Brilliant Color, Hopeful Passion and Positive Action
Women of the World Coming Together to Empower Rural Communities

Stunning ethnic headscarves and vivid African fabrics speckle the crowded hallways and meeting rooms of the UN and UN Church Center. The streets hum with a steady flow of languages from around the world and with the energy, hope, determination of over 4,000 women from around the globe.
We, over 4000 women strong, have come together to speak truth and advocate for transformative policy in the halls of power. We share our own personal power as we exchange stories along with accounts of our challenges and of our best practices. We with the AWE (Anglican Women’s Empowerment) gather in the Episcopal Church Center to pray and join in a sense of common mission – each one of us is in some way working for a better world for women everywhere.
We were from East Coast and West Coast, we were 15 to 76 in age, we were from Malawi, Ghana, Zambia, Uganda, Southern Sudan, Burundi, Scotland, UK, Philippines, we were members of First Nations tribes. We were all sisters.
As the Executive Director of African Road, a young 501c-3 working in Rwanda with a Women’s Cooperative and a community of 80 orphans in child-headed households, I was greatly encouraged to have the privilege of being part of the AWE assembly of women. The spirit of welcome, inclusion and hospitality moved me and the Episcopal Center and AWE felt like a home for the week.
At the CSW events I appreciated talking with other women who are seeking new ways to introduce micro-finance to the communities they serve. I was pleased to make contact with a number of individuals and organizations doing good work in Rwanda who have interest in collaboration or in sharing educational material. I made a new friend in Lillian from S. Sudan. I learned about a variety of training materials for perma-culture farming and literacy initiatives. Because of these connections and this new information I will be better able to help African Road move forward for the benefit of the 250 women and children we partner with in Rwanda.
On Wednesday I attending a parallel event in the UN Church Center Chapel called ‘Women and Power: Leadership in a New World” sponsored by the Women’s Research Institute. A brilliant panel of four women with extensive experience in the non-profit world, sustainable business sector and government arena offered words of inspiration encouraging all women to rise up and exercise “the power to” in place of “the power over.” They cited personal examples of the change that can be brought to bear when unapologetic voices and power are driven by love.
It was a privilege to be a presenter on the AWE sponsored panel “Success Stories from African Rural Women in the Field” on Tuesday afternoon and to share about the amazing work of our partner in Rwanda, Providance Uwamariya Turkikunkiko.
I was able to obtain two precious tickets for side events inside the United Nations complex. FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN) presented a panel of rural women working for food security and economic empowerment in their communities. The country of Kenya sponsored a session on a national micro-finance initiative and expanding the electric grid with sustainable power sources to elevate and empower rural women. Both offered interesting and informative perspectives.
AWE invited 15 and 16 year old Avery Loveridge and Sam Elie to join in the Working Group on Girls. Sam and Avery accompanied me to Rwanda in May 2011. They came to the UNCSW to build on their international travel experience. It was a joy to see them rapidly gain understanding of how international policy is formed and of how many organizations are engaged in doing good work in the world. I salute AWE for investing in the formation of young women leaders.
The week was chock full of meaningful connection with other practitioners, a wide range of educational and interactive sessions and spiritual encouragement from the sisters of AWE. My thanks go to Kim Robey and the entire AWE New York team for your vision and excellent leadership. I am honored to have been included in a transformative gathering.

We received the wonderful news that African Road has official tax exempt status. Your tax deductible contributions for women and children in Rwanda can now be sent directly to our office:
African Road
695 Nivens Lane
Nevada City, CA 95959

Project updates…my two nephews and their two friends (ages 8-12) raised nearly 2,000.00 dollars to seed a goat raising micro-enterprise this summer. That promising project is now unfolding. We will continue to build on this project.

You friends banded together for my birthday and raised over 1,000.00 to provide access to health care for 240 women and orphans. Now that each of these friends has their own government health card our Rwandan partner, Dr. Bosco will begin to make a strategic planning for bringing care to the villages.

The women’s cooperative has a strategic plan for relocating from their rural location into the village of Kabuga, purchasing three specialty sewing machines and setting up a local shop. This step forward for their sewing cooperative will make it possible for them to send their children to school. Consider helping them grow!

I am in the process of pursuing grant funding to partner with our Rwandan friends for sustainable solutions for their future.

