is taken, and some houses have chosen to operate on an income-based scale, with some members paying more and other less than $600/month based on their income (but averaging out to $600/month each). The $600/month rate (CRECHE uses the language of dues rather than rent) has not changed since 2016.
CRECHE community members work outside of the community (working jobs or as students), but have deeper commitments to one another and their local community than a houseshare, as stipulated by the CRECHE covenant which seeks to be both specific enough and loose enough to foster rich and meaningful community. For example, the covenant stipulates regularly eating together and regularly praying together as a community. For one house this looks like a shared meal every Wednesday and 7am prayer weekday mornings. For another, this looks like a Wednesday night bible study over dinner.
Each house also has its own charism and clear mission of how they want to serve/contribute to the neighbourhood. For example:
- Emmanuel House has an emphasis on hospitality and maintains a community garden;
- St. Mary’s House has an emphasis and concern for food justice, and partners with community initiatives accordingly;
- Trinity House provides a place of care and formation for graduate students (Boston University doesn’t provide graduate accommodation and there’s less financial aid for non-Catholics and queer persons);
- and Jubilee House is not yet open, but is envisaged as partnering with a neighbouring secular community house to transform the empty lot between the houses as a community garden and food forest.
Turnover of CRECHE members is low, with CRECHE communities intended to be a sustainable way of life (in contrast to 1-year, intense, formative, young adult community models). This enables CRECHE houses to contribute to the stabilisation of neighbourhoods amid the 3rd worst rental market in the country (the Boston area is home to 3 major universities - Boston University, MIT and Harvard - and it’s more profitable for landlords to short-term rent individual rooms to students than to long-term rent houses to older, more settled, people or families).
Potential new members seeking CRECHE housing are invited into an extended discernment process, involving discerning which house’s charism best aligns with their gifts and interests. Existing CRECHEcommunity members are also a key part of the mutual discernment, given that they are searching not just for a housemate for a year, but a long-term community member.
RE financing CRECHE, most of the houses of been secured through the generosity of individuals, and the $600/month per individual covers the continued maintenance of the houses. Additional needed funds, for example to cover the Executive Director’s role, has until now been covered by grants. However, Isaac (the Executive Director), shared how now that they are past the 5-year mark, they are no longer eligible for much of the start-up grants/seed funding that they’ve previously been able to access. Isaac hopes that if CRECHE grows to encompass more houses, the cost of a full-time administrator could be divided among the houses.
Reflections
Preventative Urban Ministry: CRECHE was started partly in response to the dire rental market of the Boston area, with its soaring housing/rental prices and areas of high neighbourhood instability. It strikes me that CRECHE’s ministry is preventative in its nature, providing affordable accommodation prior to people experiencing homelessness or being priced out of the area.
Queer Community: Through no particular intentional effort, the CRECHE houses have a predominantly queer membership. LGBTQ+ youth (aged 13-25) are more than twice as likely (120%) to experience homelessness than their non-LGBTQ+ peers, due to loss of family support.2 Therefore CRECHE can be understood to be doing some preventative work in this sphere also.
Profit-Making Assumptions: Building on the financing of CRECHE, Isaac and I were discussing the sadness that funding was generally reserved for start-up projects and that past the 5-year mark, initiatives were expected to be financially viable and/or profit-making. To me this emphasised the capitalistic nature of our systems - some ministries by virtue of the people they help will never be profit-making (or if they were, they might exclude some of the people most in need of assistance).
Measuring Impact: Additionally, applying for money always requires a demonstration of impact, and the more directly related demonstrable impact the better. But as Isaac and I discussed, and related to the preventative nature of CRECHE too, much of the impact is beyond measurement. ‘We may have prevented someone from experiencing homelessness’ is a less compelling statistic than ‘We housed XX people experiencing homelessness’. And things like joy, relational depth, community connectivity … are not especially measurable.
