About Clarence Jordan and Koinonia
First and foremost I should explain more about the history and philosophy of Koinonia. It all started with the vision of Clarence Jordan (pronounced “jer-den”), a Georgia native who studied agriculture before sensing a call to ministry and earning a PhD in Greek New Testament at the Southern Baptist Seminary. Clarence quickly came to recognize the “radical” nature of the Gospel when it is fully lived out, and sought to found a Christian community with a way of life that would stand as an alternative to materialism, racism, and militarism. He and his wife, together with another fairly young couple, bought some neglected land and established Koinonia in 1942.
Clarence understood Jesus Christ as calling for “partners” to join in the Kingdom of God, or, as Clarence called it, the “God Movement.” Deep in the segregated South this partnership would transgress social codes as Koinonia deliberately opened the door to African-Americans for community membership and made sure they received equal financial standing. For the first ten years or so the surrounding population in Sumter County viewed Clarence and Koinonia as weird but mostly harmless. Perhaps the most ardent segregationists simply refused to believe that black and white sat together at the dinner table on a Georgia farm.
After Brown vs. Topeka in 1954, however, traditionalist whites reacted forcefully and violently to any threat to their “cherished way of life,” while others accused Koinonia of being Communist. The KKK rallied in Sumter County and motorcaded to Koinonia with 90 cars, hoping to intimidate Clarence into accepting a very low offer for the farm and leave. Koinonia's roadside produce stands were firebombed and drive-by gunshots barely missed the heads of children inside the farm homes. Beginning in the late 1950s a local economic boycott kept the community on the verge of annihilation for nearly a decade, and one Americus merchant who dared to sell to the farm lost his store to a bomb.
During the 60s Millard and Linda Fuller came to stay at Koinonia and an idea suggested by Clarence became the catalyst for their creation of Habitat for Humanity, which is now headquartered in downtown Americus, Georgia. Jordan passed away in 1969 but the farm carried on. During the 1990s the community became organized more like a corporation and was seen by the rest of the county as a kind of social service agency. The members now consider that a regrettable period and are striving to reaffirm Koinonia as a spiritually-centered community that can be, in Clarence's words, “a demonstration plot for the God Movement.”
Koinonia will identify itself as an “intentional Christian community.” The phrase sounds unusual when one first hears it – most people intend community in one way or another, and members of a church choose to be there on purpose. This term tries to describe a community made up of people self-consciously seeking to live in close connection and proximity, share resources, disciple and enable one another, eat and fellowship together frequently, and model a way of life that pushes back against consumerism and individualism. Imagine a monastery with both genders and no celibacy requirement, but still possessing common work, vision, and living space. The devaluation of money is still prominent – one Koinonian has told me that at least technically she lives below poverty level. The similarities to the old orders are strong enough that the current movement of intentional communities is sometimes dubbed “the new monasticism.” Now the Church has periodically seen efforts at renewal take the form of intentional communities: the Jerusalem Church in Acts 2, the original monastic orders, the Bruderhofs and Hutterite communities of Germanic Europe, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer's secret Finkenwalde seminary in Nazi Germany. At 65 years of age Koinonia happens to be a kind of forerunner to this latest effort at restoring authentic community.
So this is some of the history and the vision that drew me to Koinonia and that inspires its permanent members. I look forward to the regular rhythms of daily prayer, the spiritual companionship, and (I hope) even the hard work! I also especially hope that the next few months will be a time of some reflection and insight that I can take with me into pastoral ministry as I seek to help churches live out faithfulness to the gospel through communion, peace, and discipleship.
Labels: Koinonia
Post a Comment