I am aiming to return to Rwanda in November to take these projects to the next level, to continue to build collaborative relationships and to complete research for a potential funder. Donations to cover travel expenses are welcome! Your investment is creating hopeful and lasting change — two communities of women and children who are living in extreme poverty will have access to the power to change their own lives.

Thank you for being part of this amazing journey!

Recently someone asked me some good questions about my work in Rwanda. The process of replying to them was helpful to me, and perhaps will be helpful to you. This is rather long but informative…read on!

Specific Questions for Kelly:
What kind of work are you doing?
Are you connected with a group or organization for it?
How did you originally get involved?
What is your favorite Campbell’s soup variety?
Do you go to Rwanda often?
Is Rwanda your sole area of interest?

I hope you had a lovely time at Crater Lake. If you get the chance and wouldn’t mind, I would love to hear whatever you care to share about your experiences.

First to address the easy question: Soup.
Hands down- Campbell’s Alphabet Vegetarian Soup.
I am not a vegetarian but when it comes to Campbell’s- this soup is it!

Second: Crater Lake, Diamond Lake and Ashland were amazing. I feel sheepish to say that in all my years as an Oregonian this was my first Crater Lake visit. I would call it breathtaking. Even my 14-year-old son was deeply moved by the experience.

Now, on to Rwanda:
I’ll begin by responding first to your third Rwanda question.
How did I originally get involved?

In May of 2007 I was invited to participate in a gathering of leaders in Uganda.
The participants were 160 young and innovative African leaders, and 40 lucky leaders from the West (primarily US, UK and Australia). I was in that number. We western attendees came as listeners and learners.
I headed to East Africa early and spent the week before the gathering in Kenya. We met in Uganda for a week and then we westerners split up and went with various African leaders into their cultural contexts. I went to Rwanda.

The Rwandan context:
Our guide in Rwanda was a small man with a huge heart; Steven Turikunkiko.

Steven is Rwandan but was born in Uganda where his Tutsi parents were refugees. When Steven was five years old his parents were murdered (due to political upheaval during the reign of Idi Amin). Just before Steven’s mother was killed she sent Steven into the forest with his two year old and infant siblings and told him to hide. Steven survived but suffered the terrible trauma of not being able to find nourishment for his tiny brother and sister who died in his care. That painful story has marked him for life and given him a drive and determination to help orphans and others who have suffered terrible loss.

Steven trained as a pastor and in 1995 he came to his homeland Rwanda for the first time. This was the year after the genocide- when he was in his early twenties. He was shocked to find small children wandering the streets with no family members to be found. Although he had no income and no support system he could not bear to see the children alone and crying. He began to collect the children and bring them to his temporary shanty home. Together they foraged for food and formed something of a family. At least they had one another.

When Steven first met his wife to be- Providence, he had 14 orphans in his care. This clearly was an unusual man- she fell in love with him and accepted his proposal. Today, more than a decade later, they still have a house full of orphans; at last count, 19. In addition, they now have two young children of their own.

Also in 1995, Steven, in his youthful pastoral zeal, felt drawn to reach out to a rural village called Kabuga- about 40 minutes outside of Kigali; the capital of Rwanda.
He began going door to door in this area introducing himself and proclaiming that he was there to bring the good news of the gospel.
Again he was surprised- this time for several reasons. First of all, in approaching 100 homes he found that not a single one had a male head of household. All the adult men had been killed or had fled the area. Secondly, the women who met him at the gates were not interested in any good news of the gospel. In fact they were not interested in welcoming a pastor of any sort. The heinous truth is that many pastors and priests were actually complicit in the genocide- betraying their own congregations and people who sought shelter in churches. But Steven was determined. Clearly these women were suffering and needed help. He would not give up.
He returned day after day until one by one he won their confidence. His accent (having only recently come from Uganda) helped verify that he was a newcomer to Rwanda and had not been involved in the genocide. His gentle nature, genuine care and sense of humor eventually brought him a warm welcome. Most of the village women were suffering posttraumatic stress syndrome. All had lost family members; husbands, children and parents. Many had been raped by soldiers who often were HIV positive. These women were sealed with what was at that time in East Africa, a warrant for death. Others had lost limbs or received deep flesh wounds. Their society as they had known it no longer existed. They were frightened and isolated with no way to make a living and no support structures. As Steven tells us, many were dying simply because of loneliness and hopelessness.
He asked himself what he could do to make a difference here- what would be good news to this community. “I have nothing but what is it I can do?” he asked himself. His answer “What I can do is bring these together.” He began to plan group gatherings bringing the women together to meet. Slowly this group grew in size and as it did, the spirits of the women were lifted. As the women shared their stories they discovered how much they had in common with their neighbors and how much others had suffered too. As they connected they found a renewed hope for going forward. Essentially this meeting time became a natural group therapy session for PTSD (posttraumatic stress syndrome) and a support group for women living with HIV/AIDS.

