The Arbor
Like those among the early church, the community called The Arbor shares time, space, belongings, finances, and life with one another. Individuals within The Arbor commit to living their lives guided by traditional practices of Christian faith such as hospitality, prayer, discernment, worship, fellowship, forgiveness, and simple living.
Hospatility
In her book Making Room, Christine Pohl writes that the "key components in the practice of hospitality" in past centuries included
- "welcoming strangers into a home and"
- "offering them food, shelter, and protrection"1
We do our best to embody the practice of hospitality to strangers which we believe to be, in Pohl's words, "a fundamental expression of the gospel."1
Hospitality takes many shapes and forms through our community. A few of our ways of showing hospitality to our neighbors include:
- offering a place within The Arbor for folks to stay during transitions, financial difficulties, travels, and/or displacement,
- opening our meals to anyone who comes by or may be in need of food,
- living amongst and (as much as possible) in solidarity with the poor, oppressed, and marginalized of our local community,
- cultivating community within our neighborhood, and
- actively searching for ways to welcome neighbors and strangers.
