Over the next couple of weeks I’d like to take some time to introduce you to the folks who are participating in our year long program, Dwell. Our Dwell program seeds intentional Christian communities where young adults can put their faith into practice by living together, serving the neighborhood in which they live and creating a routine of spiritual disciplines. The majority of our Dwellers are local folks who are either working or are in school and are creating the space in their lives for exploring their faith, developing deep relationships and being a neighbor as described in the Bible.
Maribeth is a member of the Grant Park Dwell community house. She works at a school that is down the street from our house. Here are some of her reflections on living in community.
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
“I wanted to live in intentional Christian and the Dwell house because it just made sense. I had lived in big groups of people, missionally, before, and that is when life made the most sense to me. It was when I was living in community that I felt the church was being the church. When we, as Christians, struggled and worked through our lives together.
There is a lot of maturity in our house. There is not a lot of drama. When I lived in India, I lived with people who were all younger than me and I had to play the mother figure a lot. They didn’t know how to handle conflict and it was a very high school drama situation. In the Grant Park Dwell house it seems like a whole new ballgame with adults. Sometimes it is hard for me to live in community because I am a people pleaser. But the reality is that people are different and they have different opinions sometimes. So, just working through how to disagree with people has been hard for me. One of the things I feel like I have learned so far this year is that the Lord does not have to prove himself. The Lord is who he is. I don’t have to debate that or argue that or try to prove that. God has definitely taught me that. God’s word, God’s sword, is enough. We don’t have to cut people ourselves. The Lord does that through his Word if that needs to happen.
Sometimes it is hard to do as much in the community as we really want to do. But, I live with people who really care about their neighbors and it is nice. Chief crazy hair is our neighbor (he introduced himself to us as that). He is a 96 year old man who lives in a beat up house down the street. We made muffins to take to neighbors and we met him. He doesn’t have any family; he can’t hear, can’t see, and his house is falling apart. I think that meeting him is God’s way of opening up a door for service for our house. People that come home and don’t know their neighbors would not have the chance to meet someone like that. But because we want to meet our neighbors, we have. More opportunities will come up to love him and to serve him. So, far we’ve just brought him muffins, thanksgiving dinner plate and invited him to our Christmas party. But I feel like if I weren’t in this Christian community that connection would not have been made. But because we are intentionally trying to love our neighbors, we have stumbled upon this opportunity. God opened our eyes because we wanted them to be open.”
~Maribeth, Grant Park Dwell House community member
Wednesday
Thank you South Aiken Presbyterian Church!
This weekend we had the privilege of hosting South Aiken Presbyterian Church for a weekend of service in the city. The group was divided into three work teams that each served in a different non-profit or ministry in the morning and afternoon. One group participated in the monthly "Clean and Green" at Piedmont Park. They then headed to Medshare, an agency that collects leftover medical supplies from local hospitals and distributes them to hospitals around the world. The group worked to sort supplies that are headed to Haiti to help in the aftermath of the earthquake. Another group spent the day at Open Hand, an agency that provides 3000 meals per da to those with long term illness or senior citizens. In the morning the group delivered meals and in the afternoon they prepared meals which were delivered on Tuesday. The third group spent the morning at the Atlanta Community Tool Bank, a tool lending library for schools, churches, and non-profits. In the afternoon, the group headed to Southwest Christian Care to provide respite care for caregivers of children with physical disabilities. The group was able to play one on one with the children who were staying at the center for the weekend. This was a gift to the primary care givers of these children who often don't have much time to do things for themselves or even do simple errands.
In addition to some great service opportunities, the group saw the "Face of God" in Atlanta in some unexpected ways. Each group had an interaction with a stranger in the city where they saw the "Face of God" through that encounter. They also saw the "Face of God' in the diverse groups of people they were able to serve with during the weekend. On Saturday night we heard the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in his last sermon preached at Ebeneezer Baptist Church. We discussed the call to use our life as a testimony to our belief in Jesus Christ and what that life might exhibit. The weekend closed with worship at Ebeneezer Baptist Church, the church where Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor.
Thanks South Aiken for a great weekend!
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
Sometimes its easier to hear the gunshots, than to see the hope
Over the past five weeks, I have been sharing the stories of our Capitol View Dwell House participants. To learn more about our Dwell program, please check out our website. If you are interested in financially supporting our Dwell program, you can donate on our website. Please make sure to indicate on your donation that it is directed toward the DOOR Atlanta Dwell program.
Our last Capitol View Resident is Aline and she has taken on the leadership role of “House Leader” in our program. Last year she lived in the Grant Park Dwell House and will reflect on her desire to spend a second year living in intentional Christian community. Aline shared during a common dinner and several other community members chimed in on her reflections. I’ve shared their reflections as well.
