The Settlement concept. That a group of like-minded individuals, who determine to abandon the American Christian Dream and embrace the life Jesus revealed through His teachings, bands together in community (not a commune!) to use their resources to bring God’s plan for life to a geographic area. Settlement members will discuss, meditate and pray until they reach clear agreement on the actions they will take to expand the Kingdom of God. In the current plan, a reasonably priced plot of land will be purchased, and building projects for small expandable cottages along with a bunkhouse / teaching facility will be started. (Carpenters for Christ or similar organizations can provide much assistance.) Although it is a community, not a commune, in order to leverage the resources each person has, many things will be held in common, and some lifestyle changes must be made. Communal items will probably include: vehicles, vegetable gardens, cooking dinners, building projects, and grounds upkeep. All Kingdom expansion projects are communal, but not necessarily with everyone participating directly. You’ll also need to cut way, way back on the normal time-wasting / life-wasting activities of watching TV, sports, movies, and surfing the internet. (Yes, if you decide to make an impact on the world through The Settlement, you must willingly make lifestyle changes. These changes must be ones you believe in. If you don’t believe in The Settlement concept, you won’t be happy, and conflict will arise.)
How the Settlement will change communities. In order to make process clearer, we’ve created an animation (not completed) which I’ll walk you through. As you’ll see, it is based on a tree’s life-cycle.
- Beginning shot of a seed planted below the soil. Above the ground we see life in America
as it currently is, with lives (trees / environment) stunted and marred by sin. The marred
environment is shown to be caused by bad actions and influences in the soil below the
stunted trees.
- The small area of soil around our seed is saturated by things like studying the Bible, our testimony about Jesus, the consistent testimony of our lives, prayer, good works produced when we begin to live as Christ’s ambassadors, our obedience…
- As the seed begins to germinate, it pushes out the bad influences in the soil directly around it. A more beautiful / productive scene emerges above ground as the soil changes from bad to good while the roots of the tree expand.
- As the tree grows, words on its trunk become visible saying “The Kingdom of God”, and words on its branches show the areas in which The Settlement members believe are the ones God would have them focus on to enlarge His Kingdom. Our good works (see Mt 5:16) in the lives of those in our community are what causes the fruit on the tree to be attractive to others. Once they taste that the fruit is good, they realize the value of the seed (Our ‘one-ness’ with Jesus produced by faith and obedience) and will choose to live with Jesus as their Lord also. With Jesus as their Lord, new believers take that seed of faith and plant it where they live, beginning the entire process again.
Current areas of focus for the first Settlement.
- Dramas. A Christian “It’s a Wonderful Life” focusing on Jesus' life instead of George Bailey's. Peter, watching from afar as Jesus suffered on the cross, turns in anguish to the other disciples and says "It would have been better if Jesus had never been born.". That is when an angel introduces cast members (the woman at the well, the Gadarene demoniac, Zacchaeus, the woman caught in adultery...), planted in the audience, who get up individually and re-enact how Jesus radically changed their lives. , other Bible-based plays
- “The Persecution” - a three day immersion weekend which helps American Christians experience what their persecuted brothers and sisters go through
- Community Outreach. Meeting the physical / spiritual / relational needs of Christians so they begin to feel they can help meet the needs of others; Repairing spiritually / emotionally damaged marriages; Marriage retreat for youth (before they start thinking of marriage), Discipleship outreach which takes a person where they are and shows them that God has provided the solution to any problem they have…i.e. – if they take this action, God promises this result; Project Life which is a program in local schools that uses a simulated life to help students understand how their education and decisions will impact the rest of their lives and transforms them into people who want to learn
- Vulnerable Children. Foster care; those aging out of foster care who still need guidance
- A year-long school that focuses on giving students the skills and spiritual maturity to make an impact in their communities and around the world. (The students will be young adults; post high school age.) It will encompass the construction skills needed to build small / economical housing, how to develop and sell vegetable, fruit and nut gardens, how to operate a commercial kitchen, and data base / web page development… It will focus on spiritual development through books like The Normal Christian Life, My Utmost for His Highest, biographies of people like Hudson Taylor, George Muller, David Brainerd, and those found in “Jesus Freaks”. The spiritual goal will be for the students to know what they believe doctrinally, and to begin living it out as they expand the Kingdom of God. After learning for nine months, the students will spend the next three months putting their skills to use. After the first four months of training, they will spend most of their weekends at churches leading Discipleship Now type programs. They will build cottages which will then be sold in order to fund the next Settlement. School graduates will often become new “Settlers” (Building new Settlements could take several years.)
Current areas of focus for the first Settlement.
- Dramas. A Christian “It’s a Wonderful Life” focusing on Jesus' life instead of George Bailey's. Peter, watching from afar as Jesus suffered on the cross, turns in anguish to the other disciples and says "It would have been better if Jesus had never been born.". That is when an angel introduces cast members (the woman at the well, the Gadarene demoniac, Zacchaeus, the woman caught in adultery...), planted in the audience, who get up individually and re-enact how Jesus radically changed their lives. , other Bible-based plays
- “The Persecution” - a three day immersion weekend which helps American Christians experience what their persecuted brothers and sisters go through
- Community Outreach. Meeting the physical / spiritual / relational needs of Christians so they begin to feel they can help meet the needs of others; Repairing spiritually / emotionally damaged marriages; Marriage retreat for youth (before they start thinking of marriage), Discipleship outreach which takes a person where they are and shows them that God has provided the solution to any problem they have…i.e. – if they take this action, God promises this result; Project Life which is a program in local schools that uses a simulated life to help students understand how their education and decisions will impact the rest of their lives and transforms them into people who want to learn
- Vulnerable Children. Foster care; those aging out of foster care who still need guidance
- A year-long school that focuses on giving students the skills and spiritual maturity to make an impact in their communities and around the world. (The students will be young adults; post high school age.) It will encompass the construction skills needed to build small / economical housing, how to develop and sell vegetable, fruit and nut gardens, how to operate a commercial kitchen, and data base / web page development… It will focus on spiritual development through books like The Normal Christian Life, My Utmost for His Highest, biographies of people like Hudson Taylor, George Muller, David Brainerd, and those found in “Jesus Freaks”. The spiritual goal will be for the students to know what they believe doctrinally, and to begin living it out as they expand the Kingdom of God. After learning for nine months, the students will spend the next three months putting their skills to use. After the first four months of training, they will spend most of their weekends at churches leading Discipleship Now type programs. They will build cottages which will then be sold in order to fund the next Settlement. School graduates will often become new “Settlers” (Building new Settlements could take several years.)
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