PLAIN PEOPLE AND MUTUAL AID - WHY WE LIVE IN COMMUNITY BY EBERHARD ARNOLD
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" Community is like an old coat, you aren't aware of it until it is taken away." – Amish Proverb Amish women and children watching barn raising. [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=898808412356259&set=pcb.898808449022922] [ALBUM SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/goutamgolu22/posts/pfbid02B1c7DaXDbPLubqFPgcyka8yRCAyvHecJ64YQNpBfLD2kpbusM3zHS4dXo1nzz9sLl] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_raising https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/06/team-preaching-is-like-barn-raising.html |
November 22 happens to be the date in history where some famous people who had inspired me passed away. Names like JFK and C.S Lewis are the ones that spring to mind, as they both died in 1963. One of the most famous anabaptist who passed away on November 22, 1935 is the Bruderhof Founder, Eberhard Arnold, he had inspired me to encourage a Christian community and to stick with your Christian friends and families.
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Very few burdens are heavy if everyone lifts. – Amish Proverb [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.pinterest.com.au/amishw/amish-proverbs/] |
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“ Let every nation know... whether it wishes us well or ill... that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty. ” - John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address (20 January 1961). [PHOTO SOURCE: https://images.app.goo.gl/RU4vHnby1ZQDrpUy7] |
One of the Amish 4 core values is community. Here is what they believe:
The spirit of the Amish lifestyle is exhibited through their strong sense of dedication and love for their church communities. They believe that community is at the heart of their life and faith and that the way to salvation is to live as a loving community separate from the world.
Since the Amish separate themselves from the rest of society, their communities are a unique support system. Community members will freely give of their time and their skills to help one another. A good example of community support is an Amish barn raising. The community comes together to help a family build a barn. The effort often involves several men who build the barn, as well as many women who feed the workers. These barns are a steadfast reminder of Amish tradition, community, and craft coming together to work as one.
Whether it’s raising a barn, offering wisdom to fellow community members, consoling a family that is suffering a loss, or providing financial assistance, the members of the community support each other. Dependence on the church community is very strong, and church members are urged to help each other in everyday life and in times of difficulty or disaster.
SOURCE: https://www.amishvillage.com/blog/the-4-core-values-of-the-amish-culture/
What makes Amish life simple: family, home, community, and faith.
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/645140715341399759/]
The 4 core values of the Amish culture
https://www.amishvillage.com/blog/the-4-core-values-of-the-amish-culture/
https://www.amishbaskets.com/blogs/blog/amish-values
BLOG: https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/11/community-living-quotes.html
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Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. – Galatians 6:2 (KJV) [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/todaysverse.cgi?day=20130602&ver=kjv] OTHER LINKS: https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-community/ |
The truth is even the other anabaptist groups like the Beachy Amish-Mennonites, Conservative Mennonites and Hutterites all follow the Four core values of the Amish, that is why they have large families, with an average of four children each. They also get together often with their church friends like a herd of elephants.
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In the quiet strength of the elephant, we learn wisdom of the herd, where family is not just a concept but a fortress of love and loyalty. [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.redbubble.com/i/pin/Inspirational-Quote-Elephant-Design-by-CheekyChimpCo/154045938.NP9QY] https://southernthailandelephants.org/team-work/ https://herd.org.za/blog/elephants-their-families-the-importance-of-social-structures-within-a-herd/ https://allcollectivenouns.com/animal/collective-noun-for-elephants |
I will post two stories on how the Amish helped those in need, before posting the article by Eberhard Arnold on ‘Why We live in community’ and a presentation on C.A.M Mutual Aid Association. I will also put bible verses and photo quotes on community.
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“A man who gives his children habits of industry provides for them better than by giving them a fortune.” ~ Amish Proverb [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1150556350406655&set=a.538291671633129] https://www.anotherlifeispossible.com/ https://www.amishfurniturefactory.com/amishblog/the-ordnung-and-its-importance-to-the-amish-2/ |
Regardless of age, I feel that all family members and even friends should help one another, by staying close to one another. The following is a true story of an Amish widow and her 5 kids in 2016:
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“Mothers write on the hearts of their children, what the world’s rough hand cannot erase.” – Amish Proverb A mother is a gardener of God, tending to the hearts of her children ~ Amish Proverb An Amish woman's role in the family [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.ohiosamishcountry.com/articles/an-amish-womans-role-in-the-family] |
A young Amish man named Steven Yoder was killed in a mill accident here in New Wilmington, Pa . Steven left behind a wife named Mary, and five children under the age of 13, and one on the way. I asked my Amish friend Teena what would happen to the family.
"How will they financially make it, since the Amish do not carry insurance?" Teena answered, "The church will take care of them." The church, in an Old World Order Amish group, is the entire community. "We are the church! We will all pitch in and help her until her sons are grown and can financially support her. If every body gives a little, she will have a lot "
Today, I stopped by Teena's and she asked me what the weather is supposed to be like on Saturday. I said it was going to be cool, but dry. Teena said, "Good, because at least ten teams of men are going to Mary's house to plow her fields, winterize her home and barn, get her a winters supply of coal (to heat her home) and wood (for her to cook with) . The women are all going to cook and bake to help feed the men, who are taking care of Mary's farm, and bring food for Mary to have enough all winter. I'm glad it will be nice for them."
This is community.
This is church.
When there is a need, it is taken care of. Not by a few, but by all.
Lord help us to be a better community and a better church.
Let our eyes see the needs. Let our ears hear the cries. Let our hands pitch in to do the dirty work. Many hands make light work.
We all need each other.
Copied.
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9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (ESV) [PHOTO SOURCE: https://x.com/dBibleVerses/status/730987175395790848/photo/1] |
At the aftermath of the 2024 Hurricane Helene, Hundreds of Amish people showed up in NC from PA to build tiny homes for all those who lost their homes. They are living in tents at a camp. Living off the land and donations. They are there with Cabins for Christ.