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
Last year when I lived in the Grant Park Dwell House there were a lot of difficult times. When I was considering another year in community and looking at being a part of this new community, I was a little burnt out from all that had happened at the Grant Park house. But I believed so strongly in community that I couldn’t give up on it. For me, giving up on community is equivalent of buying a house in Sandy Springs. It would be like selling out. I realized that because I was tired and stressed, there was no other option for me, then to keep living in community.
I was excited to live in Capitol View because of the neighborhood. I knew that there was a desire of the folks in the Capitol View Community to be “in” the neighborhood. I also knew that by living in Capitol View, I would not be able to ignore the struggles people experience. I also knew this would change me somehow.
When I moved into the Grant Park Dwell community last year, I had always wanted to live in community. But I wasn’t very intentional about why I was doing it. I made a really quick decision to live in that community and moved in quickly after I made that decision. I was a complete conflict avoider when I moved into community. As I have been a part of the Dwell program I am seeing the difference in my reactions. I am able to handle conflict and be O.K. with it. Living in community has made me understand and be confronted with my selfishness. My desire to be completely independent in my schedule, my desire to not want to clean up after someone, my desire to do my own thing and not have to do something for someone else. These desires seem out of place when living in community.
Having lived in both the Grant Park house and the Capitol View house has been interesting. Living in Capitol View makes my heart break so much more. In the neighborhood of Grant Park, people look like they are going somewhere. The people around our house in Capitol View break my heart all the time. Living in Capitol View has given me a different perspective. But despite the need that I see, I also see signs of hope. I see people who have lived here for long enough to make the decision to move away, but instead decide to connect with neighbors. Anyone can do something for a year, but when I see people committing for the long haul, that gives me hope. I also hope that if somebody else can make that commitment, than I can do it. Where I struggle is with seeing hope for those in need in our neighborhood. I know there is always hope, but I don’t know how that hope will manifest itself. Hope is found in very small ways. I haven’t seen that hope personally yet, but I believe there is some. Hope is my act of faith…the evident of things not seen.”
As we were talking, Steve, another Capitol View member, chimed in on the topic of hope. He asked: “Is Hope about economic activity?” He then answered his own question. “No, if hope is only about money than people would leave the neighborhood. Hope is when relationships are built across lines of race or socio economic status. People like us tend to think that hope is about getting better economic activity, but that isn’t the whole picture.”
Aline responded to Steve by saying: “Hope is the breaking of destructive patterns. But I know personally how hard this is.”
Steve: “One of the ongoing discussions in the GED program is about students who cause trouble for other students. I believe that if they are holding back other students than we should let them go. We should do what is best for the group. But The Apostle (one of the other leaders of the GED program, along with Steve) will not let those people go. She is much less willing to give up on those folks than I am willing to. She has the tenacity to grab on. She is going to be the person who is not going to give up on you even though you are being a complete jerk. There is hope in that."
Sharon: “I find hope in programs like the GED. I find hope that the GED program will be there over the long haul and God will be there too.”
Kari: “Seeing the hope is sometimes difficult. Sometimes it is easier to hear the gunshots then the peace. “
Our last Capitol View Resident is Aline and she has taken on the leadership role of “House Leader” in our program. Last year she lived in the Grant Park Dwell House and will reflect on her desire to spend a second year living in intentional Christian community. Aline shared during a common dinner and several other community members chimed in on her reflections. I’ve shared their reflections as well.
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
Last year when I lived in the Grant Park Dwell House there were a lot of difficult times. When I was considering another year in community and looking at being a part of this new community, I was a little burnt out from all that had happened at the Grant Park house. But I believed so strongly in community that I couldn’t give up on it. For me, giving up on community is equivalent of buying a house in Sandy Springs. It would be like selling out. I realized that because I was tired and stressed, there was no other option for me, then to keep living in community.
I was excited to live in Capitol View because of the neighborhood. I knew that there was a desire of the folks in the Capitol View Community to be “in” the neighborhood. I also knew that by living in Capitol View, I would not be able to ignore the struggles people experience. I also knew this would change me somehow.
When I moved into the Grant Park Dwell community last year, I had always wanted to live in community. But I wasn’t very intentional about why I was doing it. I made a really quick decision to live in that community and moved in quickly after I made that decision. I was a complete conflict avoider when I moved into community. As I have been a part of the Dwell program I am seeing the difference in my reactions. I am able to handle conflict and be O.K. with it. Living in community has made me understand and be confronted with my selfishness. My desire to be completely independent in my schedule, my desire to not want to clean up after someone, my desire to do my own thing and not have to do something for someone else. These desires seem out of place when living in community.
