A Most Difficult Concept for Christians

Leading to the joys and fruits of authentic, relational ministry

One of my favorite resources for Communities of Shalom is the book titled, Building a People of Power by Robert Linthicum.   Within the book, Linthicum gives a great introduction to a key concept that churches need to apply if they are serious about working for the common good of their community and seeking the shalom of the neighborhood where they worship.

This concept is often referred to as the Iron Rule:  Never do for others what they can do for


Members and neighbors from Trinity UMC

themselves.  Or put another way, the people who are best able to deal with a problem are the people most affected by the problem.

Linthicum writes, “I have discovered in more than 50 years of ministry that this concept is the single most difficult insight for Christians to grasp and apply in their ministry.” 

Why is it so difficult? 

One way to answer is to consider that there are three general ways in which a church responds to its neighborhood.  They either have ministry in a community, for/to a community or with a community.

• A church in a community does not see itself as being part of that neighborhood.  This is a church with its building in a neighborhood but with no relationships with the neighbors and other stakeholders.  Most of the members commute to the church, and all activities are designed to serve the membership.
• A church for a community develops programs to serve people outside the walls of the church.  Often this church is motivated through its faith teachings to help people less fortunate, even if they do not attend the church.  Sometimes a church who is doing programs for the community is motivated because it is a shrinking congregation who hopes that reconnecting to the neighborhood might help it grow.  There is great potential in this approach and this approach has a flaw.  The flaw is that, more often than not, the church decides what is best for the community.  Well-intentioned church-folk develop programs to help or fix the people outside the church.  The people outside the church are viewed as deficient and unable to solve their own problems. 
• A church with a community respects and perceives the people of the community as people with great wisdom and potential.  The church does not develop programs for people, but instead partners with the people in dealing with their own issues and pursuing their own aspirations for their community.  A church with the community participates in the community’s struggles and dreams, allowing both to shape the church.

Primera Iglesia Metodista prepares for asset mapping

Being a church in ministry with the community is difficult to do because it goes against our problem-solving tendencies.  It means we may have to give up our timetables and operate at the community’s (sometimes slower) pace.  It might even mean that we have to allow our church to be influenced by the community! 

Once a church embraces the notion of being in ministry with the community, the real journey (and work) of change and transformation begins…for the community and the church.  The activities of the church move away from relief and quick fixes to lasting and sustainable community transformation. The reward are the joys and fruits of authentic, relational ministry.

Imagining the fruits of ministry with

This summer, Center for Transforming Communities has used this framework to help five churches in Nashville imagine ways that the church can grow in its relationship with the community.  We have been exploring the principles and tools of Asset Based Community Development as one approach to doing ministry with the neighborhood.

If you or your church would like to learn more about doing ministry with your neighborhood, I hope you will contact us at info@ctcmidsouth.org. 

-Amy Moritz, Director of Center for Transforming Communities.

Photos courtesy of Nate Paulk, Trinity UMC in Nashville, TN.  Nashville trainings sponsored by the Turner Center at Vanderbilt.

Servant Leadership: Living, Loving, and Learning in Community

Making a difference through radical love and inclusion

Not too long ago, I had the privilege of sitting down and talking with Floridia Jackson, a Memphis native who has most recently become the Director of the Memphis School of Servant Leadership. Floridia has been active with this school for several years. She started off with The School while in seminary. At the time, she was seeking a group of people that were “like-working” in that they shared in a common mission to make a difference in the world through radical love and inclusion, and work against oppression and other injustices. She was encouraged to move forward in this mission in the classes that she took on “the call” and “racism to reconciliation” at Memphis School of Servant Leadership.

Floridia Jackson, Director,
Memphis School of Servant Leadership

According to Floridia, the Memphis School of Servant Leadership is a school that seeks to “raise up Christian servant leaders for the church and the world.” All classes are free as the school recognizes that not everyone might be able to pay. Each individual in the classroom, whether teacher or student, are on a journey together. The teachers are referred to as companions instead of facilitators/teachers to reflect this principle.

