Love One Another
Letters to my Plow Creek Fellowship communal friends
Rich
Foss has been an elder of Plow Creek Fellowship for over 25
years
and founder of
Evergreen Leaders
Ordinary people. Thriving groups.
As of July 2006, Rich now serves as an elder of Plow Creek Fellowship, but no longer Plow Creek Mennonite Church
Check out Rich's Thriving groups blog
The Bureau County Republican published an article on Rich's blog.
email: richfoss@evergreenleaders.org
and founder of
Evergreen Leaders
Ordinary people. Thriving groups.
As of July 2006, Rich now serves as an elder of Plow Creek Fellowship, but no longer Plow Creek Mennonite Church
Check out Rich's Thriving groups blog
The Bureau County Republican published an article on Rich's blog.
email: richfoss@evergreenleaders.org
The community is worth more than the project April 11, 2009
New direction April 4, 2009
The community is worth more than the project April 11, 2009
Dear friends,
A couple days ago part of the title a post on a blog (Seth Godins Blog) I follow immediately caught my attention: Intentionally building communities. Heres an excerpt:
If you think about the tribes you belong to, most of them are side effects of experiences you had doing something slightly unrelated. We have friends from that summer we worked together on the fishing boat, or a network of people from college or sunday school. There's also that circle of people we connected with on a killer project at work a few years go.As I read the post, I thought about our current assignment from heaven: to redevelop Plow Creek Fellowship. It seems like a daunting task and yet I have a hunch that as we work together the Lord will be intentionally building community among us. And he will remind us that the community is worth more than the project.
These tribes of people are arguably a more valuable creation than the fish that were caught or the physics that were learned, right?
And yet, most of the time we don't see the obvious opportunity--if you intentionally create the connections, you'll get more of them, and better ones too. If the hallway conversations at a convention are worth more than the sessions, why not have more and better hallways?
What would happen if trade shows devoted half a day to 'projects'? Put multi-disciplinary teams of ten people together and give them three hours to create something of value. The esprit de corps created by a bunch of strangers under time pressure in a public competition would last for decades. The community is worth more than the project. (His italics, not mine.)
Blessings, dear friends,
Rich
contents
New direction April 4, 2009
Dear friends,
This morning I was reading about Jesus three times asking, Peter do you love me? When Peter declares his love Jesus says, Feed my lambstend my sheepfeed my lambs. I would like to nurture your love for Jesus and one another with brief weekly (unless not) letters.
Before taking his first steps, Lori Behrens wrote in an e-mail update she sent to us this week, Owen experimented with standing alone in the middle of a room and then falling back onto his bottom - repeatedly and with glee.
I love that picture of a little boy gleefully experimenting with falling before taking his first steps.
We have taken many steps as a communal group but it seems we are often invited to take new steps. Last week in members meeting we talked about bringing in a consultant to help us take new steps in a new direction.
None of us knows exactly where the Lord will lead us through the next steps.
I hope that every so often we can fall on our butts and laugh with glee because God is going to teach us new steps and send us toddling off in a new direction.
Blessings, dear friends,
Rich
contents
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