Freeing people to live: Thinking about the significantly cheaper cost of housing through CRECHE, I thought about how freeing this must be in allowing people to live their life. For example, this has enabled people to live in Boston fresh out of college and be able to support themselves through a barista job, whilst discerning next steps. And I am thinking of the freedom I have to live vocationally at the moment by being well provided for through my seminary scholarship. What a gift to enable people not to suffer from our distorted economy - having to work more than full-time just to survive - and to free people to live more balanced lives and to enable them to lean into and offer their gifts outside of the workplace.
Creativity: CRECHE’s witness has also got me thinking about the creativity of intentional Christian communities in subverting the dominant forces of capitalism and individualism (c.f. Ecosystems of Jubilee and Subversive Witness). I find the CRECHE model incredibly creative, and I would also like to highlight the generosity of individuals that have made CRECHE possible.
More on CRECHE can be listened to here through an interview with Isaac.
Englewood, Indianapolis
I met some Englewood folk at the Nurturing Communities Network gathering this past fall/autumn 2024 and prior to that had also heard great things! Given their proximity to Richmond, IN (1hr20min drive) I thought I would ambitiously see whether a visit might be possible in the 1-week gap post-intensive and pre-semester. The HUGEST of thanks goes to Joe for coordinating such a warm, friendly, generous, stimulating visit!
Overview
Englewood Chrisitan Church is a church congregation on the Near Eastside of Indianapolis with a 130-year history, having been rural, sub-urban and urban. At one time in its history it was the largest church in Indianaplis and a precursor to what would become mega-churches, and it also has a history of KKK membership around the 1920s. It now has an active congregation of 100-200 members (my estimate based on Sunday service attendance). It is non-credal and non-denominational and places a high emphasis on doing the work of Jesus.
There is a parallel Spanish-speaking congregation which shares their building, and once a month the two congregations come together for a shared, bilingual service.
Over the past few decades, Englewood church has committed itself to being a locally rooted church, with 80% of the congregation now living in the immediate neighbouring blocks to the church (within ~10-15min walk away). This was facilitated by Englewood being an incredibly cheap neighbourhood, enabling church members to buy houses - often in need of great repair - and doing them up together as a community [for UK peeps, in the US I have seen a lot more dilapidated housing]. From my tour of the neighbourhood, I would approximate there are around 6+ Englewood-affiliated households on the 3-4 streets closest to the church. House prices have since soared, making newer purchases more financially challenging.
As part of being invested in the neighbourhood, the church also gave birth to the Englewood Community Development Corporation (ECDC) which is its own non-profit but is still inextricably linked to the church. For example, 50% of the board members are from the church, and 50% of the 25-35 staff are from the church.
ECDC focuses on making affordable housing available in the neighbourhood. This has been in the form of purchasing and doing up houses and making them available to low-income households and low-income first-time buyers. They also partner with the non-profit Exodus Refugee Immigration to provide housing for refugee families. Housing units, of multiple housing units/apartments, have also been built, some of these units being specifically for seniors (non-assisted living for 65yrs+), others specifically for people coming out of homelessness, and yet others as mixed units (low-income and people coming out of homelessness). ECDC has now contributed to providing 400+ affordable houses/housing units in the immediate neighbourhood.
I also wish to comment that the houses and units are gorgeously done, having been incredibly well-designed, and with an eye for beautiful colours. Some of their buildings have even won awards e.g. for their sustainable features.
Beyond housing, ECDC projects have also included a collaborative multi-million renovation of a warehouse into a school building, providing high-quality education for children from low-income households. Neighbourhood buildings have also been bought, renovated and leased out to new local businesses at affordable rates.
Beyond providing housing and renovating buildings, ECDC and the church are also committed to being neighbours and getting to know people as individuals: people muck in as a community to get houses done up; there’s an awareness of who needs what and supporting new and/or vulnerable neighbours - for example, in the past there have been programs pairing up women coming out of prison with a support family from the church; many volunteer as after-school activity/sports coordinators in the local schools; people actively support the local businesses… It’s really quite hard to fully communicate the extent with which Englewood - as individuals coming together as a church and as a non-profit - are invested in real neighbourhood mutual support, love and care.
