CARE HOUSING

 

Here are her comments:

‘I have lived at ADH for five and a half years. I work forWoodlands Church as the children’s pastor and living in community gives me lots of support and encouragement for this, (having a roast dinner laid on for you after every busy Sunday morning is fantastic!) ADH has also been an ideal venue for one of our children’s home groups which has been an exciting development of my work. Every fortnight a group of around 12 children aged between 7 and 10 come round and eat tea together and then play some lively games before settling down to look at the Bible, talk and pray together. Topics we have looked at are things like ‘what does the Bible say about children?’, ‘the secret adventure of a friendship with Jesus’ and ‘adventures in acts.’ I feel that the home group has played an important role in giving the children a positive experience of church and helping them to feel more settled on Sunday mornings too. I have been surprised at how committed the children have become to this group and in recent months I have been encouraging some of them to start  leading it for themselves. The group has also been a place where they have felt safe to invite friends from school to ‘come and see.’ I think that coming to ADH gives all these children a positive glimpse into a differentway of life to what they are used  to.

 

I hope and pray that it encourages them in their own journeys of faith.’

The community at Müller House has seen a change in personnel over the lastyear. Comings and goings are an inevitable part of community life. It is these moments of change that afford the opportunity to reflect on whywelive together and whatwehope to achieve by doing so.

 

The Müller House community currently consists of nine adults and one child. Why do we live together?

 

The following values give an indication of why we live in such an unusual way:

 

• The value of shared life - in a world where independence is highly valued yet dependency is often the norm, we believe that a healthy interdependence as illustrated in scripture is not only good for us but is an essential part of living in the Kingdom of God.

 

• The value of community as church - this falls into 3 general areas:

a. we aim to be a worshipping community, setting aside time for corporate prayer and praise.

c. we aim to be a ‘becoming’ community, recognising that stasis is unhealthy and that, as followers of Christ, we are seeking to grow in character and love.

 

• the value of simplicity - in a materialistic world the witness of non-materialistic joys and pleasures found and fostered in a relatively simple lifestyle is something we aim to model.

 

• the value of hospitality - guests at meals and visitors to stay are all part of our wider sharing of life. We want to be particularly hospitable towards those who are ‘poor’ emotionally, physically or spiritually.

 

• children and young people - children necessitate a rhythm of life and a caring and nurturing environment that benefits us all. Young people can recognise role models in various adults, and find a safe place to come and be.

 

Community life always carries the inherent challenge to move out of our ‘comfortzones’ and to think of others before ourselves. This is never easy, it is usually costly and is, I hope, always worthwhile. I think that those who live in the Müller House Community would attest to that.

 

Over the last 2 years there has been a lot of transformation at Burghley Road. This has been with the house, the garden and the occupants. There are 5 ofus living at Burghley Road and we have been choosing to share life with one another. There have been many ups and downs Along the way.

 

Our expression of life together is much like a family. We choose to eat together and have regular times of prayer for each other (plus the occasional argument and too much washing up). It has been great to see what God has been doing in our lives and be able to share in one another’s journey.  It has been a rich time of living together with a close dynamic which few of us have experienced before. God is really using this time in helping us grow in knowing him and into maturity. It is also a safe place whereweare able to share openly about how we’re doing.

 

This is what ED said “this has been one of the best places that I have lived in. It ‘s good to live with a genuine spiritual focus and a real expression of Christianity. We’re good at rubbing each other up the wrong way, but nothing that a bit of forgiveness and Green and Black’s chocolate can’t fix.

 

We have also been keen to connect with the wider community. We held a mulled wine party for the neighbours at Christmas and we regularly have guests coming round for meals and to stay. We’ve really enjoyed being able to offer hospitality to many friends and colleagues since living here. We Seek to be open to what God is doing in our lives and to share His life with others.

Nigel says “ I like living at Burghley Road because it is a place where I can learn to love others and to receive love.

 

Community has been a very healing place for me and God continues to use it to reveal His love to me through others. I have really got into gardening and baking cakes. Between us we are able to make up a string quintet which sounds quite good.”