As they spent time together and began to resume more normal routines, the women began to dream up practical ways to help each other. Without husbands and older sons their workload increased dramatically. They began to farm together, make baskets together, hand die fabrics together and build a new life together.
Intuitively Steven was instrumental in forming a widow’s collective that saved a whole community of women. This community is still together and numbers 90 plus their 50 children.

At this time Steven was walking nearly four hours a day to reach this rural village in addition to caring for the 14 children under his humble roof. Frequently they all ate only once a day but still he didn’t give up. The Turinkunko’s reputation for caring for orphans became well known in the poor neighborhood they lived in. Women who were dying asked Steven to care for their orphaned children. Babies were abandoned on his doorstep. He continued to meet orphans on the street. But his house had its limits.

To solve the problem of an overflow of orphans Steven began to form a community of orphans in the village of Gasogi (about 30 minutes from Kigali). Younger children remained in his home and older children were formed into family groups of boy’s houses and girl’s houses, with the older children caring for the younger children. Today there are 80 children aged 5-20, in child headed households living together cooperatively in Gasogi. They manage to just get by on sustenance farming and by providing manual labor for other villagers. They rent 9 different mud huts for about 25.00 a month, scattered over a two or three mile radius. Steven visits their homes once a week and shares any extra food or money that comes his way. He helped form the teenaged boys (many of the children he found in 1995 are now teens) into a rural soccer league (futball league), which has become the hub of the orphan community. An elderly neighbor man (a rare find) teaches the traditional dances of Rwanda to the orphans- ancestral history that would otherwise be lost to them. The soccer and dancing are great sources of pride and identity for the orphans.
The orphans have elected their own committee for organization and oversight.

Next question:
Am I connected with a group or an organization?

After meeting Steven in 2007 I returned home and told my husband that I had fallen in love with Africa. I sensed that there was something for me to do there and that he needed to experience what I had so he wasn’t left behind. To that end he (Ken) and our then twelve-year-old son Elliot traveled to East Africa with me 6 months later along with four other friends from the Pacific NW. We were joined by 17 friends from South Africa, gathered by my friend Trevor Bossa, a black pastor from the Soweto Township who had been part of my first learning trip to Rwanda.
After that trip, the circle of friends from around the world (US, UK and SA) began to communicate by email. We could not rest easy knowing that Steven and the 21 children in his home, and the 220 other orphans and widows who looked to him for support and care, often ate only once a day, were only able to sporadically attend school, constantly were in danger of eviction due to rent insecurity and frequently were unable to access proper medical care when needed.

For the past two and a half years about 15 people and small faith communities have been making small monthly contributions which we send in a lump sum to ensure that the Turikunkiko’s don’t have to worry about a roof over their heads and that they can eat at least twice a day. Steven does what he can to stretch the funds to help the 220 orphans and widows…what we send is just a drop in the bucket in the face of the needs in these communities.

This March. the wonderful Lori Martin, one of the women this ad hoc group of friends caring for Steven, decided it was time to take things to the next level. She is launching a 501 c-3 (African Road) to formalize the efforts and building a website so that the stories can be shared easily with others and the circle of care can be extended.

She asked me to join as a volunteer to do strategic planning and development- roles I love when the cause is something I am passionate about. I said YES and we headed to Rwanda to size things up in person. We learned a lot and also came away with lots of great questions to explore and connections to make.

I told the stories from the March trip when I returned home and an anonymous funder made it possible for me to return to Rwanda in July to build on the relationships with strategic partners on the ground and to collect data in order to write a grant proposal upon return.

We have been able to accept donations and provide tax receipts for these communities due to the kindness of Go the Second Mile, friends in Seattle who have a non-profit. I introduced them to Steven a couple of years ago and they were glad to join in.

Organizations:
Our 501 c-3 in process is called African Road. We have a web domain but have yet to build a website.

