The following is an excerpt from a chapter in Vehicles of Hope: Serving Others on the Road to Satisfaction.  Included is a brief overview of the history of Koinonia Partners.

THUMBS UP FOR HABITAT

What will count when we die is:

Did we change the life of one person for the better?

Betty Fine Collins,

Jefferson County (Alabama) Commissioner

A HAND UP

         We were drawn to Habitat for Humanity as a vehicle of service for a variety of reasons.  First, Larry and I have always preferred to contribute to people in a way that promotes a lasting or ongoing effect in their lives.  Though we have donated our share of Thanksgiving meals and Christmas presents, and often worked at our local soup kitchen and various other service projects, we saw those efforts as filling an immediate and vital need that, unfortunately, seldom enabled people to significantly alter their circumstances.  Habitat provides the opportunity to help make a far-reaching difference in a family's life.  By helping families move out of undesirable living conditions into new, modest, fully-equipped homes of their own, we would be enabling them to change their entire environment, as well as giving them hope for a more promising future and, perhaps, a more favorable outlook on people and life.

         Second, we support the idea of giving people "a hand up" rather than a handout.  This is the concept we find is most often misunderstood when we encounter people unfamiliar with Habitat's structure.  Habitat for Humanity is not a welfare or­ganization; the homeowners are not "given" the homes.  By partnering with Habitat, they are simply being given an op­portunity to own a home, an opportunity they otherwise might not have.  The two greatest obstacles to home ownership for the poor are the down payment and mortgage payments that take too big a bite out of their income.

         Habitat homeowners make a small down payment ($500 is typical in the U.S.) that can be accumulated while they are investing their "sweat equity"--300-500 hours of labor on their home or helping to build other Habitat homes.  The cost of the home is kept low by using volunteer labor, and the payments are made affordable by employing the "economics of Jesus," as founder Millard Fuller calls it--charging no interest and realizing no profit on the sale of the house or on the loan.

         In most cases, Habitat mortgage payments in the U.S. are around $120 a month on a 30-year mortgage (more if the homeowner chooses a 15- or 20-year repayment), and are usually much less than what the family was paying in rent for often deplorable places.  In addition, a nurturing committee works with recipients to educate them about finances and home ownership, thus helping to ensure that they will make their payments faithfully and become responsible homeowners.

         Larry and I also enjoyed the personal connection we made with the homeowner family during a prior, brief building experience with Habitat.  Unlike when we sent off a check (also an indispensable form of service), we were later able to picture a particular family and remember the enthusiasm of the children as they watched the walls of "our house" being erected.

         Another component of our high regard for Habitat for Hu­manity is that it provides an opportunity for people to physi­cally and practically express God's love to others through "the theology of the hammer," which Millard Fuller outlines in his book of the same title.  Habitat is a Christian organization based on Christian principles, but it neither serves only Christians, nor has any expectations or makes any demands upon the recipi­ents in regard to religion.  It is an organization that tran­scends denominations and dogma, races and creeds, bringing together for a common focus and purpose all who are drawn to its ministry.

DEMONSTRATION PLOT

         As mentioned earlier, that ministry has its roots about six miles outside the city limits of Americus, Georgia, in the com­plex originally named Koinonia (the Greek word for "fellow­ship" or "community") Farm.  The sign as one approaches the Koi­nonia Villages and farm operations reads: WELCOME TO KOINONIA--A Christian community seeking to be a Demonstra­tion Plot for the Kingdom of God.

         Clarence Jordan, co-founder of Koinonia, held that one's beliefs were not something to be merely discussed, but rather to be lived.  ". . . it's so much more pleasant to be sky people than it is to be earth people," he maintained.  This physically impos­ing, charismatic, highly intelligent and educated Southern white man, who had a degree in agriculture and a Ph.D. in New Tes­tament Greek, saw all around him in his native state of Georgia good Christian folk who had found a way to dichotomize their religion, allowing them on the one hand to profess faith in a loving savior, while at the same time committing unspeakable acts of hatred and degradation toward their brothers and sis­ters who had a different skin color.

         According to Lena Hofer-McCaughtrie, who had left her Hutterite community in Canada as a young woman and lived at Koinonia while pursuing her dream to become a nurse, "Clarence always said, 'If you don't live it, don't preach it!'"  "Living it" was what Clarence referred to as incarnational theology.

         In 1942 (long before the Civil Rights Movement), his family joined with another in purchasing a 440-acre farm in Sumter County, Georgia, for the purpose of creating an interracial farming community and providing jobs and support for the poor people in the area.  Blacks and whites would live together, work together, eat together, worship together, and share equally in the fruits of their labor.  His cousin, Hamilton Jordan, also President Jimmy Carter's campaign manager and chief of staff, wrote in No Such Thing As A Bad Day, "Clarence's faith was not a remote, prissy, sanitized doctrine or ritual but a gritty, folksy, in-your-face way of life, based on respect and love for all humanity and applied to every decision and every action."

         The bold experiment in interracial communal living was marginally tolerated in the area until the desegregation of schools was ordered.  Then, growing hostility quickly turned to threats, intimidation, destruction of property, and gunshots.  However, not even an ultimatum from the Ku Klux Klan or a more genteel approach from the "city fathers" could persuade Clarence and the Koinonia community to leave or renounce their lifestyle.

         When they could not be defeated by intimidation or per­suasion, the surrounding community refused to sell them sup­plies, and boycotted their products between 1956 and the mid-1960s.  During that period, Koinonia found a creative way to continue sustaining itself.  A highly successful mail order busi­ness was started to sell their pecan and peanut products and garner support from people (partners) all over the country who believed in Koinonia's mission.  That business continues to thrive, and faithful partners still contribute regularly to Koinonia.

