Posted 359 days ago

MSA as Intentional Community

by Eliacín Rosario Cruz, Community Catalyst and Cultivator

I constantly get asked what Mustard Seed Associates (MSA) is and what we do. I also find myself trying to explain who we are and what we do as intentional community, namely The Mustard Seed House. The answer to these questions can be as short as “we are a group of people living together trying to embody the Kingdom of God and a community that collaborates and sojourns with others planting mustard seeds of hope.” But it also can be as long as a two-hour conversation over several cups of coffee. I prefer the long conversation.

MSA more than an organization, is an organic community of people. It grows organically and silently as the people in it walk with others. They serve as companions to those seeking to live intentionally according to the alternative vibes of God’s Kingdom. It can be hard for people who are used to the “activities” and “programs” of organizations and non-profits to pinpoint what we do. More than doing, we are being—better yet, becoming. MSA, of which the Mustard Seed House is an expression, is a community in the process of becoming. One of our desires is to live alternatively, not just run programs or talk about change, but actually live and become living beings in the new reality of God’s Realm. In order to move in this direction, we have to learn as we go, sojourning with others, what makes community life generative and transformational.

I’ve been living in a communitarian way all my life, starting with a very communal neighborhood as a child and youth. Later on I was a youth minister and program director at a retreat and conference center. And in the last several years, I’ve been a part of the Mustard Seed House. During this time, I’ve been serious about learning and exploring what intentional, deep community is. I want to share with you some of the reflections, ideas, and suggestions I’ve found helpful as we go along in the process of cultivating communities. While I understand and affirm that intentional/conscious community does not have to be residential (living together), I am focusing mostly in the residential model because that is the way we experience the Mustard Seed House. These ideas are broken up into four categories:

Culture

• Every community should be conscious that they are building a culture (DNA) from the very beginning. If the expectations in the beginning are of minimal involvement, the culture of the community will be influenced by minimal “buy in” and lack of ownership.
• Every community deals with conflict and power struggles. It is not a matter if it will happen, but how the community responds when it does.
• What develops relationships? Structure and regular meetings are necessary for community growth, but more than that, spontaneous times of celebration, eating, outings, and work cultivate deeper relationships. Time for community is key; people cannot develop community if they do not have time to be with others in the community.
• There needs to be an articulated distinction between open, organic community and minimal involvement. Organic gardeners know very well how much work needs doing in order to have healthy plants and delicious fruits. Do not let the word “organic” be a synonym for unstructured, mediocre relationships. Communities need to be worked on. Communication needs to be improved. The dishes need to be done. The toilets need to be cleaned. Someone needs to go grocery shopping. People need to fulfill their duties and responsibilities.
• Living together does not guarantee community. It allows for frequent interaction that deepens the levels of relationship that already exist. Time is necessary to build community. Life is time and presence. There needs to be an awareness of sharing life right now—at this moment—not taking each other’s gift of life for granted. Sharing life is more than a nice phrase; it is what we do. We decide if we share life in a meaningful way or if we share it in a poor and life-draining way. We either give life or take life away.
• A multi-cultural/multi-generational community takes a higher level of maturity in terms of relating and understanding how different ages and culture groups function, what their needs, abilities, strengths, communication methods, learning methods, etc., are.
• Multi-generational communities need to take the time to deal with generational stumbling blocks. For example, young people might tend to dismiss old people as irrelevant and project family baggage unto them while older folks might look down on youth and be condescending and paternalistic.
• Communities that take intentional steps toward ending patriarchy are creating a new space in society. Communities can help shape a new vocabulary that takes the struggle of gender roles into consideration.
• Rituals, celebrations, and rites of passage are very important for communities. They are not only great memory-makers, but they also show respect and honor for time and transitions.

• Living in community should allow us to create a space for an egalitarian division of labor.

Vision

• Communities need to move from function (i.e. living together and sharing resources) to intentional (i.e. purposefully envisioning who are we and how we live together) and deep (i.e. authentic care and communication) community.
• Each community should ask itself, “How do we know when we have moved into a deeper level of community?”
• Communities need to have standards, parameters, and timelines by which to evaluate their growth and faithfulness to the vision/purpose/goals. Communities should allow/provide self-evaluations in regarding to the community’s standards, parameters, timelines, dues, responsibilities, and goals.
• Visioning – Talk about vision early and often. Get clear about your share vision. Share vision regularly. Check on how community is living up to its vision
• Focus on the overall vision, not on the needs of the niche or become slave of the immediate. Why does the community exist? What kind of life we want to create together?
• The vision keeps community moving forward. It prevents community from becoming people living in same location without a common purpose.
• Set times for individuals to self-evaluate their reasons for interest in community and asses if their lifestyle, resources, and time investments match their reasons and goals. How are individuals living up to the values/goals/purpose? In other words, work toward matching your responsibilities and expectations with your values/goals/purpose. After all, the reason we are involved in community is to have deeper relationships and meaningful reasons for beings. Transformation is not an easy process, and it is time-consuming. Do not expect it to happen with minimal investment.

• Community evaluation cannot be done in a hurry, and it is not always pretty. Communities can evaluate how they are living up to their values/goals/purpose as a group. Remember this is a communal evaluation, not individual. This might be the time to change the way things are done in order to work toward matching your responsibilities and expectations with your values/goals/purpose. Or simply change values/goals/purpose.

Communication

• Communities should do their homework to find out how an individual communicates (pros and cons) and how the group communicates as a collective.
• Communities need clear channels for feedback—for affirmation and critiques.
• Realize that there might be different levels of community within one community. If so, the group needs to be aware and talk about it to resolve the internal unspoken pressure to be all the same.
• Community members need to be aware of their relational/family baggage in order to facilitate community communication and relationship building.
• Communities need to be clear in the priority of communal relationships and the required time investment.

• Set up a regular time for community business meetings. This will keep things from piling up that could turn into a problem later. Keep the communication ways open.

Practicalities

• The intensity of the initial interest is different than the dynamic of everyday life together. Courting a community is different than living into it. Moving into a community is the wedding part; it takes character to live in relationship beyond the initial excitement.
• At every meeting, ground rules and values need to be restated for everyone to be clear.
• Multi-generational communities with elderly people should not avoid talking about dying. They need to talk in order to have plans and be prepared for when the time comes. This will allow for communication to flow authentically and to honor the time together.
• Multi-generational communities need to articulate in a clear way the steps the community will take to attend to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of its young and old members.

• Every community should have an informed process on how to deal with emergencies (personal info, medical info, contact info, etc.).

It is our hope that this initial reflection can help you as you journey into living together in community.

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