In addition to ECDC, out of Englewood church has also been born; Daystar Childcare, providing full-time child day-care; Englewood Review of Books which reviews books on themes of “community, mission, imagination, and reconciliation”; and Cultivating Communities, enabled by a Lily Grant, which works with congregations to help them also cultivate community.
Interestingly, I would say Englewood doesn’t quite fit the language of intentional Christian community, but it is a remarkable example of a very intentional church community - an inspiring example of the institutional and intentional blurring together in really quite amazing ways!
To clarify this further, there are no prescribed rhythms of meals, prayer or gathering. The church does offer a Sunday service, Sunday School, small groups, book study and a weekly 1hr conversation slot for church members to discuss a particular theme or issue pertaining to the life of the church (5pm Sundays). But people participate in these as they feel led. And whilst there are no prescribed social gatherings, people gather and chat in ‘pocket parks’ (empty lots which Englewood members have maintained as community parks) as their kids play, invite their street over for dinner, visit and support members of the community when they are sick, play hockey together on Wednesday evenings etc….
There’s also significant overlap between church members and the staff of the church-born ministries with many (most?) households having at least one family member as a staff or volunteer in one of the church-affiliated ministries. And I get the sense that most households, even if not presently involved in one of these ministries, have been involved as staff or a volunteer at some stage.
In this way, Englewood operates as a looser community than most intentional Christian communities, but as a significantly tighter community than most church congregations or neighbourhoods. It’s inspiring!
Reflections
Hospitality & Generosity: First of all, I must emphasise just how warm, friendly, generous, hospitable, encouraging and loving Englewood are. Despite having COVID when I reached out enquiring about a visit, Joe put together a most enriching schedule for my three days with Englewood, full of opportunities for meeting and conversing with a number of different members. By the end of my third day, I recognised and knew the names of many of the 40ish present for 5pm Sunday conversation! Joe did also wake up at 4am to come and pick me up from Richmond in time for 8am book study (!!!) - very much representative of the generous hospitality I recieved throughout my stay and of Englewood at large.
Joe put together the most amazing schedule to ensure I got the most of my three days with Englewood! There wasn’t a meal that I was left alone, sharing breakfast, lunch and dinner across all three days with different members of the community. What a blessing to be invited to have brunch at someone’s home (thank you Thomas for a delightful time and for your abundant hospitality), breakfast at a local bakery and coffee shop (Melissa - you are awesomely fun!), lunch with ECDC staff at a locally supported Mexican restaurant, dinner with those who live on Dearborne St. (thank you Susan for a hosting a delightful meal and for the best brownies ever!). I even was invited and went to a 5-year-old’s birthday party!
Despite not knowing me, so many members of the Englewood community made time for me and welcomed me into their homes and their favourite local spots to meet and chat. Just wow! (Especially so given I came only with one week’s notice!)
A special thanks especially goes to Joe for co-ordinating my visit with such care and generosity. Joe, your humility and the generosity with which you give of yourself is truly inspiring and such an enourmous gift to receive - thank you.Love on the Margins: I was especially touched by a small group leader changing the meeting time of his small group from Thursday to Sunday lunch so that I could join them. It was a blessing to meet this small group and to eat of their bounty (thank you for all of the delicious food!), and touching to hear how Scott - the small group leader - tries to bring in new faces (on this occasion me) as guests to stimulate this predominantly older-in-years small group. The love and care Scott has for this group of people - who could easily fall off the margins of community without some intentionality - was beautiful to experience.
