What Are We Doing? (Pt. 1)

by Chris Kamalski

(Top to Bottom, Left to Right): Curtis Love, Ezra Reed (4), Myself, Natalie Reed, Joe Reed, Keziah Reed (2), Malachi Reed (4 months).

This series of posts will attempt to convey a bit of the steps through the fog of the last ten weeks of my time here in Pretoria as a part of our NieuCommunities South Africa team. Each reflection will seek to answer the question of What are we doing? in a simple,  straightforward manner that hopefully paints a clearer picture as to our adventures as a missional community in transition. Check back here over the next week or so for more reflections!

What are we doing?

We are engaging in the formation of friendship as a new family unit seeking to live life on mission, together! This means that we have begun experimenting with a rhythm of life together over these past several weeks, a weekly rhythm that includes:

  1. Daily morning prayers during the work week (Currently, we are reflectively reading The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle, a fantastic Protestant version of the Book of Common Prayer that follows the church’s liturgical seasons).
  2. Weekly common meals (It is still surprising to me how powerful sharing food together at one table can be in drawing a community of diverse people together, even though this was regular occurrence within my apprenticeship year in 2009).
  3. The_Clearness_Committee (Just finishing, and something I will post on in depth later, but a powerful communal discipline used to help those in transition out of our community discern the movement of God within their vocational choices and future life direction. I have been facilitating this time as a close ‘cousin’ to spiritual direction).
  4. Neighborhood exploration (Prayer walks throughout Clydesdale, the ‘sanctuary within the city’ that we are seeking to move into as a missional community to serve as our home base and ‘hub’ of missional activity. Also, conversations and listening to locals within the neighborhoods in and around Clydesdale, all in an attempt to discern what God is up to within this slice of the city).
  5. Strategic ‘responsive’ planning as a staff team (Joe has lead us through a multi-week process of what we God has done through us in our past as a part of NCSA, where we are at currently, and what our unique mandate looks like as a missional community that trains and sends South African leaders into sustainable mission. It has been a rewarding process dialoguing and moving forward together with Joe and Curtis as a part of the trinitarian (Ha!) staff team).

My vote for favorite team photo. I call it "Ezra Patricide."