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https://www.facebook.com/amishmennonitetn/posts/pfbid0vcfo1JqFg7ze6SeTDUqT3Utn9qyKSgEEPhu8ig5TtJhGSVsKTtBQQadUpFEHgnuEl & https://www.facebook.com/groups/FriendsofSwannanoaNC/posts/10161846385914044] |
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" Community is like an old coat, you aren't aware of it until it is taken away." – Amish Proverb I seen this story of Amish carpenters coming to help the people in North Carolina by building temporary housing for those who’s homes washed away in the floods. I’m not surprised by this as so many Amish and Mennonite families will go help in these disasters. They have the skill and determination to do good in these disasters and this work is kind of a mission for them. I’ve seen barns blown over by tornadoes and 200 Amish show up and put it back up in a week. We need more of this in America. [SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/amishmennonitetn/posts/pfbid0vcfo1JqFg7ze6SeTDUqT3Utn9qyKSgEEPhu8ig5TtJhGSVsKTtBQQadUpFEHgnuEl & https://www.facebook.com/groups/FriendsofSwannanoaNC/posts/10161846385914044] [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1069412878165225&set=pcb.10161846385914044] |
Letter from the CEO at Curbo Curbs:
Dear Friends of WNC and beyond,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the response from this simple request has been nothing short of amazing, in less than 24 hours all pieces of a very complex operation have gone into place like it was all supposed to happen.
We have secured a home base with portable showers, toilets, cooking and sleeping quarters close to Billy Grahams camp where the tiny homes are being built.
Here is a little background on how our relief operation works. (Similar to what the Amish Churches did after the Kentucky Tornado disasters)
1 or 2 full sized, 56 passenger bus load of volunteers will leave Lancaster Pennsylvania Sunday nights at 10 PM, Grab breakfast 7 AM Monday morning and be ready to build mini homes or help with storm cleanup by 9 AM Monday and available until 4 PM Fridays.
These groups are mostly 18-25 year old young people but are required to have a responsible parent for every 10 teenagers.
Daily schedule is usually very organized and predictable (As predictable as teenagers can be!) Morning singing and worship starts at 7 AM followed by hearty breakfast before everybody heads out for their daily assignments shortly after 8 AM.
The volunteers will stay will their assignments until dark or later if required followed by showers and another hearty evening meal around 5-6 PM prepared by the volunteer ladies back at base camp.
6-9 PM is reserved for a few games of volleyball or other social games before quiet time starts at 10 PM.
Each week's crew starts back to Lancaster PA around 4 AM Saturday morning.
I have had multiple requests from media and content creators regarding filming and doing a documentary... PLEASE ... Respect the Amish and their privacy..... Here are a few guidelines:
· Most of these volunteers are giving their heart into this effort and want no part of standing in front of a camera "Bragging"
· Do NOT ask for a group pose as most of them will object to this
· Most of our volunteers are OK with having photos being taken from a distance while they working, especially the young people
· If you are unsure, just ask!
At the end of the day, most of these volunteers just want to do their part, live their private life and pass all the honor to God and the Lord Jesus Christ
https://thedeaconsbench.com/once-again-the-amish-show-us-what-it-means-to-be-christian/amp/
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Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life. Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend. — C. H. Spurgeon [PHOTO SOURCE: https://christianquote.com/friendship-2/] |
Amish Hurricane Helpers?! in North Carolina 👨🌾 | #lovethyneighbor #hurricane #faith
Oct 28, 2024 SWANNANOA
After Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the Appalachian region, a quiet and humble group stepped up to help rebuild – the Amish. Known for their simple living and strong community bonds, the Amish arrived with tools, skills, and a deep sense of duty, offering not just repairs but hope.
VIDEO SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-CvqQMVNMg
https://youtu.be/S-CvqQMVNMg?si=2swfBGpcLVnJVr-3
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The Frolic When an Amish person is in need, the Amish community will gather together to provide for that need. A darling elderly couple in New Wilmington needed a new place to live. They have no children or grandchildren and they could no longer care for their large property. So.. their brothers and nephews and great nephews got together.. And they built them a tiny house… Even smaller than a Doddy House… (That’s all they needed) Right next door to a nephews home. Multi generations of boys and men worked together and.. It was built in one day. And this is the reason why it was built next to a nephews home (as told by their grand-niece) “Susan, they have no children or grandchildren to visit them. They need visitors and children around them. They will be happy being surrounded by people!” Oh my heart They sure will. Photos taken with permission. Lord, help us to be more caring and compassionate to our elderly family members and friends. Help us to sacrifice our time and resources to help those in need. This is community. This is church. This is how it should be! Susan Hougelman Simple Life in New Wilmington Pa [ALBUM SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/SimpleLifeinNewWilmingtonPa/posts/pfbid02vgPPmoGdt2iZ5Crn1fhm5QB2Y54sX1UbPA7q1F4uZXc4MkYZ1sErA2ojos5gVR3Pl] [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=874023191490467&set=pcb.874024158157037] https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/09/dawdi-haus-for-elderly-parents.html https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2024/10/grandfamilies-on-rise.html |
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“We must live in community because we are stimulated by the same creative Spirit of unity who calls nature to unity and through whom work and culture shall become community in God.” — Eberhard Arnold [PHOTO SOURCE: https://quotefancy.com/quote/2524238/Eberhard-Arnold-We-must-live-in-community-because-we-are-stimulated-by-the-same-creative] BLOG: https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/07/140th-birthday-for-eberhard-arnold-july.html |
Why We Live in Community
Everyone’s talking about community these days. In this time-honored manifesto, Eberhard Arnold adds his voice to the vital discussion of what real intentional community is all about: love, joy, unity, and the great “adventure of faith” shared with others along the way.
By Eberhard Arnold
What explains the widespread new openness to a radical solution to economic exploitation, political oppression, and an epidemic of loneliness? One reason, surely, is that the capitalist orthodoxy of recent decades has forgotten to ask the fundamental questions about how we are to live: questions about justice, freedom, the good life, and community.
The essay that follows is, according to the Trappist writer Thomas Merton, a “completely Christian answer” to such questions. Writing in 1925, Eberhard Arnold describes an alternative to both the Marxist socialism and identity-based nationalism of his time – a vision drawn not only from his theological study but also from his experience of communal life. His manifesto appears here in a new complete translation.