In the meantime we are posting info on a site one of our good friends in the UK built for the cause. http://www.friendsofsteven.org/

The organization which my friends operate and that provides tax receipts for contributors is called ‘Go the Second Mile”. http://go2ndmile.org/

The friends I first went to Africa with, Claude Nikondeha and Brian McLaren, founders of Amahoro-

http://www.amahoro-africa.org/amahoro_africa/amahoro-africa-gathering.html

Next Question:
Is Rwanda my sole interest?

Absolutely not but it is where our most vital partnership is presently. We are working with clearly defined communities with a strong identity and cooperatives and a long-term commitment to each other, and a good local leader (in Steven Turikunkiko) overseeing them. Because of this we are not dealing with some amorphous population …i.e.: The orphans of Rwanda, or the widows of Rwanda.
We are working with two groups of people; 80 orphans in community in Gasogi Village and 90 widows along with their 50 children in Kabuga. That provides a unique and hopeful opportunity. We truly could be part of helping to move these two distinct communities from extreme poverty to a sustainable way of living. That is exciting to me. This is doable.

I have a young friend who is from the pygmy tribe of Burundi; the Batwa tribe. He is one of only a handful of Twa in the world who have ever attended university. He just completed his law degree and was just elected to Parliament in Burundi. The Batwa are displaced people in their own land, having lived as a primitive forest dwelling civilization until just about 15 years ago when they were forcibly evicted from the forests to create preserves for the endangered Mountain Gorillas. I have traveled to Burundi and have been deeply moved by the spirit and the circumstances of the beautiful Batwa people. I would love to partner with them eventually.

I also have friends in Ethiopia doing incredible work with people who are HIV positive and addressing maternal mortality. It wouldn’t surprise me if we were to partner with them at some point as well.

Our name and mission statement make way for us to work anywhere in Africa as time and resources allow.

Next Question:
What kind of work do I do there?

Key words—
Sustainable. Relational. Culturally congruent.

The work in Rwanda is born out of friendship and relationship and respect for the work of and integrity of the Rwandan leaders we are partnering with.
I’ve done my due diligence and am satisfied that I can assure people who are interested giving to help the poor in Africa, that funds will be well used and that our friends are trustworthy. We have a steady ongoing relationship and systems for accountability to assure that this remains the case.

I am learning from a broad assortment of good people who have long histories of working in third world settings in order to avoid as many pitfalls as possible.

My time in Rwanda has been spent on the ground close to the people in the two cooperatives. I eat in their homes, walk to their water source, shop with them in their markets, ride on their motorbikes and stay in simple lodging. Knowing as much as possible about the actual circumstances of the people I am working with helps a great deal.

The aim is to learn from these friends and while we supervise how funds are used, we do not want impose our ideas of what is best for them.
We are committed to working for sustainable solutions. We are partnering for dignity and long-term self- sufficiency. The best help for Africa is ultimately not in doling out money and clothing but in funding viable micro-enterprise initiatives so these friends can build a future for themselves. We will incorporate use of micro-loans (modeled after KIVA style development) where appropriate.

To date our circle of friends has funded the purchase of 20 sewing machines for the widows, beginning sewing training, crutches for a woman with one leg, emergency medical treatment for orphans, monthly support for Steven’s family, shoes and soccer gear for the orphans. A group of friends raised money for a bead making enterprise for vision-impaired widows in the cooperative. My 8 and 11-year-old nephews just raised 1,500.00 for goats and pigs for the orphans. Friends in Texas raised funds for a motorcycle for Steven to save him the four hours of walking a day or having to pay transit costs.

As we broaden our support base we are determined to partner with these friends in projects that will eventually help them care for themselves. They are motivated and determined and full of hope and capacity. They are an inspiration to me.

My trip in July was focused on fact finding and building healthy partnerships with other organizations on the ground in Rwanda.

I am especially excited about building a mobile medical clinic to serve the widows cooperative and the orphans cooperative. I am working with a Rwandan doctor who has offered his time and skill to help make this possible. I am preparing to launch a campaign to raise funds for medical insurance (less than 3.00 per person per year for 90% coverage) and a pool for co-pays for the two cooperatives. Once that is in place there are so many deferred medical needs to care for. My Rwandan doctor friend will make weekly visits to the rural communities; provide what care he can onsite and then make referrals to specialists when needed. His help is a true godsend. Launching this project is a huge reason I need to return to Rwanda in November.