Having lived in both the Grant Park house and the Capitol View house has been interesting. Living in Capitol View makes my heart break so much more. In the neighborhood of Grant Park, people look like they are going somewhere. The people around our house in Capitol View break my heart all the time. Living in Capitol View has given me a different perspective. But despite the need that I see, I also see signs of hope. I see people who have lived here for long enough to make the decision to move away, but instead decide to connect with neighbors. Anyone can do something for a year, but when I see people committing for the long haul, that gives me hope. I also hope that if somebody else can make that commitment, than I can do it. Where I struggle is with seeing hope for those in need in our neighborhood. I know there is always hope, but I don’t know how that hope will manifest itself. Hope is found in very small ways. I haven’t seen that hope personally yet, but I believe there is some. Hope is my act of faith…the evident of things not seen.”
As we were talking, Steve, another Capitol View member, chimed in on the topic of hope. He asked: “Is Hope about economic activity?” He then answered his own question. “No, if hope is only about money than people would leave the neighborhood. Hope is when relationships are built across lines of race or socio economic status. People like us tend to think that hope is about getting better economic activity, but that isn’t the whole picture.”
Aline responded to Steve by saying: “Hope is the breaking of destructive patterns. But I know personally how hard this is.”
Steve: “One of the ongoing discussions in the GED program is about students who cause trouble for other students. I believe that if they are holding back other students than we should let them go. We should do what is best for the group. But The Apostle (one of the other leaders of the GED program, along with Steve) will not let those people go. She is much less willing to give up on those folks than I am willing to. She has the tenacity to grab on. She is going to be the person who is not going to give up on you even though you are being a complete jerk. There is hope in that."
Sharon: “I find hope in programs like the GED. I find hope that the GED program will be there over the long haul and God will be there too.”
Kari: “Seeing the hope is sometimes difficult. Sometimes it is easier to hear the gunshots then the peace. “
Living and Serving in Capitol View
The past several weeks, I’ve been sharing the stories of our Dwell House participants. DOOR Atlanta’s Dwell program seeds intentional Christian communities where young adults can put their faith into practice by living together, serving the neighborhood in which they live and creating a routine of spiritual disciplines. The majority of our Dwellers are local folks who are either working or are in school and are creating the space in their lives for exploring their faith, developing deep relationships and being a neighbor as described in the Bible.
Sharon, another one of our Capitol View Dwell house residents, is serving in the Americorp program of Hands on Atlanta this year. Her program places volunteer teams in schools across the City of Atlanta to help with tutoring and other activities for the students in the school. Sharon’s school placement is in Sylvan Hills Middle School, which is the middle school that serves the neighborhood of Capitol View. Below are some of her reflections on living in the same neighborhood as the school she works.
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
“It’s intense living in the same neighborhood where I serve the school. It’s intense because the reality of my students situation does not go away at the end of the day. However, it is also a benefit because I have access to the community where we live in a way that lets me learn more about our neighbors way of life. By “way of life” I mean everything from language to learning styles to religion to emotional needs. Neglect is a really big thing that I see around the school. Especially the attention that a child needs from their parents. When I interact with the community outside of school, I am aware that folks can be part of the extended family of these children. GED tutoring shows me another side of people who didn’t make it through the school system. It helps to gives me perspective on both sides.
Working at Sylvan Hills Middle School is tiring. I frequently lament the emotional pain and the generational violence that seems to plague our community. I am grieved and not able to escape many times the heavy weight of struggles of the community and with my colleagues’ interaction with the community. My housemates have been a great support system as I work in this intense environment. The fact that they do not work in the community helps to get me in a different mindset when I am with them. They have a different experience working in a different part of Atlanta. The community has also been an outlet for me to discuss issues with which I am faced at school and walking on the street.
Despite the struggles, I also see signs of hope in the school through the teachers. They are very patient and have mastered the art of teaching in this community. Teachers in a school like Sylvan Hills Middle School go through a period of having to adjust. Teachers that have adjusted are able to say: “The problem is greater than me, I cannot save everyone, but I have found my niche.” Good teachers enforce discipline but they do it fairly and are able to give positive affirmation. They are able to have a professional demeanor. When the teachers have the students respect it becomes much easier to teach them and they are also better able to discipline them once they earn this respect.
The Principle of Sylvan Hills Middle School, Ms. Atkins, brings in a lot of excellence. Sylvan Hills Middle School has single gender classrooms. Students wear uniforms: Black, white, and gold depending on grade level. The students walk in single file line to class. Many students are eager to learn and I see a lot of hope in the students’ eagnerness to learn. I tutor math, and even though my students are way behind in Math, there resilience in them and I see positive growth in their desire to learn. Even when the resources are limited, they continue to come back and keep trying.