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Life in community is no less than a necessity for us, an inescapable ‘must’ all life created by God exists in communal order and works toward community. - Eberhard Arnold [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/737522] BLOG: https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/07/140th-birthday-for-eberhard-arnold-july.html |
Life in community – living and working together – is nothing less than a necessity for us. It is an inescapable “must” that determines everything we do and think.
Our own plans and efforts are not what have been decisive for us in choosing to live this way. Rather, we have been gripped by a certainty – a certainty that has its origin and power in the source of every necessity, a source able to transform all compulsion. This source takes anything that seems a necessity and overwhelms it with superior power. We confess: this source, this power, is God.
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24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. – Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV) [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=731834175640632&id=100064421694556&set=a.475553364602049] OTHER LINKS: https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-community/ |
Faith and Community
God is the source of life. In him and through him our common life is built up and led time and again through acute struggles to ultimate victory. In such a life, one will seek in vain for a pleasant idyll of human comfort or the fulfillment of romantic yearnings; much less will this life satisfy any egoistic desires for personal happiness. No, this is a way dedicated to the unconditional will to love, a way that shares in God’s own will to community. It is an exceedingly dangerous way, a way of deep suffering, which leads straight into the struggle for existence and a life of labor, into all the difficulties created by the human character. And yet, just this is our deepest joy: to see clearly the momentous conflict – the indescribable tension between life and death, humanity’s position between heaven and hell – and still to believe that life, love, and truth will triumph over all opposition, because we believe in God.
This faith is not a theory for us; neither is it a dogma, a system of ideas, a fabric of words, or a form of worship, nor is it an organization such as a church or sect. Faith means receiving God himself – it means being overwhelmed by God. Faith is the strength that enables us to take this path. It helps us to find trust again and again when, from a human point of view, the foundations of trust have been destroyed. Faith gives us the vision to perceive what is essential and undying. It gives us eyes to see what cannot be seen, and hands to grasp what cannot be touched, although this intangible reality is present always and everywhere.
Faith gives us the ability to see people as they are, not as they present themselves. It frees us from viewing others in the light of social custom or according to their weaknesses. It cannot be deceived by the masks of good manners and convention, of business respectability, of middle-class morals, of pious observance, or of political power. For faith sees that all these masks, fashioned as they are by our Mammon-worshiping, unclean, and murderous society, amount to a lie.
Yet neither will faith be deceived in the other direction and made to think that the maliciousness and fickleness of the human character (though real) are its actual and ultimate nature. To be sure, faith takes seriously the fact that we human beings, with our present natural makeup, are incapable of community. Temperamental mood-swings, possessive impulses and cravings for physical and emotional satisfaction, powerful currents of ambition and touchiness, the desire for personal influence over others, and human privileges of all kinds – all these place seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the way of true community.
But with faith we cannot be deluded into thinking that these real weaknesses of human nature are decisive. On the contrary, in the face of the power of God and his all-conquering love, they are of no significance. God is stronger than these realities. The community-creating energy of his Spirit overcomes them all.
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The Fellowship of the Believers 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe[d] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. – Acts 2 vs 42 to 47 (ESV) [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-cPW0ed4Vo] |
Here it becomes abundantly clear that the realization of true community, the actual building up of a communal life, is impossible without faith in a higher Power. In spite of all that goes wrong, people try again and again to put their trust either in human goodness (which really does exist) or in the force of law. But all their efforts are bound to come to grief when faced with the reality of evil. The only power that can build true community is faith in the ultimate mystery of the Good: faith in God.
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The Fellowship of the Believers
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe[d] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. – Acts 2 vs 42 to 47 (ESV) [PHOTO SOURCE: https://slideplayer.com/slide/15867780/] |
Social Justice and Community
With this faith, we must take a firm stance in relation to public questions of international, political, social, and economic life. There are political organizations that stand, as we do, for international peace, the abolition of private property, and full community of goods. Yet we cannot simply side with these organizations and fight their battles in their way. These political movements may aim to achieve a broad public good, but because of the way they fight, they end up being anti-communal: they are unable to bring about the common welfare of all in a community that includes all. Despite their abundant good intentions, they lack the strength and capacity to replace an exhausted society with an organic, living community. As the history of all such movements attests, they cannot overcome humankind’s covetous desire to possess.
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We need to reach the millions who live in cities, the hundreds of thousands in industrial centers, the tens of thousands in medium-sized towns, the thousands in small towns, and the hundreds in villages -- all these at once. Like a volcanic eruption, a spiritual revolution needs to spread through the country, to spur people to crucial decisions. People have to recognize the futility of splitting life up into politics, economics, the humanities, and religion. We must be awakened to a life in which all of these things are completely integrated. - Eberhard Arnold [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/968138] BLOG: https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/07/140th-birthday-for-eberhard-arnold-july.html |
All the same, we do feel drawn, with these movements, to all people who suffer need and distress, to those who lack food and shelter and whose very mental development is stunted through exploitation. With them, we stand side by side with the have-nots, with those deprived of their rights, and with the degraded and oppressed. And yet we avoid the kind of class struggle that employs loveless means to exact vengeance on those who have exploited the workers to the very blood. We reject the defensive war of the oppressed proletariat just as much as the defensive wars of nations – even though we are committed to the freedom of our nation and to the freedom of the working class around the world. Both are enslaved, and we know that this slavery must end. But the fight that we take up against it is one fought spiritually. This is a struggle in which we stand on the side of all those who fight for freedom, unity, peace, and social justice.
It is precisely for this reason that we must live in community. All revolutions, all communes, all idealistic or reform-oriented movements show simultaneously their yearning for community and their incapacity for it. These examples force us to recognize again and again that there is only one way to bring into living reality the desire for community that lies hidden at the heart of all revolutions: through the clear example of action born of truth, when both action and word are one in God.
We thus have the only weapon that can be effective against the depravity that exists today. This weapon of the Spirit is constructive work carried out in a fellowship of love. We do not acknowledge sentimental love, love without work. Nor do we acknowledge dedication to practical work if it does not daily give proof of a heart-to-heart relationship between those who work together, a relationship that comes from the Spirit. The love of work, like the work of love, belongs to and comes from the Spirit.
