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["Wilma Shuffitt" <wilmas@oc.disciples.org>]

{ SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1}Title: Disciples role noted in development of Habitat for 
Humanity
Date: September 21, 2001
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Curt Miller
E-mail: cmiller@cm.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

01a-51

	INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- The celebration of the 25th 
anniversary of Habitat for Humanity International, Sept. 13-15 
in Indianapolis, included recognition of the important role of the 
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the history of the 
organization.

	Habitat founders Millard and Linda Fuller served as 
overseas missionaries for the Disciples Division of Overseas 
Ministries from 1973 to 1976.  The same year they returned 
from Zaire, Africa, they founded the organization that has 
become known world-wide for 
providing decent housing for 
persons otherwise unable to 
achieve that goal. 

	In the mid-1960s, 
Millard Fuller was earning an 
annual salary of $100,000 in 
Montgomery, Ala. But his and 
Linda Fullers relationship was 
strained by his devotion to a self-
proclaimed singular goal to get 
rich.  That strain and a sense of 
call led the Fullers to leave 
behind the business world and 
the handsome income to search 
for a life of Christian service.

	The Fullers became 
associated with Koinonia Farm, 
a small, interracial Christian 
farming community founded in 
1942 by farmer and biblical 
scholar Clarence Jordan. At 
Koinonia, Millard Fuller and 
Jordan developed the concept of 
partnership housing, where 
those in need of shelter work 
with volunteers to build simple, 
decent housing. 

	At Koinonia, we saw 
what an incredible difference it 
made in the life of a family to 
get, for the first time, into a 
decent house, said Linda Fuller.

	They started building 
partnership housing in 
Southwest Georgia in 1969.  By 
1972, they were feeling called to 
new ministry  but werent sure 
exactly where the call was 
leading.  They had 
communicated with various 
mission organizations, including 
the overseas ministries unit of 
their own United Church of 
Christ, but did not identify the 
mission opportunity to which 
they felt they were being called. 

	Soon, during a trip to 
Florida, praying fervently in a 
Tallahassee motel room, the 
Fullers remembered their 1966 
trip to Africa to survey 
missionary work there.  In the 
Belgian Congo, (later known as 
Zaire and now known as the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo), they were hosted by 
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) missionaries. 

	With that memory fresh in mind, the Fullers called 
Robert Nelson, then the Africa Secretary of the Division of 
Overseas Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of 
Christ). 

	Nelson said I think your call is providential, recalled 
Millard Fuller. I met with a man in my office yesterday from 
the church in Zaire, he was asking for someone to help the 
church with development  I told him we didnt have anybody.  
Nelson said If youre willing to go, I can tell him we have 
somebody, recalled the Habitat co-founder. 

	In 1973, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 
commissioned the Fullers as missionaries to Zaire.  Their 
work was called The Housing Project. Working with the 
Church of Christ of Zaire over three years, the Fullers gave 
leadership to the building of 114 partnership houses in the city 
of Mbandaka and launched a campaign to build 300 more 
houses in the region they were serving. 

	The Fullers credit their experience as Disciples 
missionaries in Africa as vital in the launch of Habitat for 
Humanity when they returned to the United States in 1976. 
That  really proved to us that the idea that we were doing in 
Southwest Georgia would work just as well or even better in 
other U.S. and international settings, said Linda Fuller. The 
taproot is at Koinonia, but the concept of making it worldwide 
really originated in Africa, her husband said.  

	Submitting the legal paperwork to establish Habitat for 
Humanity 
International in 1976, Millard Fuller knew that a non-denominational 
ministry was the right approach to meet the goal of eliminating poverty 
housing and building decent shelter for all who need it.  We said no one 
church can come up with that kind of money. Its too big for the Disciples 
 its too big for the Catholics  its too big for the Presbyterians  but 
what if we get them all together?  What if we have a concept that all of 
the churches  differ on so many things, but can agree on the central 
teaching of our faith which is that we ought to love one another. Isnt a 
shame that the Christian family is so family is so fragmented that it cant 
agree on anything.   We said, let us agree that we can build houses to 
demonstrate Gods love, Millard Fuller said.  While Habitat maintains a 
Christian identity, it organizes and resources volunteers from other faith 
traditions, and builds houses for persons in need without regard for their 
religious faith, color or ethnicity.  

	By the time of the 25
th
 anniversary celebration in Indianapolis, 
Habitat for Humanity had built more than 100,000 houses, sheltering 
more then 500,000 people in 2,000 communities around the world. 

	For more information on the complete history of Habitat for 
Humanity International and for details of how the ministry works, visit 
{
  
 HYPERLINK "http://www.habitat.org"; }www.habitat.org online, or 
contact a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in your region. 

                        -- end -- 

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