Our mission is to discover our world,
engage and transform it;
to search for truth and live it;
to discover beauty and reveal it;
to ignite the fire for the good and do it!
What is the Christian Community Movement for Religious Renewal?
We are an independent community centered around the seven sacraments in a renewed form, without attachment to any existing church or ecumenical movement. Through His indwelling in the sacraments, Christ replenishes our life in community, which in turn offers us the opportunity to find and connect our lives with His regenerating impulse. Christianity is seen as universal; sectarian teaching or dogmatic behavioral codes demean its all-encompassing significance. From its inception in 1922, the questions of gender and sexual orientation have never been criteria for deciding who can be ordained into the priesthood or participate in all aspects of community life.
We welcome all regardless of age, race, national origin, gender and sexual orientation. Anyone seeking a community of Christians that combines sacramental integrity and freedom of belief will find an open door. We see freedom and a sense of responsibility as crucial elements as we approach Christ Jesus, His deed and message. All who come will encounter an environment in which, as a community and as individuals, we can strive to cultivate free inquiry in harmony with deep devotion.
Congregational and regional youth groups meet at regular intervals, offering further opportunities for young people to come together.
History
Since Christ’s deed, His followers have been left with the challenge of how to build His body – Christ community – here on earth. All Christian movements can be seen as ways to answer this question in a manner that is appropriate to the spirit of the times in which they emerge. Founded in 1922 in Switzerland, The Christian Community, Movement for Religious Renewal, is one such movement.
Its 45 founders felt that Christianity as practiced at that time, was becoming increasingly irrelevant, despite the boundless good will and heartfelt devotion found in Christian churches. Radical new ideas were necessary. The theoretical materialism of modern science had crept into the world-view of theologians and church leaders. It was becoming increasingly difficult for many, if not most people to think or even imagine the resurrection of Christ without invoking miracles indistinguishable from magic. How could an intellectually honest person be a Christian in the modern world? The founders felt that there had to be a different world-view, a better, more comprehensive way to understand the reality in which we live.
They found that new world-view in Anthroposophy, the work of Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925), an Austrian philosopher, esotericist, and Christian initiate. Steiner had already inspired cultural renewal in a variety of fields, such as Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture and many others. His spiritual advice and inspiration was the essential source for the seven sacraments in their renewed form. His insights provided a way to understand both the transformation of matter and of human lives through the spiritual power of Christ.
After taking root mainly in Europe until WWII, The Christian Community then spread to the other continents. The first North American congregation was founded in New York City in 1948. Since that time, it has expanded to 14 communities throughout North America served by one or more full time priests.
2018
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January 2018 • martin Luther king jr.
Annual winter Youth conference
We had a magnificent Youth Conference this past January, looking at our theme : Doing the Truth! Thirty teenagers from the Chicago and Wisconsin, DC, Pennsylvania, NYC and Spring Valley, Columbia County and even Germany and Japan—a wonderful, musical, and ready-for-anything group of fine young people. Thank you to those who came out on YOUTH SUNDAY and stuck around to meet them! On Sunday afternoon, we visited Fairview Commons in Great Barrington, and sang to the folks there, which was very moving as much for the young people as for the elders and their caregivers. We will make this a regular stop on our Youth Conference adventures from now on.
August 2018
Annual summer Youth conference
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2018
International Youth conference
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