Koinonia Partners
Encyclopedia
Koinonia Partners is a Christian
farming intentional community
in Sumter County
, Georgia
.
and Martin and Mabel England, as a “demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God.” For them, this meant following the example of the first Christian communities as described in the Acts of the Apostles, amid the poverty and racism of the rural South. The name Koinonia
is an ancient Greek word
, used often in the New Testament, meaning deep fellowship. Koinonia members divested themselves of personal wealth and joined a "common purse" economic system. They envisioned an interracial community where blacks and whites could live and work together in a spirit of partnership.
Based on their interpretation of the New Testament
, Koinonia members committed to the following precepts:
Other families joined, and visitors came to “serve a period of apprenticeship in developing community life on the teachings and principles of Jesus
.” Koinonians, visitors, and neighbors farmed, worshipped and ate together, attended Bible studies and held summer youth camps. When resources allowed the hiring of seasonal help, black and white workers were paid equally. Additional spiritual stewards of the community in the earlier years included Connie Browne and Will Wittkamper.
drove a 70+ car motorcade to the farm as an act of intimidation. Koinonia members discerned that their religious views called them to bear these acts nonviolently; members responded by writing editorials to the local newspaper clarifying the farm's position, maintaining an unarmed watch at the entrance to the community during the nights, and other acts of nonviolent witness.
As a way to survive in hostile surroundings, Koinonia members created a small mail-order catalog to sell their farm's pecan
s and peanut
s around the world. The business's first slogan was "Help us ship the nuts out of Georgia!" The business evolved to include treats made in the farm's bakery. The Koinonia Catalog business continued after the boycott concluded, and still constitutes the largest source of earned income for Koinonia.
Millard
and Linda Fuller had spent a month at Koinonia several years earlier. Millard had been an extremely successful businessman before he and his wife Linda rededicated their lives to Christianity, divested of their wealth, and sought ways to live out their faith. Clarence Jordan, Millard Fuller, and other allies of Koinonia engaged in a series of meetings, out of which emerged a new direction for Koinonia.
Changing its name from Koinonia Farm to Koinonia Partners, the community refocused itself as a social service organization. The organization initiated several programs in partnership with its neighbors, chief among them Koinonia Partnership Housing, which organized the construction of affordable houses for low-income neighboring families previously living in shacks and dilapidated residences. Using volunteer labor and monetary donations, Koinonia built 194 homes from 1969 to 1992, which families bought with 20-year, no-interest mortgages. Mortgage payments were placed in a revolving Fund for Humanity. Payments into this fund were used to finance the construction of more houses. Of the houses built, 62 houses sit on Koinonia's property, forming two neighborhoods that surround the central community area; the remaining houses are located in the towns of Americus
and Plains
, all within Sumter County.
The Fullers guided the first four years of Koinonia Partnership Housing, and then moved to Africa
for three years to establish a similar program there. In 1976, they returned to Americus and founded the non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity International. Modeled after the Koinonia Partnership Housing program, this organization builds houses with families in need, then sells the houses to the families at no profit and no interest. Habitat for Humanity volunteers and homeowners have built more than 500,000 houses in more than
100 countries.
held an undergraduate degree in agriculture
from the University of Georgia
and wanted to use his knowledge of scientific farming “to seek to conserve the soil, God’s holy earth” and to assist Koinonia’s neighbors, most of whom were African-American sharecroppers and tenant farmers. Jordan and fellow founding member Martin England were ordained
ministers and professors. Jordan held a doctorate in New Testament Greek. Part of their vision for Koinonia was to offer training to African-American ministers living in the area. For the first few years of the Koinonia experiment, Jordan in particular was welcomed to preach and teach in local churches. Though the demands of farming in those early years did not allow time for formal training of others, Jordan used these visits to both black and white churches to offer guidance.
