In a circle. We sit equ-distance from the centre. The centre is a sacred place a safe place a place that no one owns wouldn’t it be nice if my seat were the centre and all would come to where I live see things through my eyes know my truths feel my heart wouldn’t it?...
The gift of imagination is a divine birthright we have been given to use (or abuse) to be co-creators of our days, our families, and our communities. Bill Plotkin in his book “Soulcraft” captures a teaching about two threads, or two paths we can weave in our lives....
This year, the annual report is available as an “e-book” that you can read online.
Winter 2023, draft for Bedford House Annual Report Here we are again at the end of another amazing year of grassroots relationship-growing. Lots of lessons learned. The challenges of being “guided by the voices of under-resourced catalysts” while trying to meet the...
I came across the Alliance model for change on a visit to Calgary last spring. Lead organizer Ryan Anderson gave me a thumbnail of how ordinary citizens have been Changing the Conversations in Calgary’s municipal politics.
EDGEy Conversation with Rev. Allan Smith-Reeve and Zoe Chaytors of the EDGE Network.
The Rev. Allan Smith-Reeve knows about the power of social good initiatives. He has used Bedford House Community Ministry and its programs, such as Bridges Peterborough, to build relationships with his congregation at Greenwood United and to strengthen the community of Peterborough, Ontario.
Last Saturday I attended an all-day gathering of representatives from United Church Communities of Faith in our Eastern Ontario Region. Interesting to see how an old church sanctuary can be wired to offer big screen video displays and invite online participants to not...
What is so very cool has been this summer’s story of unchurched Bridging Team leaders visiting congregations – including Greenwood – to talk about what they’ve discovered in the midst of a safe, non-judgemental, circle of strangers who become friends and “neighbours”.
For all of us who’ve felt like we didn’t belong, like we didn’t fit, or were made to feel as if we were deficient in various ways – it feels like we’ve created a place where our differences are celebrated, or at least tolerated with kindness and compassion.
“a tree can only be as strong as the forest that surrounds it”
What if we chose to talk instead about our failure to redistribute wealth effectively?
What if the problem has very little to do with “the poor”?
What if the problem is actually those of us who enjoy privilege and wealth?
It was an inauguration of what we’re calling the Neighbour Network.
What if poverty’s “clients” became leaders instead in the growing of an organic model of shared prosperity?
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