I just continue to refine this vision so that people can come by late summer. Please forgive me for typos and grammatical errors. I have so much on my plate right now, and getting this article finished was a huge effort. I would really enjoy getting your questions and feedback.

Several months ago I decided that I was not fit to be a leader of a community, and was going to give up on my dreams. Circumstances provided by God, I believe, helped me realize that I don’t have to have all the qualifications I thought I needed as long as I was relying on Jesus for help and guidance. Recently I have committed to creating a rule of life for myself which will be extended to those who are in the monastery part of the community described below. By having spiritual practices that help me and other people who join me to maintain loving connection with Jesus and each other, we can form a core group of people who can then as a team guide the larger community. Thankfully, I don’t have to teach people about living the way of Jesus. I have found a free resource which will help me develop the rule of life necessary for a monastery to have. Here it is: https://www.facebook.com/patricia.mikkelson.hughes/

This course helps anyone create their own rule of life, and I am going to be developing a rule of life for the monastery.

I wrote quite a few visions about the monastery and community in general which I am revisiting and revising. I had forgotten that I wrote them! They were written when I was calling the village Wellspring. I may change the name “Wilberforce Village” again, depending on what future residents think. Here are some of the articles. 

This article is the most comprehensive of all my past articles, and I felt so inspired by this: https://wellspringcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/29/envisioning-future-miracles-at-wellspring-monastery/

I had a vision in the past of starting a monastery. Here is an article I wrote about the Moravians that inspired me. 

This is a vision for the monastery to be separate from the main area. This still could happen. https://wellspringcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2024/01/22/a-place-in-wilberforce-village-for-a-monastery/

This describes why we will follow the early Christians’ example of having all things in common. https://wellspringcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2021/03/09/why-we-will-practice-using-a-common-treasury-in-the-monastery/

I pray right now: Abba Father, Holy Spirit, Beloved Jesus: Guide me as I write these words and infuse them with your love. I ask for wisdom as I continue on this journey, and you promise that you will answer this prayer. I surrender all to you, and if I am doing anything that is not in alignment with your Word and your will, just stop that thing from happening. I want this community to be a place where people can come, both Christians and non-Christians, to experience your love. I want this community to be a place where people will know we are Christians by our love for each other, for all of life, and for God. I know I can not do this without your help and guidance, and I thank you that you are with me always. Help me to listen better. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Imagine a village where the center is a monastery where men and women who are passionately committed to Jesus facilitate the workings of the common house and common lands for food growing, recreation, and cooperative businesses. They engage the residents of the larger community in decision making and keeping the community well running. Because of their focus on practicing spiritual formation, providing spiritual direction as wanted by the village members, and facilitating daily events where residents can participate in spiritual practices as they wish, there can be a peace that passes all understanding in the village.

Practicing a day of rest on a day that we can decide together will be another way the monastics can serve the community with a facilitating wide variety of events such as singing, prayer, teaching, inner healing with Jesus using the Emmanuel Approach, cooperative games (including cooperative volleyball), swimming in the lake (and eventually a big pond to be built on the land), studying the scriptures in a way that satisfies all ages, eating a plant-based feast, telling stories around the campfire, folk dancing, and taking walks in the forest.

I’m still not sure which day is Biblically correct–Saturday or Sunday–on which to rest. Maybe we will consider Friday at sundown to Sunday sundown to be a time of Sabbath rest. This could bring more unity in the village, and we can define what Sabbath rest is for us. Let’s figure it out together.

Our main rule of behavior towards each other, that we will not gossip but rather go to a person one on one when conflict happens, is inspired by the Bruderhof. Read about the conflict prevention and resolution policy here: https://wellspringcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2024/05/09/conflict-resolution-guidelines-2/

(People who are interested in having their own lot to develop and live in the future Community Land Trust described later in this article, can do so if they have trust in the future of the community-and are willing to put in the work without legal structures in place. Many agreements will have to be made, but if someone really wants to do this in the beginning, I am open.)

People have stewardship over their city-lot sized parcel of land where they can do anything they want in accordance to the community land trust guidelines and the requirements of zoning and other laws of the state which are in alignment with Biblical teachings. Picture all sorts of homes being built out of sustainable building materials–cob, straw bale, cordwood, earth bags and more. Geodesic domes, earth ships, underground homes, and other interesting structures dot the landscape. Each “holding” is beautiful and unique. Some have food forests. Others are growing wild edibles, pollinators, dwarf fruit trees, herbs, vegetables and lots of flowers. People feel a sense of ownership because they know that as long as they stay within the parameters of the agreements which simply help the land, people and all of life be healthy–they will have the land and can pass it on to their heirs who can pass it on to their heirs.

“A Community Land Trust – or CLT – is a democratic, nonprofit organization that owns and develops land for the benefit of the community.” Learn more at this site: https://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk/about-clts/what-is-a-community-land-trust-clt/

Then envision a small cluster of huts connected to or near the common house (which is already built) where there is a monastery of men and women who have dedicated their lives to help run this community and support all members to engage in decision making and cooperation. They supply physical support in the form of facilitating community meetings, doing physical work to help create self sufficiency, planning outreach and service to the larger community (Living Springs neighborhood, Madison County, Huntsville, Kingston, Northwest Arkansas, the Ozarks and the world) preparing meals, coordinating growing food on the common areas, and other things that help the community run smoothly.

