Other Communities - Reba Place Fellowship

Reba Place Fellowship is in relationship with a number of other communities. Some of these relationships have been going on for decades, and some are only a few years old! With both new friends and old, our relationships with other communities provide a rich opportunity for sharing, growth, encouragement, and accountability. Here is a listing of communities Reba Place Fellowship is connected with.

I. Shalom Mission Communities (SMC) is an association of four Anabaptist-inspired intentional communities with shared convictions and practices. This is RPF’s closest circle of companions with annual community gatherings, a newsletter (Shalom Connections) published four times a year, regular visitations, common projects, sharing resources and, sometimes, people. SMC is made up of Plow Creek Fellowship, Hope Fellowship, Church of the Sojourners, and Reba Place Fellowship.

Plow Creek Fellowship began in 1971 as a rural “daughter” of Reba Place Fellowship. Its stated mission is to “be an international village practicing the peace of Jesus.” It has evolved into both a communal group and a church congregation forming one community, sharing life deeply on a farm in rural Tiskilwa, IL .

Hope Fellowship is a bilingual (Spanish/English) Mennonite community in Waco, TX . Members of Hope Fellowship seek the peace and reconciliation of Christ across race and language barriers. Hope Fellowship members participate in and support area organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and the World Hunger Relief Farm.

Church of the Sojourners is a live-together Church community, sharing life and resources in four large houses in the Mission District of San Francisco, CA. The community is made up of thirty-some people seeking to be an everyday church for nearly twenty years.

Valle Nuevo is a campesino village of repatriated refugees in El Salvador that Shalom Mission Communities have accompanied since 1992 through regular visits both ways, and projects to buy land and build houses for the neediest families. Valle Nuevo has helped SMC understand Jesus’ presence in the poor who are rich in faith.

II. Shalom Connections: These are communities with whom Reba has significant long-term friendships but no formal affiliation. We often find ourselves at the same conferences, offering mutual hospitality and sharing news through the Shalom Connections newsletter.

Jubilee Partners is a Christian service community located on 260 acres of meadow and forest land two hours east of Atlanta, Georgia . Jubilee was launched in

1979 by a group from Koinonia Partners. The main common work of Jubilee members and volunteers is to run a welcome and orientation center for refugees arriving in the

U.S.

They also sustain a strong peace witness and a large garden, supplying food for the common meals they eat together every day of the week.

Koinonia Partners has a rich history in the movement for civil rights and racial reconciliation. Founded in 1942 by Clarence and Florence Jordan and Martin and Mabel England as an interracial “demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God . ” Koinonia was the birthplace of Habitat for Humanity, Jubilee Partners, the Cotton Patch New Testament translations, and countless other creative kingdom ventures. Currently Koinonia is experiencing rebirth on a communal model, and continues its long-time work of growing peanuts and pecans, and welcoming hundreds of visitors each year.

Grain of Wheat community is a cluster of about 120 persons who have intentionally chosen to live in the Woolsey neighborhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba . This has allowed a variety of cooperative ventures and ministries to flourish among them including a couple of bakeries, a wellness center, supper circles and small sharing groups.

Church of the Servant King communities in Eugene and Portland Oregon share life in extended households of mutual support and fellowship. Many of the Eugene members have common work in the Wipf and Stock publishers who specialize in volumes that support a life of discipleship and Christian community.

The Open Door Community ( Atlanta, GA )

III. New Monasticism : A community movement that has drawn new communities and community seekers together to discover what God is currently doing in the North American church. This movement was birthed out of a gathering called together by Rutba House of Durham, NC , in the summer of 2004. Currently, intentional communities across the country are hosting “Schools for Conversion” as a way to connect community seekers with God’s greater story for the Church. Reba Place Fellowship welcomed twenty-five visitors for its own School for Conversion in December of 2006. Following are a list of communities who sometimes identify with the New Monasticism movement and who gather at an annual “Family Reunion."

Rutba House (Durham, NC)

The Simple Way (Philadelphia, PA)

Camden Community Houses (Camden, NJ)

Communality (Lexington, KY)

Common Ground Community (Shreveport, LA)

Psalters (nomadic musicians)

Northumbria Community (U.K.)

IV. Other Communities and Networks of Communities:

(formerly Bruderhof Communities)

Jesus People USA (Chicago, IL)

L’Arche Communities (USA)

The Catholic Worker Movement

Hutterites (Northern U.S. and Canada )