There’s a small group of people in south central Wichita who are working to transform the neighborhood.
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One man’s vision of helping others with “radical hospitality” is spreading common goodness and love across the country [Randy Evans is a current Launch & Lead student.]
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Lil Smith reflects on a conversation anchored by Larry Duggin's book Together.
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Julian 360
by Rev. Justin Hancock
Hello friends and companions of The MWF Dispersed Community. I am excited to tell you about a new initiative from the Julian Way.
Beginning in November, The Julian Way will unveil a blog and community forum based around disabled identity and culture.
Right Here Right Now
We are excited to share that Amy Oden, one of our instructors for Launch & Lead, has published a new book, Right Here Right Now: The Practice of Christian Mindfulness. Below is a review by Shaun Lambert, Baptist minister in London, for
The Baptism Times: Online newspaper of the Baptist Union of Great Britain
(http://www.baptist.org.uk/), not yet published.
Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3...
by Caitlin Coleman
Last May, Caitlin Coleman went on pilgrimage to Iona, Scotland with a group led by Larry Duggins. In her blog, cait'scomments, Caitlin shares her thoughts and the path she has chosen since some deep reflection began in Iona.
I haven’t written in a while. A long while. Since June of last year, to be specific. And today, not only was I questioned why I hadn’t written, but I was reminded that it was indeed a very good time to share some of the overwhelming thoughts, experiences, realizations, and epiphanies that have accumulated in my mind over the past 8 months.
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St. Joseph's Girls Orphanage
In the world of stories from friends and companions whose paths have crossed with Missional Wisdom Foundation, Maggie and Darryl Patterson have played a role. Through a desire to find and be "more" in the world, and fueled and inspired by family tragedy, these friends have taken a derelict orphanage in Australia and turned it into a place that serves vulnerable children. (Originally published by Eternity News, by Tess Holgate and Bryce McLellan)
On the outskirts of Goulburn, in country NSW, an ordinary couple are hard at work turning the old St Joseph’s Girls Orphanage into a community hub, complete with café and accommodation for vulnerable women and children.
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Be the Artist God Created You to Be!
by Rev. Gary A. Shockley, a friend and supporter of Missional Wisdom Foundation, and member of our Dispersed Community
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” -Pablo Picasso.
Because we are made in the image of Creator we are all creative. Every one of us has the potential to do something that sparks imagination, expresses feelings, provokes thought and helps others to experience beauty: painting, sculpture, music, dance, gardening, writing, cooking, singing, preaching, coaching, teaching, praying (and the list goes on) are all forms of creativity.
Launch & Lead Student, Diane Rheos
Diane shares here the ways in which she is using the skills she is learning to launch and lead new communities.
A Community in Partnership with a Great Lead Team
The WaySide is an intentional Christian community connected to Fremont United Methodist Church in Portland Oregon.
We are getting to know how we can be supported by our lead team, which we call The WaySide Outside. Together we hosted an all church event on Sunday July 23rd . In Portland each summer there are Sunday Parkway events. The city closes a loop of streets and hundreds of people get on their bikes and make the circuit. The WaySide house-mates suggested the idea of an event to host a BBQ and then participate in the ride. The WaySide Outside Team were enthusiastic supporters. Together we provided a BBQ lunch for everyone in attendance that Sunday morning, and then a group of people decorated their bikes, and rode on the Sunday Parkways cycling route.
Neighboring Choices
by Catherine Johnson
Last week we trimmed a tree, which resulted in a pile of limbs in our front yard. We were glad to mark off tree trimming on our to do list; however, we now had to figure out how to get rid of the limbs. We have a neighbor, Joseph, on our block who owns a landscape company. We had heard through another neighbor that Joseph is willing to help neighbors haul yard waste away whenever he is taking a load for his business. This is great, but I don't have Joseph's phone number and he works long hours this time of year. It's not easy to track him down and ask permission to load a pile of branches on his trailer.
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The Equity Project
by Todd Porter
Todd is a friend of the Missional Wisdom Foundation, who attends the Taize service led by Larry Duggins each week.
“Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.” –
That being the case, it seems that our economic is perfectly designed to multiply wealth for those who have it, while holding the promise of wealth just beyond the reach of those without. I find this reality troubling and find myself under increasing compulsion to do something about it. I call that something “The Equity Project.”