Instead of a board of directors, the Memphis School of Servant Leadership has what is referred to as a ‘mission group’. In addition to managing the business and order of the school, this group meets together for spiritual development. The mission group gathers every two weeks to pray with each other about the direction the school should be going, shifts and changes in their personal lives as a result of their connection to the school, and ways in which spirit is calling them to work against oppressive and racist structures.

Floridia has enjoyed being a partner in The Commons, the shared space operated by Center for Transforming Communities. Every day at the office provides an opportunity to experience the God in others, be it someone reminding her of what’s going on in God’s global world, updates on the work other partners of The Commons are doing in the community, or an African woman nursing her child as she waits for her two other children who are in the Refugee Empowerment Program classes, reminding her of the way in which God loves and nurtures us.

In her own words, Floridia states that “Community is when we stop to pause, to see, to witness that God-life, God-force/energy in one another.” Imagine a world where people acknowledge and carry out the call to serve and live in true community. This is the work that is being done through the Memphis School of Servant Leadership.

Namaste’ (The divine in me acknowledges the divine in you)

Author:  Kory N. Turner

Kory is a seminary students at Drew Theological Seminary.  He is serving as a Shalom Intern at Center for Transforming Communities this summer.

A Community Clothed in Compassion

Community Clothes Closet of the South Memphis Shalom Zone

I had the opportunity to shadow Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) Director, Amy Moritz, on a Friday afternoon in February in the South Memphis Shalom Zone. In the prior week I had begun learning about the community group capacity building and sustainable social change work that CTC engages in, so this opportunity to see the fruit of such labor was a  welcomed one. Amy invited me to join her on a visit to the community’s Clothes Closet and we were sincerely welcomed by several volunteers, including Toni Hines who has a lead role in the operation of the Clothes Closet. Stepping further into the store, we could see several customers being escorted around the store and warmly assisted with selecting items. I could see that people were comfortable there and the volunteers were enthusiastic about the work they were doing. Ms. Hines gave us a tour, discussed daily operations, and shared with us some potential opportunities for growth.

 

The South Memphis Shalom Zone Community Clothes Closet is located on the property of Centenary United Methodist Church (UMC). Six churches constitute this Shalom Zone but Centenary UMC, Greater White Stone, and Greater New Salem are central to the operation of this service project.  First conceptualized in August 2012, the Clothes Closet has been operating since June 2013 and has served 300 people.  Community members are welcome to “shop” at the Clothing Closet on Monday or Friday between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.  People from any neighborhood in Memphis can visit once per month and will be greeted by a volunteer to assist them with shopping for their one dress outfit, two tops, two bottoms and incidental items.

The work that most significantly impacts the community around the Clothes Closet is being noticed from afar. Donors include church members as well as unaffiliated individuals.  Ms. Hines stated that they have donations waiting at the door or have “donations made by people who have just heard about what we do.” The Clothes Closet is also on a referral list for the local Red Cross, and as a result, this Shalom Zone has been able to assist families that needed clothing due to the tragedy of a fire. Although the Clothes Closet has mainly served people within the community of the project site, Ms. Hines expressed a desire to expand their reach as well as improve operations and add services.

Due to the efforts of the supporting churches, various donors and about 20 regular volunteers, those in need of clothing have a welcoming place to have their need met in South Memphis. Desiring to address more than just immediate needs, Ms. Hines and other volunteers are having intentional conversations about how to grow their services to meet the underlying needs of their patrons. This Shalom Zone hopes to be able to     facilitate seminars for patrons focusing on topics like personal budgeting and how to get rights reinstated post incarceration.

Through this visit, I was able to see the Shalom principles in the work of those involved with the Clothes Closet and in the project itself. This shadowing experience gave me a greater appreciation for the capacity building support that CTC provides Shalom Zones in the Mid-South as well as the power of compassionate community group.

Author: Sydney D. McGhee

Sydney will be graduating in May with a Master of Public Administration from the University of Memphis.  She is passionate about service and social change.