They also help with spiritual support in the form of developing 24 hour prayer, leading services where maximum participation of all is encouraged, having daily events that foster spiritual practices, and having bible studies, worship meetings and so much more. There is a “yome” that needs fixing up that could serve as a chapel. I am looking into how to start a 24 hour prayer room at this website: https://www.24-7prayer.com/

They are single and celibate, able to be free to help more because their lives are simple and they hold all things in common. They can help provide the things that house-holders have a harder time handling because they are raising children. They will help run the school, find people to start a holistic clinic, eldercare facility, rehab center and other facilities that will help people in need and fulfill Christ’s call to help the poor, minister to the orphans and widows, and in general be of service. They don’t make a life time commitment to celibacy because they may decide that marriage is for them eventually, and that is okay.

As in the olden days, when the monasteries would help the villages, this monastery will be similar. As villagers grow in trust and commitment, they can become lay monastics, and participate in the practice of holding of all in common as the early Christians did.

I have been very inspired by the Bruderhof community when they discuss the importance of sharing all in common in order to follow Jesus’s sermon on the mount and to imitate the life of the early Christians. I am going to visit them in June for a week and I am very excited. I thought at first that I just needed to give up starting a community and just join one. but I realized that my commitment to veganism was really a stumbling block.

The community will be a vegan community where people eat a plant based diet AKA the Eden diet or vegan diet. Part of this is because we are trying to use the land most efficiently, and growing animals takes a lot of space. Another reason is that the original diet as taught by the Bible in Genesis was a plant based diet. I envision a community where we do our best to return to the garden Eden–but not succumb to the temptation of mistrusting and betraying God. Eating a plant-based diet. Eating a simple plant based diet can give us more connection to the poor because eating extravagant and expensive meals uses up resources that could be used to help the poor. And maybe the biggest reason–is that animals suffer when we consume their flesh and their secretions.

I really want to find people who want to utilize the upper part of the land which is near the road, and which can be easily connected to the grid–as village businesses including ones mentioned above and also a general store which can be similar to the old style co-operatives (my friend and former husband Cliff and I ran one back in the seventies for two years). A mechanic’s shop would be great.

Even without sharing all in common, we can cooperate in endless ways including:

A Tool library which includes garden tools, power tools, hand tools. https://www.shareable.net/how-to-start-a-tool-library/

Time banking in order to help everyone share their labor in a way that leads to holding everything in common as people feel inspired to do so. https://timebanks.org/

Using the common house which includes a library, a recording studio (eventually), kitchen and meeting room. Have clear guidelines is important. Here is an article that talks about this.

Sharing healthy, plant-based, oil-free meals with food mostly grown on the land. 

A chapel which provides a place for prayer 24 hours a day. A goal is to have at least one person praying every hour of each day.  

Community gardens, orchards, hiking trails, meditation rest spots and food forests. 

common recreational space: Includes a play ground with a trampoline, volleyball court, open space for various sports, and work out stations. 

I have an idea of a common business which would be sustainable and useful services. https://sustainableservices.wordpress.com/ People who live in the community and elsewhere can join this cooperative endeavor. A co-operative is a people-centered enterprise owned, controlled, and run by and for its members to realize their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations. Cooperatives bring people together in a democratic and equal way, and we would use Sociocracy 3.0 to make decisions.

I’m excited about moving forward. I would love to hear what your thoughts are. People could come for a work exchange program if they are highly trustworthy since I still have to work outside the home to make money. Ideally anyone who comes will be able to help create a cooperative business so that we can all make money to pay our expenses. 

I am starting a new order of monastics where the beliefs include, according to the Bible, Christian Universalism (the doctrine that all will be saved eventually because God is both good, just and powerful) and veganism–the interpretation of the Bible that points to a plant-based diet where we do least harm to all of life.  I do not know of any Christian monastery that has combined these two doctrines.

I align with this statement of beliefs: https://www.christianuniversalism.com/statement-of-faith/

I align with their statement about Christian Universalism: https://www.christianuniversalism.com/about-us/

This AI generated statement aligns with my beliefs: 

Veganism is not explicitly taught in the Bible, but there are several passages that can be interpreted to support a plant-based diet. Here are some key points:

• In the book of Genesis, God creates the world and all living things, including plants and animals. God gives humans dominion over the earth and its creatures, but also commands them to care for and protect the animals (Genesis 1:26-31).
• In Genesis 1:29-30, God gives humans a plant-based diet, saying, “Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.’ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.’ And it was so.”
• In Leviticus 11:2-47 and Deuteronomy 14:3-21, there are dietary laws that prohibit the consumption of certain animals and animals that have not been properly slaughtered. Some interpreters have argued that these laws suggest a plant-based diet is the most compassionate and ethical choice.
• In the New Testament, Jesus teaches that humans should love their neighbors as themselves and treat others with kindness and compassion (Matthew 22:37-40). Some Christians have interpreted this as a call to treat animals with kindness and compassion, and to avoid harming or consuming them.
• The Bible also teaches that humans are accountable to God for their actions, including their treatment of animals (Matthew 25:31-46). Some Christians have argued that this implies that humans have a responsibility to treat animals with respect and compassion, and to avoid harming or exploiting them.

It’s worth noting that the Bible does not explicitly condemn the consumption of animal products, and many Christians have historically followed a diet that includes meat. However, some Christians have argued that a plant-based diet is a more compassionate and ethical choice, and that it is consistent with the values of love, kindness, and compassion taught in the Bible.

This article aligns with my beliefs as well, except for the fact that I am not so sure animals are a contributor to climate change–but that is another discussion. https://www.vegansociety.com/news/blog/should-christians-be-vegan

I believe in the Apostles Creed:

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

I believe the Nicene Creed:

We believe in one God,
the Father, the almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is,
seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.