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They Had Everything in Common 32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. – Acts 4 vs 32 to 37 (ESV) [PHOTO SOURCE: https://goodnewsshared.wordpress.com/2024/04/09/at-the-apostles-feet-and-it-was-distributed-to-anyone-who-had-need/] |
Community through Church History
This Spirit-filled life of practical love was attested in a decisive way by the Jewish prophets and later by the first Christians. We acknowledge Christ, the historical Jesus whose mother was Mary and who was executed under the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. We acknowledge, too, his entire message as proclaimed by his apostles and practiced by his first followers as they lived in full community [as is recorded in Acts 2 and 4].
Therefore we stand as brothers and sisters with all those who, moved by the Spirit, have joined together to live in community through the long course of history. They appeared at many times:
Among the Christians of the first century;
In the prophetic movement of the Montanists in the second;
In the monastic movements of the following centuries;
In the revolutionary movement of justice and love led by Arnold of Brescia;1
In the Waldensian movement;
In the itinerant communities of Francis of Assisi;
Among the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren and the Brothers of the Common Life;2
Among the Beguines and Beghards;
In a special way among the first Anabaptist movements of the sixteenth century, known for their brotherly communism, nonviolence, and the agricultural and craft work of their Bruderhof settlements;
Among the early Quakers;
Among the Labadists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries;3
Among the early Moravians around Zinzendorf;
And in many other Christ-centered communities of diverse denominations down to our present day.
We commit ourselves to Jesus and to the form of life of early Christianity, because here people’s outward needs were helped as well as their inner ones. Here the body and the earth were never held in contempt, yet at the same time the soul and spirit were also cared for. When people asked Jesus what God’s future justice would look like, he pointed to his actions: sick bodies were healed, the dead in their graves were raised up, demons were driven out of tormented bodies, and the message of joy was brought to the poorest of the poor (Matt. 11:5). This message means that the invisible kingdom of the future now is near, and indeed is becoming reality – God is becoming human, God is becoming flesh, and at last the earth will be won for him, whole and entire.
It is the whole that matters here. The love of God does not acknowledge any border or stop at any barrier. Therefore, Jesus does not stop in the face of private property any more than he does in the face of theology, moralism, or the State. Jesus saw into the heart of the rich young man, whom he loved, and said, “One thing you lack: sell all you have, give it to the poor … and come follow me!” [Mark 10:17–22] It was a matter of course for Jesus that his disciples should hold no personal possessions but rather practice a communism of the shared purse (John 12:6). Only one man was entrusted with the hateful responsibility of managing the disciples’ money, and he broke under it – a lesson with no little significance for our money-possessed society today.
Yet even Christ’s betrayal and execution did not mean defeat. The enthusiastic experience of the Spirit with which the Risen One endowed his itinerant disciples gave them the power to carry on their communal life on a larger scale. The first church became an intentional community of several thousand people who, because love was burning in them, had to stay together. In all questions regarding communal life, the forms that emerged were in keeping with an understanding of life as one unified whole.
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They Had Everything in Common 32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. – Acts 4 vs 32 to 37 (ESV) [PHOTO SOURCE: https://goodnewsshared.wordpress.com/2022/04/26/the-believers-share-their-possessions-2/] |
The first Christians in Jerusalem possessed nothing privately. Whoever owned property felt inwardly compelled to share it. No one had anything that did not belong entirely to the church. Yet what the church owned was there for all.
Since this generous love cannot exclude anyone, this circle of Spirit-gripped people was soon known for their open door and their open hearts. At the time of the Church’s first flowering, they found ways to reach all people. They won the love and trust of their fellow men, even though in their struggle for genuine life they were bound to become the target of hatred and lethal hostility. The reason for their strong influence must have been that they were wholly heart and soul for others – for that is the only way for many people to be “of one heart and one soul” with one another (Acts 4:32).
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“It is better to forgive and forget than to resent and remember.” – Amish Proverb [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1651982975618611&set=gm.3862663890680494&idorvanity=1635462500067322] |
The Spirit in Community
Private property, personal fortunes, and social privileges can only be overcome through the uniting power of the Spirit, who builds up fellowship and removes the obstacles that block us from becoming brothers and sisters. This is a dynamic spiritual process.
The Spirit blows like the wind – he is never rigid like iron or stone (John 3:8). He is infinitely more sensitive and delicate than the inflexible designs of the intellect or the cold, hard framework of legalistic organizational structures – more sensitive even than the emotions of the human soul or the faculties of the human heart, the basis on which people so often try in vain to build lasting edifices. But just for this reason the Spirit is stronger and more irresistible than all these things, never to be overcome by any power, however vast.
In nature, the things that seem to last the longest – rocks and inorganic minerals – are also the most dead, while the delicate organs of living creatures are far more vulnerable to harm. Yet wherever organic life overcomes the obstacles in its way, it thrives. Similarly, wherever the Spirit fills a life strongly and purely enough to overcome rival powers, such a life can defeat death – indeed, can defeat it permanently. This was the case with Jesus. Yes, such a life can end, just as Jesus was killed in what seemed to be the end. But even in his dying, his life asserted itself as love: love without violence, love that does not claim its own rights, and love without the desire to possess. Because of this, Jesus is now all the stronger, living on powerfully as the Risen One through the Spirit as the inner voice and the inner eye within us.
The light of the early church likewise illuminated the path of humankind in only one short flash. Yet its spirit and witness stayed alive even after its members had been scattered and many of them had been murdered. Again and again through history, similar forms of life arose as gifts of God, expressions of the same living Spirit. Witnesses were killed, and fathers died, but new children were – and are – born to the Spirit again and again.
Efforts to organize community artificially can only result in an ugly and lifeless caricature. Only when we are empty and open to the Living One – to the Spirit – can he bring about the same life among us as he did among the early Christians. The Spirit is joy in the Living One, joy in God as the only real life; he is joy in all people, because they have life from God. The Spirit drives us to all people and brings us joy in living and working for one another, for he is the spirit of creativity and love realized to the highest degree.