Discovering Our Role in Our Collective Healing

Mason (TN) Caregivers Promoting Unity

The principles of Communities of Shalom are as applicable in a rural context as they are in an urban neighborhood.  In a town of 1400 people, Mason Caregivers Shalom Community is fostering unity, promoting education and dreaming of so much more.

Pastor Billy Jo Jackson embraces the notion that everyone has gifts and skills to share.  Nearly breaking into a sermon from the stage of the first annual Mason Unity Festival, Pastor Jackson encouraged the hundreds gathered to complete a survey of their gifts.

"Together, connecting our gifts and skills, we are going to make Mason a stronger community!"

In the video below, Pastor Jackson shares how he builds upon what he learns and experiences through Center for Transforming Communities to seek the shalom of Mason.

Springboarding children to go as high as they can go

Their hospitality was refreshing, captivating even. After an unexpected, delightful lunch in their South Memphis home William and Geraldine Downey took the opportunity to share from a colorful lens of history regarding their enduring connection to their beloved neighborhood.

Both of them speak fondly of their childhood years in South Memphis and now some fifty plus (50+) years later they find themselves helping to shape the quality of life for children there today. Mr. and Mrs. Downey actively engage in the South Memphis neighborhood through their connection to a local congregation (Christ Quest) and a successful after-school tutoring program (Knowledge Quest). As residents within the South Memphis Shalom Zone, they bring their entire selves to creating a community of belonging among neighbors and nurturing the potential and capabilities of each child.

Whether it's helping the neighborhood prepare for the next holiday, coaching baseball or  simply loving  their neighborhood  and all of  its members, you will find the Downeys filling the gaps with hope through their generosity and selfless service.  As part of the interview they discuss assets within their community and the sense of promise on the horizon. This power to courageously forecast inspires them to continue in their service for their neighborhood that has weathered its' fair share of changes.

Our conversation reveals that their stewardship and partnership within the community resonates with principles of shalom. Over time they have emerged as community parents and pillars of stability for hundreds. This way of living...existing in the world produces community in real, tangible ways.

FirstWorks@TheCorners: The Asset-Based Approach Making a Difference In Highland Heights

You can hear the passion, the sincerity, and love that emanates from Amy Pearson, Executive Director of FirstWorks - a tutoring program in the Highland Heights community. She takes a moment to speak candidly regarding the great work that FirstWorks@The Corners does as part of Communities of Shalom. Moreover, she highlights the amazing gifts, assets, and potential that are so alive and vibrant in this historic neighborhood.

It's All About Sharing Experience, Knowledge, Love, and Making Friends

Carl Awsumb was so excited on that Saturday in July, when more children showed up than ever before.  With fifteen to twenty children and few adults it was almost too much of a good thing.  They picked one hundred pints of blackberries – the most ever – and sold them at a local Farmers’ Market with the help of Grow Memphis. 

Cleaning and sorting the tomatoes, beans and okra for the cartons.

One might think it is the profit share of up to five dollars an hour that keeps the children from the local Binghampton neighborhood coming back to McMerton Gardens early every Saturday morning.   But it is so much more.  You can see it in the faces of the children and the volunteers hoeing, weeding and harvesting the beautiful fruits and vegetables.  There is a pride in the product, an enthusiasm in the friendships, and an energy for being and working together.

When Carl began this work in 2007  he only knew that he had been so blessed in his own life that he wanted to share that privilege.  His vision has drawn volunteers from the surrounding area – wealthy and poor, young and not-so-young, from disparate neighborhoods and cultures.  He strongly feels that if he can invite people together that are normally on “different sides of the equation” that perspectives will change.  It has proven true.  Friendships have formed around the tasks and the time together. 

Billy Vaughan is one of the adult volunteers that help to cultivate the six garden plots scattered around the twenty block neighborhood.  Billy often testifies to the joy each child brings to the Gardens, and it is evident as he picks up a handful of tools and walks alongside a little girl the few blocks to the next garden.  She chats away about how she has started school this week and can’t wait to go back on Monday.

