wfn.org | Challenges of creating community

[BethAH@mbm.org]

January 10, 2001
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinator
Mennonite Board of Missions
phone (219) 294-7523
fax (219) 294-8669
<www.MBM.org>

January 10, 2001

MVSer faces challenges of beginning a unit, creating a community

Grant Rissler is serving through Mennonite Voluntary Service as a
writer and photographer.  After spending a year as intern at the
Mennonite Central Committee United Nations office in Manhattan,
he will travel for five months by bus to 20 other MVS and
Short-Term Mission sites, gathering the stories and experiences
of other volunteers and communities.  A weekly column by Grant
can be found on the web at www.MBM.org.

MONTREAL (CHM/MBM) – One doesn’t have to be a lonely number.

Lauren Clark, the first and only MVS volunteer in the
five-month-old Montreal unit, is living proof.

Clark knew she wanted to come to Montreal as an MVS worker since
serving as a Mennonite Central Committee volunteer on refugee
issues with the Montreal City Mission during the summer of 1999.

“I fell in love with being here,” Clark said.  “I didn’t know
there were thousands of other places to go (with MVS), because I
just wanted to come here.”

As part of its response to being designated the CHM City on a
Hill, the Mennonite Fellowship of Montreal formed an MVS support
committee.  MVS contacted Clark, and in September, she became the
first MVSer placed in Montreal, working three days a week for
Maison D’Amite (House of Friendship), a service provider for
refugees, and two days for Mennonite Fellowship of Montreal.

Instead of living alone or with a support committee member, Clark
sought out a community to replicate the community of MVS houses.

“My life would have been very different if I had lived with Karen
(chair of the Montreal MVS support committee) or in my own
apartment,” Clark said, sitting in the living area of the 10-

person intentional community she happily calls home.

Clark lived briefly in the community during her first stay in
Montreal after hearing about it through a fellow volunteer.  When
she returned, she learned there was an opening and joined the
group.

“I feel like I’m leading a similar lifestyle [to that of] other
MVSers,” said Clark, “but I’m living with more people.  Not all
of them are Christian, but they’re all involved in seeking peace
and justice.”

Clark also found community in her work with refugees.  Her main
task at Maison is to oversee a new program that provides living
space and food for refugee families.  She also helps with the
planning of weekly meals for the refugee community.  Welcoming
them, Clark said, is an uplifting experience.

“When people are here, it’s amazing – how warm, how loving – and
the faith of those who come through these doors . . .  They’ve
been through a lot,” she said.  “They’re still going through a
lot, but we’re friends here.”

In her work for MFM, Clark builds community among the young adult
section of the congregation, organizing discussion evenings and
social activities.  Many of the young adults are university
students who are not interested in traditional community worship,
or who come from a secular background, but the interactions have
helped welcome students.

In June, Clark hopes to welcome her first co-MVSer.  Because of
her experiences in the intentional community, Clark and the MVS
support committee hope to start a “Menno House.” They hope it
will provide a community for both the MVS unit as it grows, and
for Mennonite students interested in intentional community and
living an active faith.

MVS is a program of the Commission on Home Ministries and MBM.
MVS maintains an official web site at www.mennonitevs.org.
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Grant E. Rissler       PHOTO AVAILABLE