Related, it was beautiful to see the ways the community knew and loved a member of the church community with a learning disability - knowing how to help guide her when needed, and knowing how to laugh together.Beloved People: During our urban ministry class in Atlanta, we were often talking about groups of people based on their traumatic experience - as unhoused persons, incarcerated persons, victims/survivors of sexual abuse, immigrants, refugees. These descriptors are somewhat necessary when talking and learning about certain things, but left in the realm of study and conversation, these categories never become people.
At Englewood I appreciated meeting a whole diversity of people, some from other parts of the US, others from the local area, some previously incarcerated, some immigrants, some with learning disabilities, some formerly unhoused - but in contrast to people groups remaining abstract in my course, at Englewood they were first and foremost beloved, long-term members of the congregation with names, faces, stories and people with gifts and a presence that greatly blessed me. Ultimately, I think this is why I am compelled to intentional Christian community approaches, as they facilitate deep relational journeying in ways most non-profits don’t.Humility: Englewood is characterised by a profound humility of the likes which is rarely encountered. ECDC are rightfully proud of their work and the many wonderful things they have achieved. But they are also self-critical, readily acknowledging past faults and ready to admit that things didn’t work out as they had hoped and might need re-thinking.
I also experienced this humility being preached from the pulpit, the pastor urging the congregation not to overly blame a given political party or side, but to remember that none of us are perfect and to work on realising where we might be wrong and fuelling things other than the gifts of the Spirit.Educated Collaborative Approach: Related, Englewood strikes me as an educated ministry which strives to love from a place of education and collaboration. Unlike some other churches, they aren’t overly preoccupied with claiming initiatives as ‘theirs’ but instead seek to collaborate with other local initiatives and non-profits for the good of the whole community (rather than the reputation of the church/ECDC) (c.f. collective impact).
An example of remaining educated is their involvement with the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) and to know their work well enough to even critique it (in its earlier years CCDA apparently had a more independent, anti-church, posture, rather than seeking to leverage churches as an asset to community development. It has apparently changed since and has a deeper recognition for the role of the church). Members of Englewood are noticeably in the know of people in the community development field e.g. off hand references to Robert Lupton, and various book shelves around the place containing books obviously related to Christian community development.
I was recommended these books :) 
I like to take photos of inspiring bookshelves for future book inspiration! 
Here’s another one! And I’d also sign up to the Englewood Review of Books if you’re after even more book recommendations :) Other networks Englewood engages with are the Nurturing Communities Network and the Ekklesia Project.
I also see Englewood Review of Books as a manifestation of recognising the wisdom which exists beyond their walls and which can inform their work.Commitment: Speaking of the CCDA, in class we learned that their recommended approach is to relocate to impoverished neighbourhoods, and by 20 years of being in a place, to have handed leadership over to indigenous/local leadership and to eventually move and start developing another community elsewhere. There’s something in this which I find jarring, and which implies a lack of real relational investment in a place.
I personally really appreciated witnessing the informal life commitment many people of Englewood have for their neighbourhood. I could feel the continuous outpouring of love over decades, and also the increased momentum made possible from stability and commitment, as lessons, networks and relationships accumulate and strengthen. This stability and commitment personally seems like a more genuine, loving, relationally rich way to engage. Not to say that it’s necessarily always a bad thing to discern a move, but it seems a bit disingenuous to supposedly commit to nurturing a place knowing that the intention is to move on. It feels like this encourages seeing places as mission fields (CCDA approach), rather than places of home and building a sense of home together for each other (Englewood approach). To be fair, I haven’t gone deep enough into CCDA resources to critique them, but I’m generally interested in these differing perspectives around community development and stability.
Gentrification: Building on approaching community development from an informed place, I asked a member of the ECDC staff about how they understand gentrification and how they relate to it. They gave me a very informed answer, describing gentrification as a somewhat unavoidable wave which will come at some point. House prices in the Englewood neighbourhood have risen drastically in the past few years, but so have the surrounding neighbourhoods. And I would agree that ECDC has largely been a positive force against gentrification. For example, whilst ECDC have renovated a number of houses, and built on a number of empty lots, they have done so to create affordable housing rather than luxury housing - luxury housing in formerly impoverished neighbourhoods being a very real thing, as I witnessed in Atlanta, with broken down houses alternating with luxury houses.