Community life is possible only in this all-embracing Spirit and in those things he brings with him: a deepened spirituality, an ability to experience life more keenly and intensely, a sense of being wrenched by unspeakable suspense. Surrendering to this Spirit is such a powerful experience that we can never feel equal to it. In truth, the Spirit alone is equal to himself. He quickens our energies by firing the inmost core – the soul of the community – to white heat. When this core burns and blazes to the point of sacrifice, it radiates outward to great distances.
Martyrdom by fire thus belongs to the essence of life in community. It means the daily sacrifice of all our strength and all our rights, all the claims we commonly make on life and assume to be justified. In the symbol of fire the individual logs burn away so that, united, its glowing flames send out warmth and light again and again far and wide.
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The need for connection and community is primal, as fundamental as the need for air, water, and food. —Dean Ornish [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/VMESC1/photos/a.2140076869604860/3467054246907109/?type=3] |
Nature’s Symbols of Community
Nature, with all its variety of life forms, is a parable that portrays the community of God’s kingdom. Just as the air surrounds us, or as a blowing wind engulfs us, we need to be immersed in the blowing Spirit, who unites and renews everything (John 3:8). And just as water washes and cleanses us every day, so in the intensified symbol of baptism by immersion we witness to our purification from everything that is of death. This “burial” in water, which happens only once, signifies a complete break from the status quo; it is a vow of mortal enmity toward the evil in us and around us. Similarly, the lifting out of the water, which also happens only once, is a vivid image that proclaims resurrection. We see signs of this same resurrection, too, in our agricultural work: after the dying of autumn and winter comes the blossoming of spring and the fruit-bearing of summer; after seedtime comes harvest.
Symbolism can be found in the most trivial parts of human existence, such as our daily need to eat. When approached with reverence, even regular shared mealtimes can become consecrated festivals of community. The ultimate intensification and perfection of this expression of community is the symbol of table fellowship in the Lord’s Supper. Here the meal of wine and bread is itself a testimony that we take Christ into ourselves. It bears witness to the catastrophe of his death and to his second coming – and to his church as a body united in a common life. So too, each day of shared labor within a working community is a parable of life’s sowing and reaping – of humankind’s beginnings and of its final hour of decision.
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Church membership growth in the Book of Acts.
Acts 1:15 Acts 2:41,42 Acts 4:4 Acts 5:14 Acts 6:1,7 Acts 9:31 Acts 16:5 Acts 21:20 Church Growth in The New Testament 120 disciples 120 disciples 3000 new converts 3000 new converts 5000 men 5000 men More and more More and more Increasing Increasing Grew in numbers Grew in numbers Church planting Church planting Many thousands Many thousands [PHOTO SOURCE: https://images.app.goo.gl/gcdTrHXx5Jy7yffo6 ...... https://slideplayer.com/slide/9447930/] |
The Body and Community
By the same token, the nature of each human being as an ensouled body is a parable for the indwelling of the Spirit in his creation. That is why the human body is to be kept utterly pure as a vessel ready to receive God.
Marriage is the unique intensification of this symbol of the unity of body and soul. As the unity of two people in a bond of faithfulness between one man and one woman, marriage is a picture of the unity of the one Spirit with humankind – and indeed, the unity of the one Christ with his one church. When a person enters into the sacred symbol of marriage, self-disciplined purity and a tempered sexual asceticism take new form as liberating joy in the creation of life. We are not at enmity with life – only we know that the body and its drives cannot determine what we are and do. The body is to be a living instrument of the Spirit, whether in the married state or, for some, through consecration to the coming kingdom in lifelong virginity (Matt. 19:12).
In the human body, community is maintained only by constant sacrifice, as dying cells are replaced by new ones. In a similar way, the organism of a healthy church community can only flourish where there is heroic sacrifice. Such a community is a brotherhood of free-willing, dedicated self-sacrifice. It is an educational fellowship of mutual help and correction, of community of goods, and of common work that fights on behalf of the church militant.
Here, justice does not consist in making and satisfying even reasonable demands for personal rights. On the contrary, it consists in giving each member the opportunity to risk everything, to surrender himself completely so that God may become incarnate in him and so that the kingdom may break into his life with power. Such justice cannot take the form of hard demands made on others, however, but rather of joyous self-sacrifice. Here, the realities of God’s future come into effect already now – they appear as willingness, delight in work, joy in people, and dedication to the whole. Joy and enthusiasm take shape as active love. God’s Spirit comes to expression as cheerfulness and courage in sacrifice.
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A Swiss group belonging to the Reformed Church sings May 6 at a worship service on a farm near Leola, Pa. The hymn sing brought together members of Amish, Old Order Mennonite, Mennonite Church USA and other faith traditions. — Dale D. Gehman [PHOTO SOURCE: https://anabaptistworld.org/hymns-unite-swiss-reformed-anabaptists/]
“There are two explanatory factors: one is large families, and the second is high retention rates,” said Professor Steven Nolt, Director and Senior Scholar at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. “If you looked at the 1930s, up through about 2000, the retention rate had actually increased. There’s a case study that showed that the retention rate went from the upper 70 percent to 90 percent,” he said. https://hoptownchronicle.org/across-the-country-amish-populations-are-on-the-rise/ https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/population-2024/ https://amishamerica.com/2024-amish-population-passes-four-hundred-thousand/ |
Work, Creativity, and the Arts
When working men and women voluntarily join hands together, renouncing everything that is self-willed, isolated, or private, the free fellowships that they form become signposts:
pointers to the ultimate unity of all people in God’s kingdom of love. The will that animates this peaceable kingdom, which someday will include every human being, comes from God. So does the ungrudging spirit of brotherliness in work. Work as spirit and spirit as work – that is the fundamental nature of the future order of peace, which comes to us in Christ.
Such work – that is, joy in striving for the common good side by side with fellow laborers – is what makes community possible. This joy will be ours if we, in doing even the most mundane tasks, always remain connected in a holy bond to the Eternal. Then as we work we will recognize that everything earthly and bodily is consecrated to God’s future.
