Audio Archives - Restore Commons

Faith and Church with No Bricks and Mortar: Conversation with Father Joseph Kovitch

Since their book The Abundant Community came out, John McKnight and Peter Block have sought out those social innovators who are bringing alive the ideas about how neighbors and local institutions can come together to create care, kindness, and welcome. One of those innovators is Father Joseph Kovitch. Peter and John talked with him in June of 2018. They are still in touch with him and what he describes here is still vibrant today.

Father Joe was a priest of Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Community in Westerville, Ohio, who worshiped in an Irish pub and is currently on a university campus; they are also serving out of a community house nearby. He has been ordained for 30 years and has served in many ministries and missional environments, some of which include serving as leader of a large traditional congregation, leading a redevelopment merger of three congregations into a new mission, and, at this moment, serving as Diocesan Missioner for New Episcopal Communities in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. Here is the conversation we had in 2018.

Listen to the Full Conversation:

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The Parish in the Neighborhood

When we look at the Parish as a microcosm of all life’s dimensions, the conversation changes from traditional clergy talk of “butts, budgets and buildings,” to: What is God up to in our places, and how do we join in with that? Listen to Paul Sparks, Co-founding Director of the Parish Collective, discuss with Peter Block and John McKnight in this conversation:

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Restorative Practices for Turbulent Times

What can happen when we move justice out of the law system and into neighborhoods and communities? Restorative practices are being put into action beyond justice systems into schools and institutions, changing the conversation from fault and punishment to looking at who has been harmed, how they were harmed and whose obligation it is to repair that harm. In this conversation, community and organizational psychologist Thom Allena shares insight and experiences from his work with restorative justice. Listen:

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From an Extractive to Neighborly Economy

Walter Brueggemann shares insight on today’s economy of extraction, a modern version of Pharaoh’s economy. The extractive economy is abnormal and the enemy of God’s intention for our neighborhood and our common humanness. Brueggemann describes to participants at the Conspire Gathering how when people left Pharaoh into the wilderness life supports were given. Listen:

John McKnight: Building Neighborhood Assets

Many know John McKnight’s work on creating abundant communities and focusing on gifts. In this podcast with Mark Anielski, McKnight shares about what sparked his interest in researching assets instead of deficits. McKnight shares the three questions they urge local citizens to ask. It begins with what you have rather than what you need. Anielski, an economist and author, also shares about his well-being survey work and how financial success doesn’t equate higher levels of happiness. Listen:

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Rethinking Racism

In January 1865, a revolutionary Special Order 15 known commonly as reconstruction or “40 acres and a mule” was a promise given to former slaves to receive 400,000 acres of free tillable land along the southern east U.S. coastline that would be governed by the black people themselves.

But the policy was overturned that fall by President Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor. The idea behind Special Order 15 shows America understood reparations. During a “Rethinking Racism” gathering in Cincinnati Rev. Damon Lynch III shares his goal to build strong, healthy, black communities and the four things that are needed to make that happen.

Read the handout: The Truth Behind ’40 Acres and a Mule’

Listen here

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Ground-breaking grocery store

Fare & Square VP of Retail Operations Mike Basher shares insight into the Chester, Pennsylvania supermarket formed by a Philadelphia food bank (Philabundance). Fare & Square is the first nonprofit grocery store of its kind in the U.S. bringing healthy, affordable food to what was once a food desert.

Operating in a low-income neighborhood, the store takes an interest in sharing how to prepare healthy food for low cost. Competing for low prices on meats, offering a special carry cash rewards system and educating customers on different choices are some of the ways Fare & Square is uniquely serving its community.

Don’t miss listening to the full conversation and hear how this model could be replicated across the country.