Vaughan and some of the children.

Indeed, McMerton Gardens is a vibrant Community of Shalom with all kinds of seeds being planted and harvested.

- Kristi Estes-

If you have questions, comments or a story to share, please contact Kristi@ctcmidsouth.org.

FirstWorks at The Corners Thrives by Building on Community Assets

The Corners of Highland Heights Community of Shalom faced a difficult decision last summer when it looked like FirstWorks, a long running after-school program, would not re-open with the new school year.

Recognizing what an important asset that the program was for the neighborhood, The Corners was determined to save FirstWorks.  According to Fred Morton, The Corner’s Shalom Zone coordinator, “The Corners’ purpose included strengthening the education of the children in our neighborhood, and we were committed to keeping the program running.”  

As one of the Communities of Shalom trained and supported by the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC), The Corners had already created and implemented a day camp for FirstWorks, and was now ready to take on a more ambitious project.  Following some modifications to the program, “FirstWorks at the Corners” was able to continue as a once a week enrichment program for 25 children from first through eighth grades in the Highland Heights neighborhood.

In addition to the capacity that The Corners built in two years of operation they were also able to leverage tremendous support from St. Luke’s UMC, Highland Heights UMC, Germantown UMC, the Junior League of Memphis, Valero, and many others.

One major change that The Corners worried might harm the program was to discontinue the transportation of the children to and from the church.   Fortunately , the children’s parents were committed to the program and found ways to make sure their children attended weekly.   This partnership with both FirstWorks and parents is essential to the success of the ministry. 

In addition, FirstWorks recently initiated an exciting new way to work with families as they set future goals.  Parents can use an online screening process to review their eligibility for government benefits to help stabilize their financial situation.  Along the way, the process sparked dialog and education about other resources within the community, as well as uncovered resources right at FirstWorks that have proved extremely helpful to the parents. 

For example, one job-seeking mother learned about dressing appropriately for an interview, and she was able to create a resume using the computers at FirstWorks. 

“We will host the online screening again later in the semester for other parents, and look forward to the great possibilities that will emerge.” said Amy Pearson, Director of FirstWorks.  

Parental involvement in their children’s success truly embodies the shalom values of inclusive, collaborative, and systemic change that will transform their neighborhood.   The Center for Transforming Communities is quite proud that The Corners was prepared to take on this ambitious project to build shalom in their neighborhood; and looks forward to sharing more stories of success through FirstWorks at The Corners.

Do you have an interesting story about partnerships and collaborations that are enhancing your neighborhood?  You can join the discussion NOW by sharing your story in several ways:

• ·         below in the comments section, or

• ·         contacting us at info@ctcmidsouth.org or

• ·         linking your story to CTC's Facebook page and/or CTC's Twitter feed (@ctcmidsouth)

Does rugged individualism limit our ability to build community?

Possibilities through the lens of a Kenyan ministry

This week I had the pleasure of a visit from Stanley Gitari Imunya and Mary Karimi Gitari of Kenya.  Our mutual acquaintance, Susan Hillebert, organized our meeting believing that our respective work, though 8,000 miles apart, had much in common and that there are things we can learn from each other.

Indeed, I was very intrigued about the work of Zoe Ministries which uses community as the basic building block that nurtures the ability of aids orphans to become self-sufficient.   When orphans are accepted into the three-year program, they are formed into supportive communities of about 80 children that work the tenants of the program as they also show care, support and compassion for each other.  The stories of the children’s generosity and the way they make decisions that care for the whole of the community and the least among them impressed me.  Click here to read an example story. 

Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) also uses the basic building block of community in our mission to strengthen and renew neighborhoods across the Midsouth.   As we finished our conversation, I shared with Stanley that I was eager to learn more.  What are the tools, the processes, the methods that Zoe Ministries uses to bring the children together in community and foster such deep generosity and selflessness? 