I am working to develop a long-term partnership between a Rotary club district here in the states and one in Kigali, Rwanda in order to begin the process of seeking funding for larger projects.

We are looking into the viability of a full-scale chicken-farming endeavor. Presently nearly all the eggs and chicken in Rwanda are imported daily from neighboring Uganda.

We are working with a group to implement a goat herd project.

We are seeking to fund the relocation of the widows sewing project along with the purchase of more machines to take them to the level so they can compete in the local market.

We have a long-term goal of purchasing land for these projects. Paying monthly rents for huts, meeting space, transportation does not lend to long-term stability and sustainability.

A very compelling need is funding for school fees for the orphans. We are weighing the pros and cons of a child sponsorship program.

I am leading occasional learning trip to engage potential partners.

Presently I need to raise $4,000.00 to make a return trip to Rwanda in November to knit together projects that I began during my July trip. A great deal of work can be done online but periodic trips to keep momentum going are essential.

Last Question:
How often do I go to Africa?

Right now, about three times a year. I went in March and July and am hoping to return in November for a working trip. I have a tentative trip set in May as well leading a group of students on a learning trip.

‘Friends of Steven’ Rwanda- March 15 – 25, 2010

Steven Turikunkiko, a Rwandan pastor and community leader, has a family of more than 20 adopted children and has formed Gasogi Village for people who are widowed and orphaned by war, disease, and poverty. I have known Steven for several years now and have the greatest respect for his integrity, his devotion to the most needy and his sacrificial service. “Friends of Steven” supports his work to serve the disadvantaged people of his community.

I am headed back to Rwanda by special invitation and even more special provision…

The travel team consists of: Generous heart-ed Activist Lori Martin; travel companion from Amahoro 07

Parker Logan, Filmmaker and and Long lost friend from high school days

And, me!

Goals for the trip:

We hope: …to deepen our long-term friendships with Steven’s family and the people of Gasogi Village, gathering details about their lives, progress, and needs. …to launch new and solidify existing micro-enterprise projects with the women of Gasogi so that they can be more self-supporting, ie: a sewing co-op, and bead making for blind women. (This project needs $1,000 more to launch.) …to update and review accounting and bookkeeping systems with Steven’s help in order to streamline reporting to donors. …to report back to our first-world communities with film, photos, and words that inspire others to join Steven’s work. …to learn from our African friends who know how to hold hope, practice deep forgiveness and create community in the middle of great adversity and against all odds. We will bring that inspiration back to share.

Here’s how to contribute

1. Make a contribution of any size toward a general fund that will allow us to generously respond to needs that arise while we are in Rwanda (things like: urgent need for nutrition, school supplies, medical care, shoes)

2. 25.00 Buy a fresh sleeping mat for a child. Gasogi Village has 85 orphans and Steven’s household is home to 22 orphans. That is 107 sleeping mats needed!

3. Invest in Micro-enterprise. A cooperative of women who were blinded in the genocide have a dream to begin a bead making business. Half of the funds have been raised for this. Help bring this dream to life and give women who have been unable to provide for themselves a way forward. Goal- 1,000.00

To make a tax deductible contribution to these funds, make your check out to “Second Mile”

Note on your check: “Friends of Steven, March 2010.” Your tax-deductible donations can be sent to the address below prior to March 12th. Attach a separate note indicating how you would like your gift to be used. Please be sure to include your mailing address so you can get your tax-deductible receipt.

Go The Second Mile

c/o Kelly Bean

18140 Shady Hollow Way

West Linn, OR 97068

The travelers:

Lori Martin- activist

www.rwandanroad.blogspot.com

lori@themartins.com

Kelly Bean- writer, community organizer

www.kelly-bean.com

bean.kelly@gmail.com

Parker Logan- filmmaker

parker@parkerloganmedia.com

Why am I excited about Christianity 21?
Let me count the ways…
There is nothing that energizes me like gathering with
a kind, creative bunch of innovators and faithful practitioners and followers of Jesus
(note the emphasis on Practice rather than Title)
Christianity 21 is all about creating space for this to take place.
Combine 21 remarkable women thinkers, leaders, activists, and contemplatives
(I count myself as considerably lucky to have slid in to join this group of 21 voices) with YOU…
and a lovely collection of other men and women who are drawn to such a gathering…and voila…
a recipe for inspiration, challenge, authentic exchange, good news, redemptive story telling;
good theology and real life praxis for all.

