Program: Life Together Community
Location: Boston, MA
Directors: Rev. Arrington Chambliss, Jason Long
Web Site: www.lifetogethercommunity.org
Blog Site: www.facebook.com/lifetogethercommunity
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“If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
- African Proverb
Overview
The Life Together Community is inspired by the ancient prophet Micah’s call to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly.” We are a Christian community of artists, activists, scholars, and ministers committed to both personal and social change. We believe God has a dream of liberation of all people and we are called to play a part in making this dream a reality.
Our mission is to cultivate the next generation of prayerful and prophetic leaders, through spiritual practice, social justice, leadership training, and community building. One way we do this is through our ten-month fellowships throughout Eastern Massachusetts—in Boston, Lawrence, and Fall River.
Each year, Life Together selects up to 30 fellows from a pool of over 250 applicants. They range in age from 21 to 32 and come from a diverse range of racial, economic, geographic, and religious backgrounds. Each fellow has demonstrated a deep commitment to spiritual growth and working for social justice. They are willing to work in challenging situations and emotionally mature.
During their year, Life Together fellows:- work for social justice (in schools, non-profits, and churches)
- grow as leaders (through training and spiritual practice)
- live in community (with one another)
Life Together fellows work 32 hours each week in schools, non-profit organizations, or churches. Click here for more information on current positions. Some of the social impact areas for Boston fellows include education reform, youth leadership, healthcare reform, environmental justice and community gardening. There are opportunities for community organizing, direct service, or public policy work.
Fellows also spend one day per week developing the leadership skills, spiritual depth, and relationships that support Life Together fellows to become more prayerful and prophetic leaders.
Fellows serve from mid-August through June.
Some of our Boston area partners include:
LIFE TOGETHER SOUTH COAST
In the fall of 2012, Life Together expanded beyond the Boston area and hired 28 fellows to serve throughout eastern Massachusetts!
Life Together South Coast is currently recruiting for its second year in southern Massachusetts. LT South Coast is located in the gateway communities of Fall River and New Bedford about an hour south of Boston and twenty minutes from Providence, Rhode Island. These economically depressed urban areas pose many challenges and attract immigrants from all over the world to work in the fishing industry. South Coast fellows will get an opportunity to work as pioneer leaders in “urban neighborhood corridors.”
These corridors will be focused on building grassroots leadership and organizing local resources to empower communities and work toward long-term change on a neighborhood level. Each corridor will begin to build a coalition of local-area non-profit organizations and faith communities. South Coast fellows will spend their year of service working for one of these organizations. The social impact focus areas are immigrant advocacy, youth leadership development, and economic justice.
This is an incredibly exciting opportunity to engage in grassroots social change!
A hunger for spiritual growth, a passion for social justice, and prior leadership experience are required. Spanish language skills are helpful but not required.
Finally, Life Together South Coast is connected to the Life Together Community in Boston. All fellows will participate in Orientation together at the beginning of the year and then gather one Friday per month for a day of spiritual reflection, community building, and skill-based leadership training.
For both Life Together Boston and Life Together South Coast, we are looking for candidates who demonstrate:- Hunger for spiritual growth
- Prior leadership experience and the capacity to inspire others
- Openness to learning from others
- Interest in living in community with others
- Commitment to social justice, activism, and community change
Testimonials
"The most powerful part of being a Life Together fellow was being able to learn and practice a holistic approach to social justice work. This unique opportunity taught me that there are multitudes of methods, programs and skills available/needed to carry God's love into this world. I worked on budgets, created icebreakers, taught spiritual practice and planned huge fundraiser galas. I practiced the spectrum of tools necessary for effective change. Now, a year later I'm using all of them, from building grassroots teams to keeping an existing program afloat to be bring about effective social change in Nairobi, Kenya. Life Together provided an incredible place to learn and practice these tools - more tools than I could have imagined. I'll be forever grateful for my time with the program."
- Natalie Finstad, Life Together Alumni
"My year with the Episcopal Service Corps and Life Together will have a lasting impact on my life. During my year with ESC I was encouraged to bring my full self, and as a result of this radically welcoming community I was able to take risks, to be free from fear, and to live a more authentic life. The leadership of this program cared deeply about the power of young people and truly desired to bring out the full potential of each member of the fellow community. The program leadership had an amazing ability to adapt, as they listened to the hopes and dreams of each fellow. They supported our desires and interests with the time, money, and support that it took to mobilize action. As a result we saw our desire for change become a reality as urban youth were empowered, sexually marginalized were supported, education bills were advocated for, and more. It was an amazing experience and I am very grateful to ESC and Life Together for this year."
- Luke Dodge, Life Together Alumni
"Life Together played a critical role in shaping me as a faith-based leader, both by teaching me community organizing skills and by challenging me to go deeper in my faith journey. My experiences working to organize young adults in a large parish in downtown Boston taught me how to tell my own story and elicit the stories of others, invite others into action, and work with them to create meaningful change in our community. Bringing a community of young adults together to engage in ministry with nontraditional, low-income college students, and seeing their work continue after my fellowship year ended, was for me an amazing revelation of God's grace."
- Kelsey Rice Bogdan, Life Together Alumni
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