In addition to his work on the farm, Jordan penned many works of theology in his writing shack, a small one-room structure set near the "Bottom Garden", now in one of the farm’s pecan orchards. Among the works penned there were four volumes collectively known as the Cotton Patch Version. These four volumes were a collective work blending Clarence's translations of the New Testament
Gospels from the original Greek into the Georgia vernacular
and discussions of the full membership of Koinonia on the translations and meanings. He also prepared for his nationwide speaking engagements there. Jordan's writing and speaking engagements brought the existence of Koinonia Farm (and later Koinonia Partners) to the awareness of many Christians, theologians, students, and others. Jordan's Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John was the inspiration for a musical theater work by Harry Chapin
, The Cotton Patch Gospel
.
After Jordan's death, other community members carried on the work of Koinonia. This work included the founding of other organizations such as Jubilee Partners in Comer, Georgia
(a community that welcomes refugees from war-torn countries), New Hope House in Griffin, Georgia
(assisting families with loved ones on death row
, as well as advocating the abolition of the death penalty), The Prison & Jail Project in Americus, Georgia (an anti-racist, grassroots organization which monitors courtrooms, prisons and jails in southwest Georgia), and the Fuller Center for Housing (the second organization founded by Millard and Linda Fuller, also pursuing affordable housing solutions for impoverished families worldwide).
Koinonia members and ministries since 1969 include civil rights
work, prison ministry, racial reconciliation, peace activism, early childhood education, youth and teen outreach, affordable housing, language training, sustainable agriculture
, economic development, home repair, elder programs, and more. Current ministries include affordable home repair for neighbors, an elder program, a summer youth camp, welcoming visitors and guests in hospitality, and educating the public about Koinonia history and legacy.
In 1993, Koinonia abandoned its “common purse” and experimented with a corporate non-profit structure. During this period the organization was known as Koinonia Partners, Inc. A board of directors and staff and volunteer positions were established to govern and operate the community, in place of the former community-based structure. This corporate structure was not suitable financially for the community, so in 2005, Koinonia again reorganized, ending the distinction between staff and volunteers and committing once more to the intentional Christian community model. The common purse has not been readopted; rather, each member receives an allowance based upon his or her needs, family and responsibilities.
The community, again known by its original name, Koinonia Farm, was designated a Georgia Historic Site in 2005. The Koinonia community has been announced as the recipient of the 2008 Community of Christ International Peace Award
.
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
farming intentional community
Intentional community
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
in Sumter County
Sumter County, Georgia
Sumter County is a county located in the southwest portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created on December 26, 1831. As of 2000, the population was 33,200. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 32,532...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
.
History
The farm was founded in 1942 by two couples, Clarence and Florence JordanClarence Jordan
Clarence Jordan , a farmer and New Testament Greek scholar, was the founder of Koinonia Farm, a small but influential religious community in southwest Georgia and the author of the Cotton Patch translations of the New Testament. He was also instrumental in the founding of Habitat for Humanity...
and Martin and Mabel England, as a “demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God.” For them, this meant following the example of the first Christian communities as described in the Acts of the Apostles, amid the poverty and racism of the rural South. The name Koinonia
Koinonia
Koinonia is the anglicisation of a Greek word that means communion by intimate participation. The word is used frequently in the New Testament of the Bible to describe the relationship within the Early Christian church as well as the act of breaking bread in the manner which Christ prescribed...
is an ancient Greek word
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, used often in the New Testament, meaning deep fellowship. Koinonia members divested themselves of personal wealth and joined a "common purse" economic system. They envisioned an interracial community where blacks and whites could live and work together in a spirit of partnership.
Based on their interpretation of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, Koinonia members committed to the following precepts:
- Treat all human beings with dignity and justice
- Choose love over violence
- Share all possessions and live simply
- Be stewards of the land and its natural resources
Other families joined, and visitors came to “serve a period of apprenticeship in developing community life on the teachings and principles of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
.” Koinonians, visitors, and neighbors farmed, worshipped and ate together, attended Bible studies and held summer youth camps. When resources allowed the hiring of seasonal help, black and white workers were paid equally. Additional spiritual stewards of the community in the earlier years included Connie Browne and Will Wittkamper.