Violence is a way of life in the school. There are a lot of problems with fighting in the school. Students want to be in gangs, they idolize gang members. Teachers have an opportunity to interrupt that cycle. But I’ve learned that gang culture is complicated. Gangs can be a way to survive for some, but gangs can be more and more violent. Guys have to fight their way into a gang. Girls have to have sex to get in. There are always a couple of girls that are pregnant in 8th grade. I always see students who lack guidance and hope, but there are also always teachers who care and want to care for students in a wholistic way.
At first the violence in disciplining students in the school was difficult for me to see. But the longer I am in the school I recognize that some kids need structure and guidance. That kind of structure and discipline seems to work. It is surprising to me that violence is effective, but there is research that supports that kids in poverty responding to more violent types of discipline. I think my surprise around this issue comes from a class difference. At first I was offended by violence because I came from a white, upperclass seminary and we like non-violence practices. But working in a school like this you need to find your inner backbone. You have to be so on top of your game. You have to be an expert in structure. An expert in lesson plans. An expert in getting students from point A to point B. An expert in order to be effective. As a white teacher in an all black school, I needed to find my strengths. My strengths are goofiness, and silliness, but I still need to learn to switch into very strict mode quickly. Teachers that have learned how to do this are most effective.
~Sharon, Capitol View Dwell House Resident
Sharon, another one of our Capitol View Dwell house residents, is serving in the Americorp program of Hands on Atlanta this year. Her program places volunteer teams in schools across the City of Atlanta to help with tutoring and other activities for the students in the school. Sharon’s school placement is in Sylvan Hills Middle School, which is the middle school that serves the neighborhood of Capitol View. Below are some of her reflections on living in the same neighborhood as the school she works.
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
“It’s intense living in the same neighborhood where I serve the school. It’s intense because the reality of my students situation does not go away at the end of the day. However, it is also a benefit because I have access to the community where we live in a way that lets me learn more about our neighbors way of life. By “way of life” I mean everything from language to learning styles to religion to emotional needs. Neglect is a really big thing that I see around the school. Especially the attention that a child needs from their parents. When I interact with the community outside of school, I am aware that folks can be part of the extended family of these children. GED tutoring shows me another side of people who didn’t make it through the school system. It helps to gives me perspective on both sides.
Working at Sylvan Hills Middle School is tiring. I frequently lament the emotional pain and the generational violence that seems to plague our community. I am grieved and not able to escape many times the heavy weight of struggles of the community and with my colleagues’ interaction with the community. My housemates have been a great support system as I work in this intense environment. The fact that they do not work in the community helps to get me in a different mindset when I am with them. They have a different experience working in a different part of Atlanta. The community has also been an outlet for me to discuss issues with which I am faced at school and walking on the street.
Despite the struggles, I also see signs of hope in the school through the teachers. They are very patient and have mastered the art of teaching in this community. Teachers in a school like Sylvan Hills Middle School go through a period of having to adjust. Teachers that have adjusted are able to say: “The problem is greater than me, I cannot save everyone, but I have found my niche.” Good teachers enforce discipline but they do it fairly and are able to give positive affirmation. They are able to have a professional demeanor. When the teachers have the students respect it becomes much easier to teach them and they are also better able to discipline them once they earn this respect.
The Principle of Sylvan Hills Middle School, Ms. Atkins, brings in a lot of excellence. Sylvan Hills Middle School has single gender classrooms. Students wear uniforms: Black, white, and gold depending on grade level. The students walk in single file line to class. Many students are eager to learn and I see a lot of hope in the students’ eagnerness to learn. I tutor math, and even though my students are way behind in Math, there resilience in them and I see positive growth in their desire to learn. Even when the resources are limited, they continue to come back and keep trying.
Violence is a way of life in the school. There are a lot of problems with fighting in the school. Students want to be in gangs, they idolize gang members. Teachers have an opportunity to interrupt that cycle. But I’ve learned that gang culture is complicated. Gangs can be a way to survive for some, but gangs can be more and more violent. Guys have to fight their way into a gang. Girls have to have sex to get in. There are always a couple of girls that are pregnant in 8th grade. I always see students who lack guidance and hope, but there are also always teachers who care and want to care for students in a wholistic way.
At first the violence in disciplining students in the school was difficult for me to see. But the longer I am in the school I recognize that some kids need structure and guidance. That kind of structure and discipline seems to work. It is surprising to me that violence is effective, but there is research that supports that kids in poverty responding to more violent types of discipline. I think my surprise around this issue comes from a class difference. At first I was offended by violence because I came from a white, upperclass seminary and we like non-violence practices. But working in a school like this you need to find your inner backbone. You have to be so on top of your game. You have to be an expert in structure. An expert in lesson plans. An expert in getting students from point A to point B. An expert in order to be effective. As a white teacher in an all black school, I needed to find my strengths. My strengths are goofiness, and silliness, but I still need to learn to switch into very strict mode quickly. Teachers that have learned how to do this are most effective.
~Sharon, Capitol View Dwell House Resident
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