We love the body because it is a consecrated dwelling place of the Spirit. We love the soil because God created the earth through the call of his Spirit, and because God himself calls it out of its uncultivated natural state so that it might be cultivated by the communal work of human beings. We love physical work – the work of muscle and hand – and we love the craftsman’s art, in which the spirit guides the hand. In the way spirit and hand work through each other we see the mystery of community.
We love the activity of mind and spirit, too: the richness of all the creative arts and the exploration of the intellectual and spiritual interrelationships in history and in humanity’s destiny of peace. Whatever our work, we must recognize and do the will of God in it. God – the creative Spirit – has formed nature, and God – the redeeming Spirit – has entrusted the earth to us, his sons and daughters, as an inheritance but also as a task: our garden must become his garden.
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" Community is like an old coat, you aren't aware of it until it is taken away." – Amish Proverb A large Amish buggy with two draft horses [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=896676189128007&set=a.538291671633129] https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-mccallums-one-of-australias-few.html |
The Organism of the Church
The body itself is a parable of the kingdom, a sign that God will win the earth for himself, filling it with peace and joy and justice. Then humankind will become one organism, just as each living body consists of millions of independent cells. This organism already exists today, as the invisible church.
When we acknowledge the church’s invisible reality and unity, we acknowledge its freedom in the Spirit – and, at the same time, the need for church discipline through the Spirit. The more confidently and autonomously a group with a specific vocation follows its path, the more deeply it must remain conscious of belonging to the unity of the una sancta – the one universal church. And just as urgently, it needs discipline and formation through the mutual service of the universal church, arising from its ecumenical unanimity in matters of faith and life.
All individual fellowships, households, communities, or settlements are (if spiritually alive) simply autonomous cells in the one great organism. On a smaller scale, individual families and persons are autonomous cells within the group of which they form a part. The autonomy of all these individual cells consists in the specific way that each of them lives for the whole. The life of each cell builds up the community of cells to which it belongs.
Reuben Peachey Amish Minister Oakland,Maryland
Simon Kinsinger (Mountain Reigns)
Jul 28, 2013
Recently the Amish have been taking a bad rap for being traditionalists, yet those who have been the real deal all along practicing what Jesus taught have been ignored. On Thursday July,25,2013 I was pleasantly surprised to hear back to back sermons in the Old Order Amish Church on Mason School Road in Oakland, Maryland at my aunt Bertha Kinsinger Zook's funeral that were actually spirit filled,dynamic,articulate,passionate even convincing of the Christian Faith coming from one of several revivalist Old Order Ministers,here is Oakland Maryland Hometown Amish Minister Rueben Peachey. NOTICE he is using no script even reciting scripture from memory.The Amish frown on scripting sermons.Also note how the speaker is mixing in English with the german in order to better appeal to the younger generation.
VIDEO SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJKy-2nivg8&t=31s
https://youtu.be/fJKy-2nivg8?si=Bd70yoYfRPHwba6b
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If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/156168] |
Freedom in Community
How can this be? The secret lies in two things: the freedom of self-determination, and self-surrender to the whole. For individuals, this means what philosophers have called the freedom of the “good will.”4 This freedom, which is indispensable to communal life, is equally opposed to paternalism and domination on the one hand, and to a dissolute laxity on the other. In a community of people gripped by faith in the Spirit, the individual’s freedom consists in his free decision to embrace the communal will brought about by the Spirit.
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Amish Barn Raising [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122167560494274958&set=a.122104329602274958] A barn raising, also historically called a raising bee or rearing in the U.K., is a collective action of a community, in which a barn for one of the members is built or rebuilt collectively by members of the community. Barn raising was particularly common in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America. A barn was a necessary structure for any farmer, for example for storage of cereals and hay and keeping of animals. Yet a barn was also a large and costly structure, the assembly of which required more labor than a typical family could provide. Barn raising addressed the need by enlisting members of the community, unpaid, to assist in the building of their neighbors' barns. Because each member could ask others for help, reciprocation could eventually reasonably be presumed for each participant if the need were to arise. The tradition of "barn raising" continues, more or less unchanged, in some Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities, particularly in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and some rural parts of Canada. The practice continues outside of these religious communities, albeit less frequently than in the 19th century. Most frames today are raised using a crane and small crew. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_raising https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/06/team-preaching-is-like-barn-raising.html |
Freedom, working within each member as the will for the good, gives rise to unity and unanimity, because the liberated will is directed toward the unity of God’s kingdom and toward the good of the whole human race. Such a liberated will gains a most vital and intense energy.
Standing as it does in a world of death, the liberated will must constantly assert itself against the destructive and enslaving powers of lying, impurity, capitalism, and military force. It is engaged in battle everywhere: against the spirit of murder, against all hostility (including the venom of the taunting, quarreling tongue), against all the wrong and injustice people do to each other. That is, it fights in public as well as in private life against the very nature of hatred and death, and against all that opposes community.
The call to freedom is a call to a battle without pause, a war without respite. Those who are called to participate must be continually alert. They need not only the greatest willpower they themselves can muster, but also the aid of every other power yielded them by God, in order to meet the plight of the oppressed proletariat, to stand with the poor, and to fight against all evil in themselves and in the world around them.
This fight against evil, against all that poisons or destroys community, must be waged more strongly within a community than against the world outside, but it must be waged even more relentlessly within each individual. In a communal life, all softness, all flabby indulgence, is overcome by the burning sharpness of love. The Spirit of community takes a combat position within each individual, fighting against the old man from the standpoint of the new and better man within him, of man as he is called to be.
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The family that works together, eats together, and prays together, stays together. – Amish Proverb
Meet the McCallums, one of Australia's few Amish families Ever wanted to not just slow down, but jump off the grid? A family leaves behind the trappings of the 21st century to lead a simple, pious life in rural Tasmania. Springfield Farm Fresh Produce - McCallum Family [PHOTO SOURCE: https://maps.app.goo.gl/r9BLz6rNjPR59YG99] BLOG: https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-mccallums-one-of-australias-few.html BLOG: https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-mccallums-and-their-community.html |
Vocations and the One Church
It is clear that the war of liberation for unity and for the fullness of love is being fought on many fronts with many different weapons. So too, the work of community finds expression in many different ways.