 

My question seemed to puzzle Stanley and I realized that I was not going to get his handbook on building community.  I realized, upon reflection, that what I wanted to know did not need special methods and processes in Stanley’s culture.  What I wanted Stanley to share with me were tools for countering the North American culture of individualism, competition and scarcity.  I was hoping for tools that would move a group of people from seeing themselves as individuals with self-interests to protect to seeing themselves as a community, a collective, interdependent, where the well-being of the whole is represented by the well-being of the least among them.

As Peter Block, author of Abundant Community, writes, “Caring for our community and convening citizens to care for their community is difficult work. We are working against the whole tide of the dominant culture which worships individualism, self-interest, and competition.”  

Although Stanley cannot teach CTC and the Shalom Zones how to build community in a society rooted in rugged individualism,  there is still much we can learn from the way he, Mary and the Zoe Ministries ‘seek shalom’ for the orphans in their country.  And, Stanley and Mary were interested to know more about how community and cooperation is fostered through CTC in the Shalom Zones and at The Commons.

Peter Block goes on to write that even though you will not see it much in the news, initiatives like Communities of Shalom and other citizen-based initiatives are creating a surging “movement toward interdependence, generosity, and cooperation that is changing the world.”

I hope you will join us in this movement!  Read the stories of community posted throughout this blog.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ctcmidsouth.org.  Sign up for our enewsletter where you can find out about more ways to be involved.

- Amy Moritz -

Please share your comments below or at info@ctcmidsouth.org.

Developing eyes to see what God sees

Prayer Walking: a practice for shalom-seekers in the neighborhood

This is the third Lenten season that The Corners of HighlandHeights Community of Shalom has coordinated a weekly prayer walk in their community.  Each Tuesday they meet at a different church in Highland Heights and the surrounding area.  From their starting point, they walk in small teams to the school, along the commercial corridor, and in residential pockets where gangs and violence are threatening the neighborhood.

I joined them this past Tuesday as they walked, met shopkeepers along Summer, and prayed for the welfare of the community. 

I was first introduced to prayer walking through a seminary class called ‘engaged spirituality’ where I learned about Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk.  Click here to learn more.  Some of my riches moments of being in God’s presence are the times that I walk with prayerful intent, slowing down, and becoming mindful to both my surroundings and to God.   

During these times I become so present to the world around me that I see things that I would not normally see.  One of the things that happens quite often and gives me great joy is seeing a four leaf clover, among a patch of clover, along the path as I walk.   This clover sighting means for me that I have slowed down enough, and become present enough to God’s creation, to know and experience that God is with me. 

As I walked along the south side of Summer Avenue (west of Highland) this week, there was no clover.  There were no people on the street and most of the old store fronts had padlocked doors and windows that had been covered over so that one could not see in.  On first look, this was a place devoid of life, empty and vacant. 

Someone suggested that we walk along the backside of the row of stores.  Here we found shopkeepers, open doors, and lots of beautiful and colorful displays!  I was particularly struck by the diversity and nationalities represented by the shopkeepers, each proprietor originating from a different continent.  Some were new to the country and new to business ownership eagerly hopeful that their business would support their family.  Some stores were decades old and determined to hold on, even among the age of big box retail and chains.  

The four leaf clovers for me this day were the uniquely beautiful shopkeepers, their hopes and aspirations, and the ways in which they sought to serve the community through their stores (thrift store, pharmacy, low cost goods, etc.). 

The purpose of prayer-walking in a shalom zone is to seek God's guidance, mercy, and transforming power—both for the community, and for ourselves as God's servants in the community. 

Seeking to experience God’s eyes, ears and heart for the neighborhood, The Corners Shalom Team will be reflecting together in the coming weeks about what has been seen and experienced through the weekly prayer walks.    

The key question will be “how are we being shaped as God’s agents for shalom in this community?”

- Amy Moritz -

You can find many resources on the internet for organizing a prayer walk in your community.  This guide provides instructions and questions for reflecting upon the experience.