Check it out and join me at Christianity 21!

evdc09
finding the way forward together

I write with a sense of gratitude for the unique gifts and perspective of each one who participated in the evdc09 process. I especially write with the keen awareness that many many more people in the Emergent Village were present in spirit and prayer. The good that came forth from this weekend and the good that will continue to come forth comes from the Spirit and the hopes of the deeper and wider well of the Village.

Here is my attempt to share what I experienced…

Friday night we came together in a circle full of hopes, fears, history, dreams, uncertainty, and intrigue. We were a beautiful collaboration of women and men; brown, white, black, pink- from cities, suburbs, churches, organic communities; pioneers all. Artists, bloggers, pastors, poets. students, community activists, long time friends, brand new friends, designers and cohort leaders…we told stories in that circle.

It was a bit of a surprise to hear many in this “cool crowd” express a sense of being Emergent outsiders. Some in the circle were self identified ‘insiders’ who had worked hard for years for the dream of EV (I might add that it was clear they came humbly holding the future and the past tenderly with hands wide open to the larger community) ; others were people who’d been sustained by friendships they found through EV and felt their only “home” and community existed in EV, others came with a real concerns about power issues and whether Emergent was more (or could be more) than a marketing device. Some were ready to shut the whole thing down and others were terrified about losing Emergent Village. As we shared stories and hopes and fears, these distinctions quickly evaporated and we found ourselves on common ground…looking for God’s best dream to be realized.

Pam Wilhelms, International Sustainability Consultant, and Dwight Friesen, professor from Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle gracefully modeled wise cooperative leadership as they facilitated using “Theory U” http://www.solonline.org/repository/download/5DR.Appendix3_.pdf?item_id=8960872 ,
The U is designed to help groups “sense, presence and realize”. Moving through various reflective, interactive, collaborative exercises a group is able to see reality “beyond their individual filters”, connect with purpose and vision collectively, and then translate visions into concrete working models.
In order for the process to work, this group of free thinkers had to chose to submit to the process, submit to one another and to trust that God was at work as we did so. The humility and attentiveness that was born by late in the day on Saturday was a remarkable thing. Holy. Tangible. True. Collective…the Body of Christ listening and learning and feeling God’s heart of love together.
Not soft and fuzzy squashy love, but bare, raw, honest, birthing kind of love.

Meditation walks alone, gathered worship melding the daily offices with unique songs composed on the spot, story writing, brainstorming, truth telling, poetry reading and earnest prayer, all wove together in our process.
After a hours of work together, putting it all on the table, lots of post it notes, a world cafe session, listening to God speak to us through nature and through the urban setting of the Adams Morgan Neighborhood, after hours of asking questions, naming fears and each one working to hold back the impulse to pronounce Our Own best plan but instead to wait for the group travel together, we came to a pivotal exercise.

Dreams of the Collective:
Pairing up, we each took time to write a draft for a magazine article. The article was to be a report written five years in the future describing what would be if the most beautiful dreams for Emergent were realized (no holds barred). The room grew very still as pencils and pens scratched. We wrote and we interviewed our partners. What did they dream? Where did our dreams connect? We then shared those stories around the room. As each one shared, the sense of God’s voice seemed more and more clear…the sense of awe and something like a heavy and holy weight grew.
It was simply amazing to hear one story after another articulate a vision of a broad network of people taking local action and practicing holistic living. This movement had become a way of life which had transformed local and global communities. EV was a point of connection that existed for the sake of connecting people who were doing justice in winsome locally embodied communities.
Many stories recognized that the voices and prophetic imagination of the artists, storytellers and musician were essential to realizing the dream. There was a sense that each local context had it’s own unique need and flavor, it’s own theology and creative expression and that was okay. There was no overarching leadership structure or dominant voice(s) that would articulate what “emergent” was or what “emergents believed”. EV consisted of a broad base of local networks made up of ordinary people who were connected together for encouragement, inspiration and positive action.
The story was one of the body of Christ made visible…all over the country, and even through the world. The Millennial goals had been achieved and people shared their resources with their neighbors. Events were local and contextual rather than national commercial events. Personality and ego did not rule, instead authentic missional living led the way.
As each one shared their story the sense of the presence of God grew stronger and stronger. At the suggestion of Michael Toy we slipped off our shoes and stood silent on holy ground. At the request of Laci Scott, Troy Bronsink led us in song. We left the meeting and spent the remainder of the evening in animated conversation over good food and beverage, while treasuring these stories in our hearts.