During the Civil Rights Movement
These practices were a break with the prevailing culture of Jim Crow-era Georgia, and were challenged by many citizens of Sumter County, most intensely during the 1950s, and with diminishing intensity for years thereafter. A boycott of the farm occurred during the mid-1950s. The local Chamber of Commerce met with the Full Members of The Farm to request that Koinonia sell its property and disband. The 1950s also saw acts of terrorism such as dynamiting Koinonia's roadside produce stand, firing shots into the compound, and threatening phone calls and letters. The local Ku Klux KlanKu Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
drove a 70+ car motorcade to the farm as an act of intimidation. Koinonia members discerned that their religious views called them to bear these acts nonviolently; members responded by writing editorials to the local newspaper clarifying the farm's position, maintaining an unarmed watch at the entrance to the community during the nights, and other acts of nonviolent witness.
As a way to survive in hostile surroundings, Koinonia members created a small mail-order catalog to sell their farm's pecan
Pecan
The pecan , Carya illinoinensis, is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana east to western Kentucky, southwestern Ohio, North Carolina, South...
s and peanut
Peanut
The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
s around the world. The business's first slogan was "Help us ship the nuts out of Georgia!" The business evolved to include treats made in the farm's bakery. The Koinonia Catalog business continued after the boycott concluded, and still constitutes the largest source of earned income for Koinonia.
Habitat for Humanity International
Threats of physical violence dwindled in the late 1960s, but the population of Koinonia Farm was greatly diminished due to the stress of previous years. Koinonia members searched for a new focus, and considered closing the farm experiment if none were found.Millard
Millard Fuller
Millard Dean Fuller was the founder and former president of Habitat for Humanity International, a nonprofit organization known globally for building houses for those in need, and the founder and former president of The Fuller Center for Housing...
and Linda Fuller had spent a month at Koinonia several years earlier. Millard had been an extremely successful businessman before he and his wife Linda rededicated their lives to Christianity, divested of their wealth, and sought ways to live out their faith. Clarence Jordan, Millard Fuller, and other allies of Koinonia engaged in a series of meetings, out of which emerged a new direction for Koinonia.
Changing its name from Koinonia Farm to Koinonia Partners, the community refocused itself as a social service organization. The organization initiated several programs in partnership with its neighbors, chief among them Koinonia Partnership Housing, which organized the construction of affordable houses for low-income neighboring families previously living in shacks and dilapidated residences. Using volunteer labor and monetary donations, Koinonia built 194 homes from 1969 to 1992, which families bought with 20-year, no-interest mortgages. Mortgage payments were placed in a revolving Fund for Humanity. Payments into this fund were used to finance the construction of more houses. Of the houses built, 62 houses sit on Koinonia's property, forming two neighborhoods that surround the central community area; the remaining houses are located in the towns of Americus
Americus, Georgia
-Early years:Americus, Georgia was named and chartered by Sen. Lovett B. Smith in 1832.For its first two decades, Americus was a small courthouse town. The arrival of the railroad in 1854 and, three decades later, local attorney Samuel H. Hawkins' construction of the only privately financed...
and Plains
Plains, Georgia
Plains is a city in Sumter County, Georgia, United States. The population was 776 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Americus Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Notable people:...
, all within Sumter County.
The Fullers guided the first four years of Koinonia Partnership Housing, and then moved to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
for three years to establish a similar program there. In 1976, they returned to Americus and founded the non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity International. Modeled after the Koinonia Partnership Housing program, this organization builds houses with families in need, then sells the houses to the families at no profit and no interest. Habitat for Humanity volunteers and homeowners have built more than 500,000 houses in more than
100 countries.
Clarence Jordan's works while at Koinonia
Founding member Clarence JordanClarence Jordan
Clarence Jordan , a farmer and New Testament Greek scholar, was the founder of Koinonia Farm, a small but influential religious community in southwest Georgia and the author of the Cotton Patch translations of the New Testament. He was also instrumental in the founding of Habitat for Humanity...
held an undergraduate degree in agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
from the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
and wanted to use his knowledge of scientific farming “to seek to conserve the soil, God’s holy earth” and to assist Koinonia’s neighbors, most of whom were African-American sharecroppers and tenant farmers. Jordan and fellow founding member Martin England were ordained
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
ministers and professors. Jordan held a doctorate in New Testament Greek. Part of their vision for Koinonia was to offer training to African-American ministers living in the area. For the first few years of the Koinonia experiment, Jordan in particular was welcomed to preach and teach in local churches. Though the demands of farming in those early years did not allow time for formal training of others, Jordan used these visits to both black and white churches to offer guidance.