Please share your comments below or at info@ctcmidsouth.org.

Competition gives way to cooperation in Hickory Hill

Diverse group comes together for community transformation  

 

Dianne Love at quarterly Shalom Gathering

If the Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) is a spark to help ignite strengths and gifts in neighborhoods of Memphis, then the collaborative spirit Dianne Love sees in Hickory Hill is a sign of that fire burning brighter every day.

Competition gives way to cooperation in this part of Memphis as people from all walks of life gather under the auspices of Communities of Shalom to envision what is possible in the neighborhood while working together to make that vision a reality.

The Making it Happen Shalom Zone and its team of dedicated volunteers offer enrichment programs for youth and opportunities for adults to map their own assets and discover new paths in life. Dianne says what encourages her most is the fact that everyone is working together to achieve a common goal.

People tend to be territorial, she says, but in her Shalom Zone they have pushed aside any thought of ownership in the transformation process to focus on the strengths and assets of all partners and community members.

“We are from all walks of life at first contact,” Dianne says of the team of volunteers, noting that when the group first got together it was associated foremost with Capleville United Methodist Church.

 

“Over time, as we have worked these programs, the thing that is encouraging to me is that we have merged across the lines of denominations,” she says, and several churches and community organizations are working together.

The work is not about what is best for the agenda of individual partner organizations, she says. The focus is entirely on what is best for the neighborhood, and that focus is attracting more interest all the time.

"We’re having more and more people and organizations who want to join and be partners," she says. A growing relationship with the Police Department adds another layer of depth to the work of transformation in the neighborhood, for example.

Dianne was recruited by the CTC to the Communities of Shalom as president of the Parent Teacher Association at her children's school, and is site director for the Making it Happen Shalom Zone.

When asked about the greatest assets she sees in the group and the work it is doing to help catalyze change, she says it can be seen in the lack of competition among many partners. 

The partners “want what’s best for the community, at any cost," she says. "What can we do to make the community whole? What kind of resources can we offer to the community?"

Though times are tough, Dianne sees enrichment programs connecting the assets of youth and adults alike, and a diverse team of people are all offering skills to back these programs up.

"We kind of have our own niches of what we do . . . and as we put together those parts, it makes a whole," Dianne says.

- Kristian Partington -

If you have questions, comments or a story to share, please contact kristian@axiomnews.ca.

Photo courtesy of www.focusforthegood.org.

1,000 examples of community strength in The Heights

Reflections on  what’s possible through cooperation

While 1,000 people were coming and going during a back-to-school party at Treadwell Middle School in September, Anna Terry had a chance to speak with one of the security guards who works there.

He grew up in The Heights and played basketball at Treadwell, he told her, and as he spoke to her about his younger years and his connection to the neighborhood, a look of pure nostalgia was written upon his face.

He was thankful to see the spirit of community alive and well that day, and Anna was struck then by how tightly the people of the neighborhood are woven, and how eager they are to work together to make it a better place to live.

Anna settled in the neighborhood about three years ago with a passion for community development and a sense that, of all the places she’d lived in the U.S., a home for her rested in Memphis.

“There’s a strong community spirit among the neighbors and residents and a pride in The Heights,” she says.

She recently began using her background in community development as the sole staff person running The Heights Community Development Corporation (CDC) in partnership with Binghampton CDC.

She is also working closely with the team of volunteers behind The Corners, a Communities of Shalom zone organized through the Center for Transforming Communities, which helps connect the strengths of various churches, individuals and other stakeholders.

The challenges are many — 1 in 4 houses are vacant and seen as blights on the neighborhood, and people are clamoring for a meaningful gathering space — but so are the opportunities, and in that back-to-school party, Anna saw all the necessary elements of community transformation present.

People were connecting with each other around their children and the school they attend, which is close to the hearts of so many who live in The Heights. Abundant generosity was in the air as a host of community partners drew upon their relationships to bring live music, a Model-T Ford, games, refreshments and horse rides to the party.

