Our Common Covenant

We recently finished our 3-week orientation for 2009 with a recommitment to our common covenant. Although our staff personalizes the following covenant to fit their unique gifting and calling, I thought it would be interesting to share our common NieuCommunities' staff covenant with you. Our covenant is built on Communion, Community and Mission, the three threads that run through all that we do. Hopefully, this will help you to know our hearts and the heart of NieuCommunities a bit better.

Our Common Covenant

Communion

We will make the Triune God the center of our lives by:
• praying together for our world, our neighborhood, and one another
• reading scripture together
• worshiping together
• exploring and practicing other spiritual disciplines together
• celebrating and finding joy in the beauty and goodness of God’s creation
• taking a weekly Sabbath and periodically retreating together
• individually extending and expanding on these practices for our own spiritual formation

Community

We will journey together and strengthen one another by…
• living in the same neighborhood
• opening our lives and homes as places of invitation and hospitality
• gathering at least once a week over a common meal
• caring for and submitting to one another and God’s Spirit for guidance
• sharing stories and reflecting on God’s work in our midst
• living increasingly more simply and sharing our economic resources with each other and with those in need
• gathering weekly to be intentionally formed as missional leaders by living the rhythm of listening, submerging, inviting, contending, imagining, and entrusting
• inviting others to join us and allowing them to participate as much as they are able

Mission

We will join in and incarnate the good news of Jesus where he is not known and followed by…
• submerging into neighborhoods of cultural, ethnic and economic fusion, and learning to help people of different classes and colors live and work side-by-side.
• recognizing the earth is the Lord’s and we are called to care for, protect, and work towards its redemption as part of the whole of creation
• occupying the already existing places in our neighborhood—or creating a place if it doesn’t already exist—to be with the people God longs for
• discipling people who want to follow Jesus into a relationship with him
• mentoring those from our neighborhoods to be people of peace and influence
• partnering with our neighbors—as a missional community—in a few carefully selected, kingdom-oriented initiatives that we will engage together and help advance
• inviting our neighbors and friends to join us in periodic gatherings to experience the goodness of God
• living out the fullness of life that God has uniquely created, gifted, and called each of us to live
• apprenticing young leaders to engage all of the above with us and to live missional lives wherever they go

All The Buzz

Community has been a buzz word for quite some time now. Being a part of a community. Building community. Helping to start a new community.

I find that people love the idea of community. Being a part of something bigger than oneself. Being surrounded by like-minded people, who long for the same things. Pursuing a common purpose in the spirit of unity.

Like most people, I also dream of how the community I am a part of will lift me up. Edify me. Help me to be more like Jesus. And, secretly, fill some of that void that lies deep in my heart. Yeah, I can be a bit self-centered on occasion. The occasion usually being each brand new day.

Truth is, community is hard work. Okay, okay, I know you've probably heard that before, but it's so true. Today we begin our 7th year of NieuCommunities South Africa. And I am amazed that I am a bit apprehensive about moving toward community with 8 new people that I've never been in a community with. Is it because I'm secretly afraid of community? I don't think so.

I think the apprehension lies in the fact that true community calls me to be totally and completely reliant on Jesus. Not that I don't want to be totally reliant. Problem is that I've lived with myself for a few years and I know that I don't always do that. I enjoy this funny little thing called control, and in my attempt to control I lose the very thing I'm striving for.

I also know that true community calls me to serve. I like to serve others! That is, until they tick me off, get under my skin and eventually fall onto the inevitable list of "those who don't deserve to be served." Yes, dying to self and becoming servant of all is the call of the day if you want true community. In my attempt to get my way I squander the very thing I'm longing for.

Finally, I know that true community calls me to be vulnerable. To allow others to see (and experience) those dastardly parts of me that I don't even like to admit I have. It's hard to wear a mask in community. No, let me rephrase that. It's easy to wear a mask, but it's hard to find one that others can't see through. Again, in my attempt to protect myself, I miss the very thing I am hoping for.

So, why is it that I keep fighting for community year after year? The answer is simple. I have tasted it's fruit. The shaping of my life. The transformation of my character. A growing ability to love the seemingly unlovable. A blossoming desire to die to self. A thirsting after righteousness. A hunger for His kingdom. This is why I keep fighting for community.