Koinonia is a Christian farm community founded in 1942 by Clarence & Florence Jordan and Martin & Mabel England. Home of the Cotton Patch Gospel, birthplace of Habitat for Humanity, Jubilee Partners, Prison Jail Project, Fuller Center for Housing and other ministries. Still growing pecans and peanuts, welcoming visitors, and living the "demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God". News Events Visit Intern History KCOC Catalog Contact us What is Koinonia? Koinonia Briefly Junel 2008 a monthly e-news publication Recently, we celebrated with our friend Frank Latimore. He’s the County Extension Coordinator, UGA, who retired after 32 years of magnificent service. He has been a dear friend to Koinonia not only helping us with the farm, but in many other areas as well. He’s driven our Circle of Friends group to Calloway Gardens, given planting demonstration at our after-school program and has been a presence at many of our summer youth camp sessions. Pictured below are Kathleen Monts, Jo Knox, and Frank with a banner Jo painted for his retirement reception hosted by the UGA. Congratulations, Frank!       The Koinonia bell rings at 10:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m

Koinonia’s board of directors arrived for the bi-annual meeting held Friday and Saturday, May 30 & 31. Chair, Cathy Zall, greets newest member David Janzen. David is a member of Reba Place Fellowship, a sister intentional Christian community. Our 15-member board includes five community members from Koinonia, one representative from Jubilee Partners in Comer, GA, one from Reba Place Fellowship in Evanston, IL, and seven wonderful individuals who do not live in intentional community. We hope to soon add one more from another sister community. We’ll keep you posted. Koinonia is honored to have so many fine folk from all walks of life willing to serve. Below Brendan Prendergast gives a tour of the garden to our board members.

Reaching Out

More fun for our elders as they attended the annual Senior’s Day picnic hosted by the Senior Citizen’s Council on Aging. Below is a photo of our wonderful Circle of Friends ladies after a hard day’s eating, dancing, and fun games. Pictured from left to right: Mildred Burton, Emma Sue Clay, Ellie Castle, Fannie Harvey, Kathleen Monts, and Fannie Butler.

Koinonia Community Outreach Center hosted “Bridging the Gap: A Community Health and Religion Conference” on May 22. Representatives from the local health department, drug store, coroner’s office, Georgia Legal Services, The American Red Cross, Sumter Electric Membership Corp, and the Social Security office were there to share information and answer questions. Sherryl Sneed, pastor of Peter’s Chapel African American Methodist Episcopal church, ended the conference with a talk about spiritual makeover.

Our Heart-to-Heart team recently finished repairs to Letha McCoy’s house in the Forest Park community. Adam, Beth, Jerry, Nashua, and Seth repainted Litha’s house and repaired her front porch. Aside from Adam’s ladder falling over a few times, the repairs went smoothly, and no injuries occurred. Below, Student Intern Beth Greaves is hard at work painting Letha’s house.

Many of our community members quietly serve in many ways. Ellie Castle has been mentoring young women at an alternative high school for several years now. One of these young women graduated this month. “These young women need encouragement to stay in school to receive their high school diploma and to go on to college. It’s rewarding for this grandmother to develop a friendship with teenagers from the larger community. I love it. I love them,” Ellie said. Thanks, Ellie, for all you do for us and for others.

We’re excited about the start of our annual summer camp at the KCOC. For the first week, we’ll host the Peace Mobile from Atlanta. We know the kids will learn a lot from this week and hope that we can build lasting relationships with our local youth. Watch for photos and an update in the next Koinonia Briefly.

Bren recently spent a week visiting with our friends in Oregon at the Church of the Servant King. She celebrated Pentecost with them, and brought back many inspiring stories. She was particularly thrilled about how this community shares housing with eight to a dozen or more all living in one house. Not long after returning from Oregon, Bren left for North Carolina. She was able to visit with Clarence and Florence’s youngest child Lenny and his wife Jean Jordan. Bren also had lunch with Elizabeth Ann Hay. Elizabeth served on the board of directors in the ‘90s and is a long-time friend of Koinonia’s. While in North Carolina, Bren learned that Mars Hill College hopes to arrange for her to spend two days in residence this fall. If you would like to invite Bren to your area, please send her an email or call us at (229) 924-0391.

Down on the Farm

Although many college students come to visit during March for spring break, we have a steady flow throughout the year. Recently, during the same weekend, we had 20 students from Berry College and 14 students from the University of Portland. It’s always fun to have an influx of youthful energy on the farm. They keep us busy with stories and marshmallows around the bonfire. They, also, keep us mindful of the way the Holy Spirit continues to work in and through them. Below, David Castle prepares to take the students on a joy ride through the orchards.

Each year the University of Portland plans a Civil Rights pilgrimage and often Koinonia is on the itinerary. This year they had a special treat when Sandra Mansfield met with to share her experiences in the Sumter County Civil Rights Movement. She was one of the first young people in the summer of 1963 to participate in protests attempting to integrate public facilities and as a result she was arrested and held in the Leesburg prison for 45 days under horrible conditions. She was part of the group that became known as the 12 stolen girls. She was also one of the first African-Americans to integrate Americus High School.

Our garden continues to produce a surplus of leafy greens, snowpeas, mulberries, and strawberries. Soon our blueberries will be ready for picking. We’re grateful for all the wonderful goodies just in our backyard. Our children especially enjoy picking an afternoon snack. We can always use your help in the harvest. If a trip out in June to pick blueberries isn’t possible, please come in August when the grapes will be ready. Below, our youngest Koinonia Kellan Prendergast enjoys yummy strawberries.

The community just began a four-week study session on Permaculture. We’ll be watching four episodes of Bill Mollison’s Global Gardener by 220 Productions, learning about implementing self-sustainable methods of gardening and living in a healthy relationship with our environment. During the first week of June, Chuck Marsh—a permaculture expert—will come to meet with us for four days. More about that in next month’s e-news!

 

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