In addition to his work on the farm, Jordan penned many works of theology in his writing shack, a small one-room structure set near the "Bottom Garden", now in one of the farm’s pecan orchards. Among the works penned there were four volumes collectively known as the Cotton Patch Version. These four volumes were a collective work blending Clarence's translations of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
Gospels from the original Greek into the Georgia vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
and discussions of the full membership of Koinonia on the translations and meanings. He also prepared for his nationwide speaking engagements there. Jordan's writing and speaking engagements brought the existence of Koinonia Farm (and later Koinonia Partners) to the awareness of many Christians, theologians, students, and others. Jordan's Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John was the inspiration for a musical theater work by Harry Chapin
Harry Chapin
Harry Forster Chapin was an American singer-songwriter best known in particular for his folk rock songs including "Taxi", "W*O*L*D", and the number-one hit "Cat's in the Cradle". Chapin was also a dedicated humanitarian who fought to end world hunger; he was a key player in the creation of the...
, The Cotton Patch Gospel
Cotton patch gospel
Cotton Patch Gospel is a musical by Tom Key and Russell Treyz with music and lyrics written by Harry Chapin just before his death in 1981...
.
Ministries and structure since 1969
On October 29, 1969, Clarence Jordan died of a heart attack at age 57, while working on a sermon in his writing shack.After Jordan's death, other community members carried on the work of Koinonia. This work included the founding of other organizations such as Jubilee Partners in Comer, Georgia
Comer, Georgia
Comer is a city in Madison County, Georgia, United States. Incorporated in the year 1893, Comer is the largest city in Madison County based on population with an annual growth rate of approximately 3%.-Geography:Comer is located at...
(a community that welcomes refugees from war-torn countries), New Hope House in Griffin, Georgia
Griffin, Georgia
Griffin is a city in and the county seat of Spalding County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 23,643.-Geography:Griffin is located at ....
(assisting families with loved ones on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
, as well as advocating the abolition of the death penalty), The Prison & Jail Project in Americus, Georgia (an anti-racist, grassroots organization which monitors courtrooms, prisons and jails in southwest Georgia), and the Fuller Center for Housing (the second organization founded by Millard and Linda Fuller, also pursuing affordable housing solutions for impoverished families worldwide).
Koinonia members and ministries since 1969 include civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
work, prison ministry, racial reconciliation, peace activism, early childhood education, youth and teen outreach, affordable housing, language training, sustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment...
, economic development, home repair, elder programs, and more. Current ministries include affordable home repair for neighbors, an elder program, a summer youth camp, welcoming visitors and guests in hospitality, and educating the public about Koinonia history and legacy.
In 1993, Koinonia abandoned its “common purse” and experimented with a corporate non-profit structure. During this period the organization was known as Koinonia Partners, Inc. A board of directors and staff and volunteer positions were established to govern and operate the community, in place of the former community-based structure. This corporate structure was not suitable financially for the community, so in 2005, Koinonia again reorganized, ending the distinction between staff and volunteers and committing once more to the intentional Christian community model. The common purse has not been readopted; rather, each member receives an allowance based upon his or her needs, family and responsibilities.
The community, again known by its original name, Koinonia Farm, was designated a Georgia Historic Site in 2005. The Koinonia community has been announced as the recipient of the 2008 Community of Christ International Peace Award
Community of Christ International Peace Award
The Community of Christ International Peace Award was established to honor and bring attention to the work of peacemaking and peacemakers in the world...
.
External links
- Official website
- Briars in the Cotton Patch: The Story of Koinonia Farm, PBS documentary
- Photographs taken at Koinonia Farm and Americus, Georgia, updated weekly