I passed James sitting on his front porch on a Saturday morning. When we waved to each other, I noticed the sign about the porch and decided to stop and chat. James has lived in this Twelve Tribes Community, a large nineteenth century house on Main Street, for 22 years. The community is rooted in Acts 2:4: All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

James describes life in the Twelve Tribes community as a matter of the heart. “The community is a container that allows each of us to see the hurtful things within us, and work toward healing.” Twenty-five people, 12 adults and 13 children, share the house, vehicles and other aspects of life. “But most important we share common struggles. I have four children. I can offer support to the new fathers. As a result, we develop faster here than in other Christian experiences. We share physical work, but the hard thing is working on spiritual problems. It’s like a dance. Not ballet, a tap dance.”

How will we live tomorrow?

“People want to escape reality. That’s what movies and TV do. All we know is hard work and entertainment and we think of them as separate until we see a different reality. Only then do we lose our desire to escape.”