As I was reviewing the blogs that have been written since 2008, I became aware that one of the non-fiction pieces of writing I had penned was not, unfortunately, part of the A Deacon’s Musing collection. I first mused about Intentional Community in 2008, when I was blogging with the Emerging Spirit Programme of The United Church of Canada (UCC). Later on, in 2009, I then wrote this Proposal that included the following suggested discussion points:

Intentional Community

Intentional Community

  • This community would be faith-based and grounded in a Feminist-Liberation Theology understanding of Jesus and Justice;
  • The community would aspire to not just espouse a Theology of Justice, but actively live it in the world;
  • The community would be grounded in a shared practice of prayer and worship;
  • The community would be established/designed with the hope of being/becoming carbon neutral;
  • The community would be as self-sufficient as possible (i.e. off the grid);
  • The community would not exceed 150 people;
  • The community would be composed of men and women whose places of work and vocation are in the world;
  • The community would attempt to balance communal sharing, while also ensuring privacy for its members;
  • The community would share its resources in a way that would be of benefit both internally, as well as externally; and
  • The community would share financial resources in order to ensure the maintenance of the physical grounds, while also ensuring that it would steward other communities in a seeding manner.

What was missing from the collection, however, was the 2011 Intentional Community document that I wrote while helping co-facilitate a learning circle in the Designated Lay Ministry programme. With lots of help, 21 revisions later, the document below (which can downloaded here) was born. I initially, and continue to do so, shared it under the Creative Commons (CC) license.

If I recall correctly, one of the reasons this document did not get included in the ADM website was on account of there being an online UCC resource for CC creations. I believe, as is the wont of the ever-changing landscape of the internet, it was eventually deactivated. I thought, therefore, it would be interesting to revisit this ongoing musing and see if new aspects to the conversation might unfold …

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