Voluntary Poverty: Though not technically what I would define as an intentional Christian community, Englewood displays many of the characteristics of intentional Christian communities - such as uncommonly radiant generosity, humility and hospitality. Additionally, some of the members of the Englewood community have chosen to live a life of voluntary poverty, requesting to be paid less than $15/hr despite being in executive roles. This is but one of the ways members of Englewood really do try and follow the Gospel wholeheartedly.
Facilitating Kingdom Ethics: Reflecting on this further, Englewood is such a robust community that it facilitates living into Kingdom ethics of jubilee and simplicity. As a member of the community, I don’t think one has to worry about going hungry, or becoming homeless, or unemployed, as the community would step in to ensure you have what you need and help you back onto your feet. This is powerful stuff!
The power of this was also amplified to me in thinking about the various work departments which are being leveraged to support deportations. Living in thick, supportive, community - as modelled by Englewood - leaves room for people to take greater ethical risks in the workplace or step back entirely, knowing that there is a community around them to support them and their family.Capitalistic Love: I had a fascinating conversation with someone from Englewood about how he perceived American values leaking into the church’s work (Englewood and at large). He spoke of the American growth mindset of forever aspiring to grow bigger and bigger and he feared that ECDC’s work was also being adversely impacted by this mindset - forever expanding the affordable housing in the area but perhaps at the expense of being able to be good, invested neighbours who personally bear witness to the love of Christ. (An ongoing debate within the church, with people on both sides). He questioned what made non-profits distinctly Christian, and wondered whether part of remaining a powerful Christian witness was remaining small such that love of neighbour could remain personal. I don’t have an answer but I think this is an important question to wrestle with (and need these approaches be mutually exclusive?).
Pastors, Education & Pay: In the same conversation we also thought about how having someone as a paid pastor can potentially inhibit community, with people always looking to the pastor to do things, rather than taking initiative as a community. He also highlighted that we are in a societal system which values formal education, and that the more advanced your formal education, the more you get paid. He observed that this mindset also exists within our churches, but challenged that as Christians we should be valuing and empowering people’s experience and not fall into the trap of following what mainstream society values.
Power & Authority: Somewhat related, during the 8am Friday Book Study, we talked about the language of power and authority. Many were uncomfortable with the negative associations of these words and felt they were best not used to avoid confusion. It is true that the words ‘power’ and ‘authority’ are heavy-laden, but I wonder whether it is therefore the role of the church to bear witness to, and encourage, a healthy relationship with power and authority.
Perceptions of Intentional Christian Community: It was interesting for me to experience that for many in the Englewood community, the benchmark for intentional Christian community is the Bruderhof (they have a good relationship with the Bruderhof with a number having come to spend time at Englewood). Understandings of the variety of ICC, and the fact that many do not necessitate a common purse, seemed limited.
Related, for the first time, I heard someone fluently draw on my 7-fold typology of ICCs in conversation which helped me realise that this framework might actually be helpful!
Among Englewood, I also detected a floating wondering of whether they should become a more formal intentional Christian community. But to this I would encourage Englewood to continue faithfully living into their own version of intentional community - which may one day become more intentional, but this should come from a place of natural evolution/discernment rather than comparison with other models and perceiving them to be better of fuller expressions.Conversation: On Englewood’s particular expression of intentional community, I was grateful to experience their 5pm Sunday conversation time where a particular question is addressed as a church community, sometimes over a number of weeks. For example, this past Sunday they concluded a series of conversations on the relationship between the church congregation and ECDC. I picked up that this time of conversation has been a key part of Englewood’s community backbone and being an engaged congregation. Fortunately for us, they’ve written some resources around this key practice!