That spirit of collaboration sticks out in Anna’s mind as she reflects on the day.

“It was really nice to have a party that big and to not be that taxing on any one group or entity,” she says.

“At the end of the day, I was tired but I wasn’t beat down; it was a sort of sweet exhaustion.”

Looking back, the nostalgic security guard and joy on the faces of children as they rode a horse for the first time are lasting impressions of a day that proved what’s possible when people come together.

As the work of community development continues, Anna says these impressions will carry forward.

- Kristian Partington -

Please leave comments below or e-mail to kristian@axiomnews.ca.

Sowing the Seeds of Community

Bonds are formed in a community garden

Part way through an interview discussing his experience with urban renewal and community building, Christian Man, puts the journalist on hold.

During a learning unit on Fall production.

“I’ve just got to deliver these groceries,” he says, and in the muffled distance he can be heard discussing the upcoming harvest feast with a fellow named Walter, who must be part of the Green Leaf Learning Farm’s community garden project.
 
Walter is on the hook for some sweet-potato pie, it seems, and in both of their voices rings the sound of enthusiasm.

The harvest feast is shaping up to be a pretty good time where the community can come together and honor each other’s hard work and the relationships that have been sown in the neighborhood’s garden.
 
Christian is very much looking forward to it.
 
As an eager student, Christian has been working with Rev. Marlon Foster and Knowledge Quest, which has operated the learning farm project since 2010. Through this work, he is connected to Communities of Shalom and the Center for Transforming Communities.
 
His undergraduate studies focused on community economic development, but his real learning has come through the friendships he’s forged through his work in south Memphis.

Times are tough for people in the neighborhood where Christian walks, but in them he sees resilience and a capacity through togetherness that speaks loudly of possibilities and community transformation.
 
He’s come alongside these new friends as he tills earth, breaks bread, and learns what it means to come together for a common purpose.
 
The co-operative spirit grows in the garden alongside fresh vegetables, and though purse strings are tight for many people, among their neighbors they find an abundance of generosity and connectivity.
 
“There’s a history of this; I’m involved in the most recent chapter but in no way is this my thing,” Christian says.
 
“It’s our thing.”
 
The garden has become a gathering point for people to share their stories, he says.
 
“It's a physical space that helps generate reflection about what’s actually going on and then what that activity reminds us of, historically, and that bonds us in some way.”

On Oct. 20 about 75 people will come together to share a meal and the bounty of the relationships they’ve built, and Christian is thankful to be a part of it.

Visit Facebook for more information about the party.

By Kristian Partington, Axiom News
Photo courtesy of Focusforthegood.org

CTC Radio Interview about Block, McKnight and Brueggemann

     
On September 29, 2012 Amy Moritz, Director of Center for Transforming Communities (CTC), was a guest on the Lipscomb Pitts Breakfast Club (LBPC) Radio Show. With the host Jeremy Park, Amy discussed what shalom means to her, CTC and the various communities that are part of the Memphis shalom network. They also discussed the goals of the Communities of Shalom (COS) initiative and the principles at the heart of sustainable, neighborhood transformation.

In addition, Amy and Jeremy discussed and invited listeners to attend “Engaging Community. Narrating Change.”  The event is hosted by CTC and will be held on November 14, 2012 from 8:30am to 4:30pm at Rhodes College in their McCallum Ballroom.  The event features three keynote speakers: 1) Peter Block, author of Community: The Structure of Belonging, which offers methodology for shifting conversations from one of problems to one of possibilities; 2) John McKnight, who co-authored The Abundant Community, which offers practical wisdom and experience to building communities from the inside out using local resources, capacities, and relationships; and 3) Walter Brueggemann, author of Journey to the Common Good, which offers a deeper understanding and commitment to neighborhoods.   The event will be very experiential in nature, weaving contributions of the speakers with the contributions of those gathered for the event through small group conversation.  Register online at www.ctcmidsouth.org.
 
Click Here to Download the Audio Segment