         It was in December of 1965 that Millard and Linda Fuller paid their first visit to Koinonia.  In 1968, they would return there to live, helping to implement and guide the partnership housing program after the sudden death of Clarence in 1969.

         Following three years of ministering and building homes in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) Millard and Linda to Americus and founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976.

GETTING A TASTE

         In addition to learning the ropes of our new lifestyle and coming to terms with our freedom, we did the usual things RVers do in our first six months.  For us that meant visiting several more of our network campgrounds in North Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi, and taking excursions to nearby museums, waterfalls and historical attractions.  Other than an evening at the Grand Ole Opry, we quickly learned the validity of that old adage "the best things in life are free" or, at most, under five dollars!

         Spending the winter in Florida, we discovered it was quite easy to adapt to no snow.  We enjoyed the white sand beaches and wildlife refuges of the Gulf Coast, explored the Everglades and indulged in the Sunset Celebration on Mallory Square in Key West.  We also secured passes to watch the 4 a.m. launch of the space shuttle Discovery on its mission to service the Hubble Telescope--a truly awesome sight in the darkness.

         By the time we headed out of Florida in the spring, we had already plugged into a number of Habitat projects in several states.  Each experience had been a satisfying one and whetted our appetite for more.  Our work with the Lexington, North Carolina Habitat affiliate helped us to see that building a house is not all that Habitat is about.

         We arrived there on a Saturday morning to help put the finishing touches on two homes to be dedicated the next day.  Both homeowners were hard-working, black, single mothers.  The two houses were paid for and built by members of a black Southern Baptist church and a white Presbyterian church.  During the course of the several months that it took to build the homes, the parishioners had not only hammered together, but also shared potluck suppers and worship services at their re­spective churches.

         As we all gathered around on Sunday afternoon for the traditional blessing of the homes, presentation of the Bibles to the homeowner families, and the turning over of the keys, the friendships, understanding and mutual respect that had been fostered was evident.  Habitat is a unique vehicle for connecting many elements and segments of communities that might oth­erwise never touch.

         What I remember most, however, was the teenage daughter of one of the homeowners who came up to me and exclaimed earnestly, "My mama is so happy, I don't even know what to say to her!"

PILGRIMAGE TO AMERICUS

         It had long been our desire to visit the Habitat for Human­ity International Headquarters in Americus, so as Larry and I began slowly following spring and the magnificent dogwoods north to our camp in New Hampshire, we called ahead and made arrangements to stay in Habitat's five-site RV park.

         We decided to volunteer at Habitat for a few days after touring the Headquarters and area attractions, which included attending Jimmy Carter's Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains where we had our picture taken with the former President and First Lady.

         Larry worked on a home with a group of college students from Minnesota who were participating in the Collegiate Challenge program by spending their spring break building a Habitat home rather than partying on a beach.  This program continues to snowball each year as students return to their colleges and relate the satisfying experiences they had.  In spring 2000, nearly 8600 students representing 600 college and uni­versity campus chapters worked across the country with 174 HFH affiliates and pledged $800,000 in donations.

         I volunteered in the Global Village Department at Habitat's headquarters, which gave me an opportunity to learn more about the organizational set-up and service opportunities.  The Global Village Department, among other responsibilities, ar­ranges short-term Habitat experiences all over the world for volunteers.

         Some people have suggested that Habitat should address the housing needs in the United States first or even exclusively, but the vision of Habitat is that we are a global community and that no one's housing need is any more or less important than another's.  For this reason, every Habitat affiliate is urged to support the work in another country.  "U.S. affiliates last year (1999) sent $7.3 million to help with Habitat house-building ef­forts in other countries," wrote Jill Claflin in the June/July 2000 issue of Habitat World.  "Many have partnerships, or 'sister af­filiate/community' relationships, that go well beyond financial assistance."  Notably, most houses in developing countries cost less than one-tenth the amount necessary to build one in the United States.  However, Habitat affiliates in those poorer coun­tries are also encouraged to contribute to other affiliates.  This mutual support fosters an awareness that one's own destiny is intrinsically connected to their brothers and sisters around the globe.

         I was happy to observe the commitment to fiscal respon­sibility and continuous evaluation and improvement in the entire organization.  Unlike government agencies, Habitat has the autonomy to correct mistakes, alter its structure when nec­essary, continually find more efficient and creative ways to ex­pand its vision, and base everything it does on Christian prin­ciples of love, equality, honesty and service.

         While other worthwhile movements often lose their focus and eventually wither, Habitat continues to grow its vision of a world free of substandard housing.  I believe there are several reasons for its continued success.  First, the premise is simple and unfettered: All of God's people deserve a decent place to live.  That premise transcends theological prescriptions; it is one that all people of good will can enthusiastically embrace.

         Second, Habitat for Humanity is unabashedly a Christian ministry, providing an avenue by which people can express the love of Christ to others through concrete action.  It is a ministry that continues to draw more and more devotees into its fold.

MONEY ISN'T EVERYTHING

         I was especially impressed with the caliber and commit­ment of the people who work at Habitat Headquarters.  A third of the Habitat for Humanity headquarters staff (about 450 at the end of 1999) is comprised of volunteers who receive housing and a stipend ranging from $40/week to $400/month depending on their position and length of stay.  Many people have prematurely ended lucrative careers to work full-time in either volunteer or modestly paid staff positions.  What prompts people to do something so flagrantly out of synch with our societal norms?  Obviously, they must be receiving something they were not getting from their former occupations. 

YES!

         It didn't take long for Larry and me to confirm that Habitat for Humanity was, indeed, a ministry we wanted to become more fully engaged with.  The opportunity to do so presented it­self while we were there in Americus.