A book written by Englewood church member, Chris Smith, on “recovering the practice of conversation in the church”. Prayer: One of the areas I felt Englewood to be most different from ICCs is that there are no/few rhythms of shared prayer other than Sunday services. The community as a whole leans very heavily toward an active spirituality and theologically doesn’t seem to value contemplative spirituality as much.
Related, I joined a Sunday School discussion in which we started talking about prayer as a discipline. Alongside other conversations I had about prayer during my stay, it made me think of the extent with which we pray in the ways which come naturally to us (e.g. walking in the woods for me) and the extent with which we pray in ways less natural to us (e.g. it takes a little more effort for me to sit down with a prayer book).
I personally think it’s important to lean into the ways prayer comes naturally to us - which I think also honours how God made us - but I think it’s also important we stretch ourselves into other types of prayer too, lest we make God in our own image, and to open ourselves to God being revealed to us in different ways. I find praying community helpful in providing the encouragement and accountability to pray in ways different to one’s personal prayer.
It’s not always easy…: I was truly blessed by Englewood’s witness, and I have tried to convey this blessing by highlighting the positive, but I also feel the need to share that people also readily admitted that it’s not always easy. Living in close community with the people you go to work with isn’t always easy. Managing properties housing vulnerable populations isn’t always easy (e.g. before the 5pm Sunday conversation, police was outside one of the ECDC buildings as a fight had broken out between residents). Living in an economically deprived neighbourhood isn’t always easy (during my visit I heard various stories of tragic deaths, and someone’s car also got broken into). Yet despite all of these challenges, Englewood carries a joyful hope, presumably fuelled by knowing that they are working together to love each other, their neighbours and their neighbourhood, and experiencing the fruits of this love overpowering the challenges of this love.
Visiting Englewood really was such an inspiring time and reminded me of just how much I draw from being able to learn and be inspired by intentional expressions of Christianity. I hope this account has inspired you also and expanded your imagination of what is possible as a church congregation!
More on Englewood available through this interview with Joe and Chris :). And the various linked websites also have videos and more information if you’re wanting to explore some more.
Urban Ministry & Intentional Christian Community
Having now engaged with urban ministry both outside and within the ICC context - what are my key takeaways?
Research: From a well-meaning place, I think it’s so easy to want to dive in and start ‘doing stuff’. The past few weeks have highlighted the importance of making the time to research and look into best practices, as developed by people who have been in the field a lot longer.
Seeing and experiencing the diversity of opinions and ways to do things has also encouraged me to engage with this research critically (and faithfully).
For people looking for a starting point into thinking about community engagement from a more researched place, I recommended starting out with the book ‘Toxic Charity’ by Robert Lupton.
Power, Dignity & Collaboration: The study I have engaged with through my urban ministry class has made me more aware of power dynamics and eroding people’s dignity with well-meaning initiatives. The value of collaboration has also been emphasised to me, and the value of potentially supporting a partner rather than starting something a-new.
Local Decision-Making: My time in Atlanta and what I experienced at Englewood have inspired me to become more engaged at the local decision-making level. I feel the local decision-making level is a ‘story of operation’ I can operate well at. I have also been inspired to encourage local engagement as part of ICCs I might be a part of/involved in.
So many ways…: There are so many ways to engage with urban needs!
We’re in this together!: It brings me such reassurance to think about operating as a faithful community, knowing that in community there is such an abundance of diverse gifts, and that our personal limitations are often balanced out by others’ gifts. I’m so grateful to belong to the ICC scene/culture of working together to bear witness to God’s loving Kingdom.
Alleluia Amen!
https://www.creche.community/about
Voices of Youth Count and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, “Voices Missed Opportunities: LGBTQ Youth Homelessness in America,” 2018, https://www.chapinhall.org/wp-content/uploads/VoYC-LGBTQ-Brief-FINAL.pdf.
Lakshmi, really enjoyed your visit here at Englewood! Thanks for this thorough write-up! You're welcome back anytime.