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KOINONIA
When David Good served as the Chairperson for Development for our
local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity, he came to realize that this most
remarkable housing ministry was a “child” of Koinonia Farm. Koinonia (a Greek
word meaning spiritual community) was established in Southern Georgia in 1942 as
an interracial community. Founded by Clarence Jordan, a man who had a degree in
both New Testament Greek and agriculture, Koinonia endeavored to be
“demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God”, by its own example, showing that
Whites and Blacks could live in harmony and mutual respect. Despite being
persecuted by the Ku Klux Klan with the bombing of their roadside stands and
drive-by shootings, Koinonia endured, refusing In the late 1960’s Koinonia was visited by a young man, Millard Fuller, who despaired of the materialism that had become the be-all and end-all of his life and was looking for a new direction for his life. When Clarence Jordan tragically died, Millard Fuller went on to become the founder of Habitat for Humanity. When David Good was asked to serve on Koinonia’s Board of Directors, he discovered that Koinonia was on the brink of extinction, a victim of many years of poor management and even malfeasance. In recognition of this, he invited Cathy Zall, a member of the Old Lyme church who had considerable business experience in both management and accounting, to consider being a “missionary accountant” for Koinonia. Through several tumultuous years, and thanks to the generosity of many members of the Old Lyme church, Koinonia was able to establish a new beginning for itself and once again work toward its vision of being “a demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God.” Serving as the President of it’s Board of Directors and in an effort to affirm the purpose of Koinonia, David Good offered a “Vision Quest” (press here to see that statement) for the community of Koinonia. In partnership with Koinonia, our church uses their “fair trade, organically grown coffee for our coffee hours, and periodically we market their products to the members and friends of our congregation. In 2005, Cathy Zall accepted the challenge of being the President of Koinonia’s board of directors.
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to be driven away by these
hostilities.