Sunday was an intense whirlwind as we worked to clarify what we all believed to be most important to hold in preparation for consideration of what concrete working models could best make these dreams a reality. As we worked we attempted to retain that place of collective consciousness that we reached the day before.

These are collective points that I heard come out of our time on Sunday:

• The most important part of EV is the Village, not the Emergent.
• The Village is global, local, inclusive and rooted in justice lived out.
• EV still has life and should not be disbanded.
• The website is needed.
• EV needs to be rearticulated and reshaped in order to go forward as Village.
• Leadership of some sort on some level (local? National?) is necessary.
• Leadership roles need to be clearly articulated and always collaborative.
• Leaders need to serve for limited terms and in partnership with others to avoid dominant personalities emerging “at the top”.
• Theology is very important to us but must be locally rooted and lived out.
• We need the artists.
• We value the Church in all her forms. We value tradition and innovation.
• We need Village leaders who are first and foremost listeners, story collectors, connectors, resourcers.
• The most important work will be done on the local level. Local life, local action, local exploration of theology and practice, local events will be the heartbeat of EV. These will be born out of the particular local context.
• Doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God is the reason for all we do.

Although our weekend in DC did not allow us time to specify just how this structure would look and would be formed, the work of the group still continues.
Over the next days and weeks, in smaller working groups and by email, wiki, facebook and conference call the vision that we felt God made clear will be given a structure to help it form. For some it feels scary or frustrating to not have nailed down all the details and have a new plan in place before we parted ways. I have a sense that the waiting and the extra time to reflect now is an important part of the process. I truly believe that there is a clear imperative and a true intention to honor the work that was done in the collective consciousness of the group and that was wrought by the Spirit. I believe we accomplished far more than can be measured at this moment.

I imagine next steps will mean answering very real questions we did not address in detail, like:
• Will there be a board of directors or some other form of governing group (Village Council)?
• How often should leaders rotate?
• What people will best lead in the spirit of the collective?
• What collaborative leadership forms are effective?
• How can cohort leaders and other local leaders be empowered?
• How and where can people connect?
• What about relationships with publishing houses and authors?
• Is there a place for national events?
• What are healthy systems for leadership accountability?
• Does EV need any paid employees (bookkeeper, web master)?
• What about money?
(By no means is this a comprehensive list and others might see the questions differently)

The Dreams are Expansive but the spirit of the Community is strong and viable.
Our best hopes are grounded in God and in learning from each other.

What I Loved Most:

• Being part of a diverse circle that I have always hoped EV would be.
• The power and beauty and humility of each voice present.
• Taking time to really Listen and to really See.
• Men being willing to cry.
• Laughter.
• Poetry.
• Honesty.
• Trusting God together.
• These words
Village
Local
Listening
Action
Justice
Practice
Artist
Spirit
• The very cool and diverse urban setting and the hospitality of Church of the Savior.
• Forging new friendships with amazing people.
• Great facilitators.
• Hope.

Although I have already written sooo many words it bears noting these people:
Thanks to Tim Hartman who is giving the next couple months as a volunteer to keep the process moving forward and to help hold the evdc09 group together to continue to discern and plan, till he begins his PhD program and until decisions have been made. I feel confident in his commitment to the process and to the greater community. He is also a superb administrator. (note…he is not the Decider. he is simply helping the will of the collective come to be- so don’t jump on him!).
Thanks to Brian McLaren, Ivy Beckwith, and Pam Wilhelms who are hanging in there as board members till the new structure is clarified and who are prepared to trust the group process and freely release EV to a new future when they get the word that it is time.
There are others (board members, devoted friends, faithful supporters) who served generously over the long haul. We can be grateful for their good gifts to the kingdom as we look forward to what will be birthed next.

I had such a difficult time knowing where to start with this post but once I started I can scarcely stop– but I am beginning to feel sick of hearing myself ramble on so I will post this in the hopes that this attempt captures something of the spirit of a remarkable weekend experienced in community. Perhaps it will be of some help for others who have been praying and wondering…thank you all. I am amazed and grateful to have been a tiny part of larger story in the making.

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