Some might be tempted to believe that a life without personal property in community of goods is the only way to be a follower of Jesus and a member of his church on earth. But this would be an error. We must recognize the astounding diversity of tasks and vocations that belong to the church militant. Still, for each one of us there is a certainty of purpose for every stretch of the way we are called to go. Only where there is direct certainty about one’s vocation can there be loyalty and an unerring clarity (even in little things) to the very end.
Only those who hold firm can bear the standard; but to those unable to endure, nothing can be entrusted.
Accordingly, humans do not receive some high commission from God without also receiving a specific, defined task. Obviously, a greater, more comprehensive vocation can absorb a former, more limited one (this is the only way one vocation can supplant another). But it is no diminution of God when apostles, prophets, martyrs, teachers, elders, and deacons acknowledge both God and, with him, the particular task, service, or commission to which he has called them. What is decisive is that any specific vocation leads only to Christ: that it serves the whole of the church and advances the coming kingdom.
Wherever people see their particular task as something special in itself, they will go astray. But anyone who serves the whole in his own specific place and in his own characteristic way can rightfully say: “I belong to God and to life in community,” or to God and any other calling. Before our human service can become divine service, however, we must recognize how small and limited it is in the face of the whole. Then a special calling – living in community, for instance – must never be confused with the church of Christ itself.
Life in community means discipline in community, education in community, and continual training for the discipleship of Christ. Yet the mystery of the church is something different from this – something greater. It is God’s life, and coming from him it penetrates the discipline of community. This penetration of the divine into the human occurs whenever the tension of desperate yearning produces an openness and readiness in which God alone may act and speak. At such moments a community can be commissioned by the invisible church and given certainty for a specific mission: to speak and act – albeit without mistaking itself for the church – in the name of the church.
That is why, in the life of a community, people will be confronted by several decisive questions again and again: How am I called? To what am I called? Will I follow the call? Only a few are called to the special way that is ours. Yet those who are called – a small, battle-tried band, who must sacrifice themselves again and again – will hold firmly for the rest of their lives to the common task shown them by God. They will be ready to sacrifice life itself for the sake of the common life.
People tear themselves away from home, parents, and career for the sake of marriage; for the sake of wife and child they risk their lives. In the same way it is necessary to break away and sacrifice everything for the sake of our calling to this way. Our public witness to voluntary community of goods and work, to a life of peace and love, will have meaning only when we throw our entire life and livelihood into it.
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True community arises out of transformation, and only transformation can make real community. – Eberhard Arnold Explanation: Eberhard Arnold's quote, "True community arises out of transformation, and only transformation can make real community," highlights the deep connection between personal growth and the formation of genuine communities. According to Arnold, an authentic sense of belonging and interdependence within a community can only be achieved through individual transformation. This transformation encompasses inner change, personal development, and a willingness to transcend self-interest for the greater good of the community. In this context, transformation refers to an ongoing process of self-reflection, growth, and a conscious effort to nurture meaningful relationships. It is through this collective commitment to transformation that individuals can contribute to the creation of a vibrant, supportive, and interconnected community, where shared values, empathy, and mutual respect flourish. [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.bookey.app/quote-author/eberhard-arnold] BLOG: https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/07/140th-birthday-for-eberhard-arnold-july.html |
Daring the Venture
It is now [1925] over five years since our tiny fellowship in Berlin decided to venture, in the sense of this confession, to live and work together in community on a basis of trust. And thus our small intentional community was born. We were a handful of people of the most varied backgrounds and professions who wanted to place themselves wholly in service to the whole. Despite disappointments and difficulties, despite changes in membership, we are now around twenty-five to thirty adults and children.
Whatever any of the permanent members acquires in the way of income, property, or possessions, we turn over unconditionally to the common household. Yet even the community household as a closed group does not regard itself as the corporate owner of its inventory and enterprises. Rather – like the community around our friend Kees Boeke5 in Bilthoven, Holland – it acts as a trustee of the assets it holds for the common good of all, and for this reason it keeps its door open to all. By the same token it requires for its decision-making full unanimity in the Spirit.
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Our mission is to continue to provide an educational format for grass-based agriculture that supports low energy and a non-industrial way of farming, encourages family lifestyles that promote economical and healthy rural living skills, and seeks to build morale and enthusiasm in the farming community. There is no reservation or entrance fee required for the day’s activities. Food stands will be provided by the parochial school’s special education parents. There will be containers for a freewill offering if you would like to contribute toward the furtherance of the Family Farm Field Days. Sessions will be running simultaneously. Planned children’s activities will be offered throughout the day. [PHOTO SOURCE: https://amishgateway.com/event/family-farm-field-days/] |
Based on the various gifts and professions of our individual members, several areas of work have developed belonging to the community: (1) publishing of books and periodicals; (2) school and children’s home; (3) agriculture and vegetable gardening; (4) youth work and hospitality.6
Given our basis of faith, we cannot approach the development of our community from a purely economic point of view. We cannot simply select the most capable people for our various work departments. We aim for efficiency in all areas; but far more important, we seek faith. Each person – whether committed member, helper, or guest – must be faced again and again with the question whether or not he or she is growing into the coming community ruled by Christ, and in what special vocation he or she is called to serve Christ’s church.
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Amish men standing up together [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.amishfurniturefactory.com/amishblog/how-do-the-amish-handle-conflict/] “There are two explanatory factors: one is large families, and the second is high retention rates,” said Professor Steven Nolt, Director and Senior Scholar at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. “If you looked at the 1930s, up through about 2000, the retention rate had actually increased. There’s a case study that showed that the retention rate went from the upper 70 percent to 90 percent,” he said. https://hoptownchronicle.org/across-the-country-amish-populations-are-on-the-rise/
https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/population-2024/ https://amishamerica.com/2024-amish-population-passes-four-hundred-thousand/ |
Our work, then, is a venture dared again and again. Yet we are not the driving force in this – it is we who have been driven and who must be urged on. The danger of exhaustion and uselessness is always present, but it is continually overcome by the faith that underlies mutual help.
