Seven Radical Elders: How Refugees from a Civil-Rights-Era Storefront Church Energized the Christian Community Movement, An Oral History

by David Janzen, C. Christopher Smith (Foreword)

Many young idealists, after a few failures, burn out and return to status quo lives. Not so with the seven radicals in this book, who met in an interracial house church and intentional community on Chicago's West Side during the civil rights era. Here you will make the acquaintance of a Church of the Brethren pastoral couple who tried to bring communal life to the black ghetto; a fashionable socialite who trashed her curlers and joined the simple life; an elite Stanford graduate who cast his lot with a bus full of black teens on an epic ride to Washington, DC, to hear MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech; two ethnic-Mennonite women who became community leaders and elders during a male-dominated era; and a painfully shy "geek" awakened to the traumas of racism by five days in the Albany, Georgia, jail. Now, in their seventies, eighties, and nineties, these veterans of community witness to the possibility of radical life conversions, engagement with the hard, slow work of racial reconciliation that learns from mistakes and does not quit. This book concludes with the invitation to the joyful path of becoming who God made us to be--saints. "Wisdom is never abstract but always embodied in particular and often peculiar human lives. In pursuit of God's kingdom of justice and peace, these seven idealistic young people persevered through disillusionment, personal failure, and fatigue to become exemplars of spiritual wisdom. David Janzen, himself a radical elder and beneficiary of their wisdom, artfully renders the contours of their cruciform lives for a new generation. May the Spirit work through these stories to empower and equip them!" --Alden Bass, Assistant Professor of Theology, Oklahoma Christian University "A man discovers a hidden treasure and joyfully sells all he has to get it--Jesus says that is what finding God's kingdom is like. Where is that kind of joyful discovery actually happening? This book profiles seven ordinary people whose discovery of that treasure forges lives of extraordinary beauty and eternal impact. Read this book. Here is unmistakable good news, hope, and wisdom for all of us looking for the real treasure Jesus offers." --Kent Smith, Chair, Eden Center for Regenerative Culture; co-author of Catalyzing a Revolution of Joyful Communities

187 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 19, 2020

Reviews

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed these brief memoirs of seven members of the Reba Place Fellowship, an Anabaptist community based in Evanston, Illinois, since 1957. These seven "elders" had all been part of the Church of Hope in a poor African American section of Chicago in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They moved to Reba Place when redevelopment destroyed the Church of Hope neighborhood.

One of the "elders" was my older brother, Albert. I learned much about his life and spiritual development in his chapter. The other persons who wrote were known to me as longtime friends and associates of my brother. All write with honesty about their journeys, including the failures along with the more joyful moments.

Each memoir is followed by multiple reflections on the particular memoir's subject by others within the Reba Place community.

There could have been tighter editing, particularly some of the testimonials, as some information gets repetitive.

Others will have to judge how helpfully this book encourages radical discipleship; my enjoyment came from learning more about my brother and the immediate community that has shaped him for over 60 years.