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Teen Life
by Rachel Wells
Teen Life is a non-profit organization in Southlake, Texas, dedicated to encouraging and equipping teenagers with life skills and strategies to live life better. Our friends at Teen Life have created a curriculum that they use in facilitated support groups to serve middle school and high school students who are in crisis or are beginning to make choices that will lead to crisis. Staff members Chris Robey and Ricky Lewis received coach training from Missional Wisdom's own Bret Wells.
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Parents United
by Marshall Mosley
I recently met Denise and Larry
at a mutual friend’s house where we met to discuss what living in community can look like. My wife and I were excited to learn from their experiences, because we feel like we are moving in that direction as well. We also shared with them about the community-centered after school program we began in our neighborhood. They asked us to share a little about our program, called Parents United.
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Open to Grace
by Melanie Dobson
Melanie Dobson is a pastor at Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, NC. She will be participating in the fall 2017 cohort of Launch & Lead.
Hebrews 4:16—Let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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Beautiful Future
by Matt Johnson
For many of us, the work that we do is slow, subtle and small, at least in the beginning. This reality presents many challenges, particularly since we are living in the age of “short-termism” (a phrase used by Ari Wallach in his TED Talk, “3 ways to plan for the (very) long term”). But occasionally we catch a glimpse of the fruit of our labors. I’m learning it is really important to cherish those moments, and remember them, for it is through remembering those moments that we sustain ourselves in the present, and prepare for a beautiful future.
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52 Weeks of Neighboring
by Matt Johnson
We were created in the image of the Triune God, designed to be in meaningful relationships that form community, and we are taught by Jesus to love our neighbors as ourselves. While these truths are good news, living into them is very concrete, sometimes difficult, and easily forgotten. We struggle to love our neighbors.
SoCe Life, a hub of the Missional Wisdom Foundation, is a non-profit organization located in the South-Central neighborhood of Wichita, KS. The founding belief of SoCe Life is that everyone is gifted, and as individuals share their gifts for the benefit of others, they experience wholeness and the community becomes stronger. This belief drives the daily work of SoCe Life, connecting neighbors based on gifts and interests.
Happy Tents
by Meredith Ball
Happy Tents is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting families today. For the past few years we have been working to help families see every day life from a different view…God’s view. When we look at our families through God’s eyes, we see God at work.
We believe that through God’s grace and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we can see a glimpse of eternal life within the moments in our family life. Each week, we write a devotional on our website to capture these moments from our tent in hopes that it inspires you to see God at work in your tent. Sometimes God’s work is funny, sometimes it is sad and sometimes is stretches us into new relationships or understandings. Though we do not know where God will show up in our family, we constantly know that God is at work in each of our lives individually and together.
A Christian in a Hijab
By Anastasia Marcum. Anastasia participated in our pilot program for Clarify in Asheville last summer. For Lent, Rachel has chosen to wear a hijab in an attempt to appreciate the Journey of Muslim women in America. She is blogging about her experience, and we are honored for Rachel to share with us here.
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The WaySide Community
by Diane Rheos, current Launch & Lead student
The WaySide Community came about when pastor Linda Quanstrom had two unconnected conversations with church members. Diane Rheos is a Launch and Lead participant and had been sharing with her about Missional Wisdom and her search for intentional community. Soon after, Nathan and Laurel Howard mentioned to her that they had been researching intentional community. "Miraculously" at the same time, the lease on the Fremont United Methodist Church parsonage came up.
A new community carried by the flow of generosity.
It's amazing how fast our first four months have gone by! We began The WaySide, our intentional community, last November. Our house is located in the parsonage of Fremont United Methodist Church, in Portland, Oregon.
Friendship House
by Matthew Floding, Director of Ministerial Formation, Duke Divinity School
Friendship House is a residential ministerial formation opportunity at Duke Divinity School, Vanderbilt Divinity School and Western Theological Seminary (MI). In each of these, divinity or seminary students live in intentional community with persons with an intellectual or developmental disability. Our life is ordered around the community building blocks Jean Vanier articulated (founder of L'Arche communities), Eat Together, Pray Together, Celebrate Together!