This essay was originally published in Die Wegwarte in October 1925. A revised version was printed in May 1927. The new complete translation here is by Peter Mommsen. It partially incorporates an abridged 1995 translation by Christopher Zimmerman, which appears together with two responses by Thomas Merton in the book Why We Live in Community (Walden, NY: Plough, 1995). Biblical references are editorial additions.
Footnotes
1. Arnold of Brescia (1090–1155) was an Italian priest and monk who protested an over-powerful clergy and argued that the church should renounce its property and live in “apostolic poverty.” He was excommunicated and eventually executed on the orders of the Roman Curia. —Ed.
2. The Brothers of the Common Life, a monastic order that existed from the end of the fourteenth century until the Reformation, lived by the work of their hands, especially by copying. Their best-known member was Thomas à Kempis (1380–1471), author of The Imitation of Christ.—Ed.
3. Jean de Labadie (1610–1674) was a French Pietist who founded a community that practiced community of goods, joint education of children, and a simple lifestyle. —Ed.
4. Immanuel Kant describes the freedom of the good will in Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (first published in 1785). —Ed.
5. Kees Boeke (1884–1966) was a Dutch reformist educator and (at the time of writing) a Christian anarchist and pacifist. His 1957 book Cosmic View would go on to inspire the 1968 films Cosmic Zoom and Powers of Ten. —Ed.
6. The original includes details about Arnold’s community’s enterprises, which are omitted here. —Ed.
https://www.eberhardarnold.com/explore/all-articles/2019/10/17/why-we-live-in-community
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyQyoORrh5Q&t=1156s
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“Surround yourself with those on the same journey as you.” – A herd of elephants [PHOTO SOURCE: https://au.pinterest.com/pin/words-to-live-by--370913719287842848/] https://southernthailandelephants.org/team-work/
https://herd.org.za/blog/elephants-their-families-the-importance-of-social-structures-within-a-herd/
https://allcollectivenouns.com/animal/collective-noun-for-elephants |
EBERHARD ARNOLD WEBSITE:
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2023/07/140th-birthday-for-eberhard-arnold-july.html
https://www.eberhardarnold.com/
https://www.eberhardarnold.com/biography
https://www.facebook.com/EberhardArnold
https://twitter.com/eberhard_arnold
https://www.anabaptistwiki.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Eberhard_Arnold
https://www.bookey.app/quote-author/eberhard-arnold
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/reading-romans-13-under-fascism
OTHER EBERHARD ARNOLD LINKS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberhard_Arnold
https://www.anotherlifeispossible.com/themes/what-money-cant-buy/eberhard-arnold
https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/from-mutual-aid-to-global-action
ARTICLE BY EBERHARD ARNOLD LINKS:
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/community/church-community/from-property-to-community
https://www.eberhardarnold.com/explore/all-articles/2019/10/17/why-we-live-in-community
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/reading-romans-13-under-fascism
https://www.eberhardarnold.com/archive/2020/02/25/2012598714s
THE HUTTERITES LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/TheBruderhof
https://www.anotherlifeispossible.com/
https://koorong.com/search?q=plain%20spoken
PRAYER LINKS:
https://www.christianpost.com/news/john-piper-4-simple-ways-to-pray-without-ceasing.html
https://www.spurgeongems.org/prayers.htm
https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/spurgeon/Spurgeons%20Prayers.pdf
https://orational.wordpress.com/2018/11/13/three-prayers-of-dietrich-bonhoeffer/
https://www.movement.org.uk/resources/dietrich-bonhoeffers-prayer-prison
https://www.facebook.com/groups/amishalltheway/posts/3849839918629558/
https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/prayer/powerful-prayers-for-children.html
https://impactminusa.org/blog/2024/05/28/praying-for-children-in-guatemala/
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Amish women vs Mennonite women [PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=122172261728158054&set=a.122094755396158054&type=3&from_lookaside=1] |
MENNONITE WOMEN LINKS:
https://lucindajkinsinger.com/how-my-plain-mennonite-heritage-impacts-my-parenting/
https://mennoniteeducation.weebly.com/
https://homejoys.blogspot.com/
https://kb.osu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/4cca1bec-552f-50e2-b5ec-f87c7420217a/content
https://undersevenstars.com/2019/08/31/5-reasons-why-i-love-being-mennonite/
Get to know Me! | Life story & Testimony of Growing up Amish & Mennonite | Lynette Yoder
154K subscribers
455,654 views Oct 2, 2018 #amish #mennonite #mytestimony
Get to know Me! What it was like Growing up Amish and then Mennonite . And also Sharing my personal Testimony as A Christian . My experience is Different than a lot of people, I'm sure. And A lot of stuff you hear about Amish and Mennonites is False. So I'm talking about my personal experience, and My view of things. I'm not here to start a debate. Or to argue. Or to Judge! So PLEASE keep all negativity out of the comments.❤️ I always want to Honor the Lord, and I think it's important that we support and Love each other! Thank you all for supporting me through my Youtube Journey! 30,000 and counting guys!! love-Lynne
VIDEO SOURCE: https://youtu.be/77_V0gYRr6o?si=H8P0g-sM94yNLx_i
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77_V0gYRr6o
https://blackforestproject421.blogspot.com/2024/10/grandfamilies-on-rise.html
TEMPORARY LINKS:
https://www.guns.com/hunting/rifles
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/07/amish-converts-maryland-oldest-settlement
https://biblicalmennonite.com/
YELADIM LINKS:
Children - An Israeli OBSESSION (no happy ending here)
390K subscribers
193,045 views Feb 26, 2023
Israeli society is obsessed with children. In this video, I will show you an Israeli city where the average number of children per woman is 7.2. I will then touch on the political, historical, and religious aspects behind this high number. www.travelingisrael.com
0:00 - Intro
0:20 - children per woman in Israel
6:28 - Modi’in Illit
VIDEO SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqpik0ehimo
https://youtu.be/Mqpik0ehimo?si=_Y0d2peoyuFw47iN
Israeli families defy war with steady birthrate
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6,332 views Nov 22, 2024 #i24NEWS #i24NEWSDesk
Would you have babies in the middle of a war? Israelis are choosing to bring in new life at a steady rate despite the raging war
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrC7r5oYdgE
https://www.desiringgod.org/authors/sam-crabtree
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