Living an Attitude of Abundance is Indeed a Paradigm Shift - Exploring a different vision for creati
“Whatever the problem, community is the answer.” This quote from Margaret Wheatley could have been the mantra for “Engaging Community. Narrating Change.” last fall with John McKnight, Peter Block and Walter Brueggemann and continues to be the mantra for the people who seek to create community everywhere in their daily lives. Building upon what 350+ Memphians learned about creating community last November, Center for Transforming Communities (CTC) invited participants to continue the conversation and explore a different vision for creating community - one that changes perspective and emphasis from problems to possibilities. The vision supports an abundant, satisfying, and strong commun
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 o
Developing eyes to see what God sees - Prayer Walking: a practice for shalom-seekers in the neighbor
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. Cl
