For The Record

Submit birth, marriage and obituary records online.

Personal Ads

Meet new friends today!

Advertising

Put your message in front of 19,000 readers.

PDF documents on this site require the free Adobe Reader:

Get Adobe Reader

2009-07-07 issue:

New DOOR opens for Atlanta Dwellers

Dwell ‘cementing its presence’ by purchasing a home in Capitol View area.

by Hannah Heinzekehr of Mennonite Mission Netwo

Print Article

Tents may be temporary, but one group of tentmakers are staking their ministry in Atlanta long term.

Home ownership and local young adults committed to service are opening the Discovering Opportunities for Outreach and Reflection program onto new thresholds. Buying a house is a first for the DOOR program and represents its commitment to being a sustained presence in Atlanta. The DOOR house will join the existing Dwell house, rented from Atlanta Mennonite Fellowship, in Atlanta’s Grant Park neighborhood in hosting yearlong Dwell volunteers.


DOOR’s Dwell house in Atlanta gathers for house dinner. From left are Jannan Thomas, Amy Anderson, Aline Talmage and Josh Peck. Photo by Cara Rufenacht.

DOOR, one of Mennonite Mission Network’s Christian service programs, offers a variety of short-term urban service experiences for groups and individuals. Dwell is DOOR’s yearlong service program for young adults in the city.

In Atlanta, the Dwell program has taken a different shape than in other locations. While participants come to the program from around the country to volunteer, the Atlanta Dwell house this year hosts five “tentmakers” from the Atlanta area.

“In Atlanta we’ve seen a lot of interest in people living in intentional community, possibly stemming some from the popularity of writers such as Shane Claiborne,” says Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta city director, who lives in the Capitol View neighborhood, where the new home is located. “And this experience is so valuable because it allows you to integrate spiritual disciplines into your  regular life.”

These young adults hold paying jobs and have chosen to live together in intentional Christian community and minister in their home area. Together, members of the Dwell house pray together and study topics such as classism, racism and gentrification. Dwellers also work to undergird work that is ongoing throughout the city and in their neighborhood.

“We’re not just putting volunteers into a needy neighborhood,” says Thomas. “We’re asking them to learn about assets-based community development and to learn what the biblical call to be a neighbor means.”

Dwell is cementing its presence in the city by buying a house in Capitol View, a diverse area experiencing a shift in population. Many of the homes in the neighborhood are in foreclosure, and the Capitol View zip code has the highest rate of mortgage fraud in the country. The availability of inexpensive housing has led to an influx of new, middle-class neighbors and the area is beginning to experience gentrification. Capitol View is also a historic area with a large, effective neighborhood association and has a tradition of regular neighborhood potluck meals and boasts several active congregations.

“I went through a phase where I was critical of gentrification, but I’ve come to see it as inevitable. So, like with all of life, I think we need to find a way to do something beautiful with it and bring people along,” says Troy Bronsink, DOOR board member, who lives in and pastors an emergent congregation in Capitol View. “I’m a big proponent of intentional neighboring.”

Atlanta Dwellers have each committed to spending time volunteering and connecting with the neighborhood.

“It’s a special thing to be living with a group of committed Christians … but it’s nice to have the flexibility to do work outside the community, too,” says Dwell participant Alan Jenkins, who started an environmental justice ministry within the Presbyterian church.

The Dwellers’ initiatives include helping start a community garden, mentoring students at a local school and providing graphic design and Web services for small church agencies and nonprofit organizations that could not otherwise afford them.

“I’ve realized that living alone wasn’t for me, and this community has fed my soul. And not only that, we’re a wonderful extension of each other’s ministries,” says Tom Livengood, a Dwell participant who has helped to initiate and lead the Living Room Fellowship, an emergent group that meets down the road from the current Dwell house.

 The new house in the Capitol View neighborhood will serve as yet another extension of Dwell’s ministries. Volunteers, board members and people from the neighborhood are helping renovate the house for use in the fall.

Reader Comments

Add Comments