Posted 521 days ago

Community In The Country: A Personal Story

by Jason Fowler, Wisely Woven / Sustainable Traditions


I use to think the idea of intentional Christian community was a radical concept. That is, until I glanced at church history. The early church, the Celtic Christians, the Anabaptists, the Monastic movements, the Moravians, and many others in between all sought to live out their faith in the fertile soil of small intentional communities.

Paul Tournier once said, “There are two things we cannot do alone. One is to be married and the other is to be a Christian.” ¹ I love that quote! But personally, I struggled against this reality for a long time. Caught in the context of my own spiritual self-seeking, I found that Jesus’ call to follow Him could be distorted into a lonely trail towards personal fulfillment instead of a joyous movement of faith shared with other followers. Make no mistake, however, the road to GOD’s upside-down kingdom is meant to be walked together. I would even be so bold as to say, that walking the road together is the kingdom!

One day, a while back, in the midst of struggling with the isolation I was feeling in my church experience, I went home and sensed the LORD trying to speak to me. At that time we lived in an apartment, and I thought, “How strange that someone lives right on the other side of these walls and I am totally separated from them. They could be in trouble, and I would never know.” “My people have an ‘apart-ment complex’,” came the voice whispering in my spirit. I fully understood then what my experience of church had become: dry bones in Ezekiel’s valley.

Fast forward a bit: My wife and I, newly married, had been living in her parent’s house in Northern Virginia for four years or so. They were helping us get on our feet financially, and we were grateful for the gift. And then, suddenly, it was like an alarm clock went off.

Simultaneously, my parents-in-law, my sister-in-law, her husband, my wife, and I all got this urgent desire to turn over a new leaf and leave the madness of our chaotic and disjointed suburban lifestyles in favor of a life that is more connected to each other, GOD, and the land. We started tossing around the idea of buying some land together. But where would we go? How would we do it? We dreamed, prayed, and planned together for a year or so. Our hearts felt drawn to Central Virginia; somehow it was right. We even met a realtor and started looking for the perfect land and housing. But despite our movement towards intentional community, the timing wasn’t right. All the properties we looked at didn’t fit, my brother-in-law sensed the LORD leading them down a slightly different path, and our efforts were beginning to feel forced.

Despite the change of plans, my wife and I moved away from Northern Virginia anyway to the small town of Lynchburg, Virginia. Then my sister-in-law and her husband moved, and eventually my parents-in-law came to the area. We lived in separate houses miles apart, and our dreams seemed to die. We ‘church-shopped’, hoping to find a vibrant group of Jesus people with whom to share our lives. A few congregations appeared promising, but then we heard that alarm clock go off in our spirits again. The LORD was not calling us to re-create the life we had always lived. He was calling us to an integrated way of life, and we were still learning what that meant. Church, work, and family were all being sown into a single seamless garment. We welcomed it from a distance.

Months passed as we settled in to our townhouse in Lynchburg. Our life slowed down considerably. Traffic delays were two minutes not two hours. People knew each other around town. It was a whole new world. One day we got a phone call. My sister-in-law mentioned that they had met a couple, also from Northern Virginia, that was moving to the area. The LORD had told them to move to Bedford (a more rural town not far from Lynchburg), and they had bought a farm at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We eventually discovered that it was an old farm village we had looked at when we were originally dreaming about intentional community. Our hearts leapt with joy!

We met the couple, Joe and Teresa, for an early dinner one evening and so began our friendship. We started a house church with some other families and have been meeting for several years now. Joe and Teresa invited us to live in a small cabin on the property by the creek. We were delighted to accept! It is the most beautiful place on earth. Our cabin windows look out over the mountains, the rolling creeks, and converging country roads. Learning to live as community, though, is no small task. Yet, this is why we’re here: to share the work, to share the joy, and to share our lives.

We rarely speak of the future in grand terms. We have no set plans to launch a full-scale intentional community here, but I know with watering and weeding, the seed that we’ve planted will mature over time. I see it in full bloom sometimes, even though it is still fragile and uncertain.

So, that radical idea I mentioned at the beginning, that concept of giving church life a new community context—it’s happening little by little. Slowly it grows, like our garden in the sun. And from what I hear, these rural gardens seem to be cropping up all over.
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Thinking of Starting Your Own Intentional Christian Community?

Community life is born both of the Holy Spirit and our human choice. Every circumstance is like its own unique soil with particular demands and challenges to growth. If you’re living in a rural area, be aware of these challenges and opportunities as you make the first moves to intentional Body life:

1. Logistics: In an urban setting, members of a community can potentially buy/rent apartments in the same building or block. In rural areas, the cost for startup can be far more expensive financially. Buying a farm or land together can also require legal advice and other expertise.
2. Commitment: Unless you buy land together, proximity can be difficult to secure. Houses can be miles apart. The farther apart you are in distance, the more committed you must be to making time to be together.
3. Mission: Out in the country, there are not always apparent opportunities, like in cities, to directly be the hands and feet of Jesus for those in need. You don’t have homeless people walking past every day, and your neighbors may not be right around the corner. This demands creativity and prayer in seeking how you can serve the general community in your area.

1. Culture: Rural areas tend to be very traditional (at least where we are). Starting an intentional Christian community may cause a ruckus in your local churches. Unless you are in attendance at a local congregation, it may take some time to earn your neighbors’ trust.

All that being said, great potential remains. An intentional Christian community in a rural setting has more opportunity to pursue sustainable agriculture and other more self-sufficient means of providing basic needs. Cottage industry may be more feasible, allowing for the entire fellowship to share in a single business enterprise. And there may be more room to incorporate a ‘third-millennium monastery’ and retreat centers on the property, also allowing for a bridge of hospitality to the regional area.

Most of all, don’t be afraid to dream GOD’s dreams!

Notes

1. Original source of quote unknown.

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