Intentional Communities are becoming more prevalent across the United States. Why are intentional communities gaining so much notoriety within the context of the Christian church these days? It seems that many Christians are feeling a need to dig deeper; to make church more than a Sunday morning affair and a Wednesday evening small group. But who exactly are these Christians who are having this desire?

This is my second year serving as an intern for the urban ministry Church Hill Activities and Tutoring, and the second year that the program has run an internship for high school youth. Each “street leader” is paired up with a college intern in a mentoring relationship. This relationship includes one-on-one time, bible studies, life skills sessions (cooking, money management, interviewing skills), academic work, and several labor projects. After doing this internship for two years I have come to the conclusion that the labor-based projects are the most effective initiatives in regard to building character in the youth.

What has happened to the ecclesia of the West? In my last entry, I pointed out how the church has become stagnant, and that the word church does not evoke any of the mystery, awe, admiration, or respect that it should. Instead, it connotes rigidity, apathy and boredom. This is a great travesty, for the Church should be the great lifesaver of the world, and if churchgoers do not view it as such, why would they then have any expectations for unbelievers to do so? It seems that the salt is losing its flavor. How then shall it be seasoned?

I have read that the people of Israel were commanded to observe a Jubilee every fifty years. The Jubilee was to be a time of restoration – restoration of lost lands, animals and goods. It was to be a time of rest as well – a Sabbath of Sabbaths. As far as we know, the people of Israel never fully enacted the Jubilee. In fact, they seemed to struggle with injustice as much as the nations around them, who did not know Yahweh. It is unfortunate that the establishment of a covenant relationship with God does not equate in perfection. The Law was perfect, but could not be followed perfectly. Then Yeshua came…He did live a perfect life, fulfilling the law in every way. And he came announcing the Jubilee.

This week was somewhat of a return to normalcy after the STEP VBS last week. We resumed tutoring, as well as meetings with the street leaders (h.s. interns). The big trip for the week was our annual visit to King's Dominion Theme Park. It went really well and I think all the kids had a great time. It is always fun to see how scared they get before some of the rides. I had to convince several of them about hundred times that they were probably not "going to die" on the waterslide!

This week was centered around an inner-city Church Vacation Bible School (VBS). We would take the Church Hill kids to Eternity Church each day from 3-6pm, where they would join 80-90 other kids for Bible instruction, story-telling, crafts, recreation and music. I personally enjoyed the music because I got to play with Gordon and Laura Ann Boyd, and the kids would jump up and down and dance around. They were so lively; I only hope that the worship aspect will start to work on their hearts and draw them to Jesus.

This week's "life lesson" with the street leaders (high school interns) was on money management. So, we college interns decided to take them straight to the Wachovia Bank's central building in downtown Richmond. Thinking back on the experience I realize I probably should have had us all dress up, because it ended up being difficult to get the street leaders to present themselves more seriously and professionally. For example, when the bank representative came to introduce himself, the teens made little effort to intoduce themselves to him and they neither got up to shake his hand nor looked at him directly.

This week we got more teens involved in the lawn care business. I've tried to pair up a teen worker with one or two families, so that they can have adequate time to build relationships as well as become comfortable with working in their yard. For example, I took one boy, Steven, to the Ogrosky's house to mow and weed whack. The first time we went I did half the work, but now I just drop him off and he knows the routine. It's great because it frees me up to help incorporate more kids, while at the same time it demonstrates that Steven has learned the essential skills to do the work as well as interact with his "employer".

This week was quite busy, especially considering we had more activities planned than in previous weeks and it was the first time we interns actually organized and led CHAT. Here's the run-down:

Meeting with high school interns daily, touching base with CHAT board members, tutoring, life skills session, youth group, cooking class, N.C. camping trip!, Sunday school, worship service, and lunch. And as usual, random hanging out on the front porch.

My 2nd week in the CHAT 'internship' was as involved as the 1st week - weekly intern meeting/lunch to prepare for the week at which we discuss the book we are reading, "Beyond Charity: the call to Christian community development"; tutoring on Monday and Tuesday; cooking class and youth group on Wednesday; massive pool party on Thursday; and sunday service, sunday school, father's day cookout, and weekly City Vision Group fellowship. So, it was a full week, but it was full of meaningful activities, and it was fun and rewarding, too.