Listen:

Quotes:
“We’re trying to provide families in this community fresh affordable healthy foods that they can get right in their own back yards.” – Mike Basher

Related Links:
Fare & Square (store website)
Chester’s Nonprofit Food Market Tries to Square Mission with Bottom Line (online feature by Laura Benshoff for WHYY)
Chester Supermarket, ‘Fare & Square’ Changing Lives in Community (news clip by Matt DeLucia, NBC10 News)

PeoplesHub: Connecting change-makers online

How can we connect local change-making pioneers and reduce their sense of isolation? A new, online platform called PeoplesHub will bring interactive, participative processes to local neighborhood groups and connect them to trainers and other groups across the country.

Sarah van Gelder, co-founder of YES! Magazine, says PeoplesHub training will range from general topics – such as how to host an ecstatic meeting and how to navigate conflict – to providing tools for specific areas of change people are working on.

Instead of bottom-up or top-down, the platform promotes lateral connections amongst people who are engaged in social innovations. In this call with Peter Block and John McKnight, Sarah discusses the initial phases of the new online platform and its methodology.

Listen here:

Quotes:
“(The) power that people have in their own communities to get stuff done … if we can unleash that power, we can have a real transformation of this country.” – Sarah van Gelder

Related Link:
revolutionwhereyoulive.org

Exploring How Community Animators Work: Cormac Russell

Tune into this insightful conversation with Cormac Russell. Cormac, Managing Director of UK-based Nurture Development, has been doing asset based community work in over 100 neighborhoods around the world.

In this conversation, Cormac shares the 8 Touchstones he developed for animating neighborhood relationships. He also shares about learning sites, the role of the community animator and connector, and lessons being learned.

Listen here:

Quotes:

“A lot of our work is about just calling people into a radical presence and a radical act of revealing what’s here, and how we can get that connected up and mobilized.” – Cormac Russell

“We are very focused on how we can accompany local residents and interested practitioners on the journey of getting into right relationship with each other. That’s a critical first touchstone.” – Cormac
Russell

Photo via Nurture Development

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Small Town Invites Younger Generation to Come Home

Former mayor Priscilla Corcoran Mooney talks with John McKnight and Peter Block about community life in the small coastal town of Branch, Newfoundland, Canada. In 2007, Branch town council held a “come home” reunion-type event and listed the “Top 21 Reasons to live in Branch,” attracting national media attention. Branch citizens are known for their strong sense of belonging.

Priscilla shares about initiatives connecting people and contributing to well-being, such as a community dinner where photo slideshows spark conversation and a corner store with healthier food options.

Listen here:

Related Link:
Top 21 Reasons to Live in Branch

Visions of a Just Economy

Jubilee is an attempt to be a “ray of light that pierces through the darkness of fear,” says Adam Clark. In this audio recording, Adam, Associate Professor of Theology at Xavier University, talks with Peter Block about the modern vision of Jubilee – a biblical metaphor based on a period of economic re-distribution where slaves are set free, land is returned to its original owners and debts are forgiven.

Adam talks about the ideology of consumerism as a form of religion, the politics of disposability, distributing ownership and more in this radical conversation. Listen here:

Quotes:
“What’s so kind of remarkable about the consumer religion is that it’s not attached to any place. It’s all over. Any place is interchangeable . . . . The religion is something that thrives in homogenizing global culture.” – Adam Clark

“A beloved community is where everybody has some control over their economic lives and participates in the economy. That’s just never happened.” – Peter Block

Related Links:
View these videos of Adam Clark in conversation with Peter Block:
https://www.restorecommons.com/jubilee-professor-adam-clark/
https://www.restorecommons.com/professor-adam-clark/

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Peter Block and John McKnight in Conversation

On Dec. 12, 2016, more than 60 callers listened to Peter Block and John McKnight reflect on their long history of working to building communities by focusing on gifts and connecting people. They discuss what ideas have endured and what questions remain. (more…)

Peter Block on the Abundant Community: An MWS Podcast

Barry Daniel of The Middle Way Society speaks with Peter Block in this podcast using the broad themes of Peter’s books to base the discussion. The Middle Way Society’s aim is to encourage a universal approach to living a more integrated, ethical life, avoiding dogma or any appeal to authority.

Source: www.middlewaysociety.org

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