Forces of Renewal and Decay: How Can a 100 Year Old Communal Movement Remain Alive and Responsive to Modern Challenges?

Communities today face unprecedented challenges from the forces of fragmentation and isolation, through technological advances, infectious disease, polarization of views and an exclusive focus on the rights and needs of the individual. The Bruderhof, an international community, has faced these threats in various forms throughout its 100yr history of communal living. I will explore ways in which we have met and continue to meet these challenges, building on the opposing power of gathering, communal joy, caring, spiritual renewal and communal work. Change and evolution are central to remaining alive and relevant, and structure and form should never become solidified, but communities can only survive and grow by remaining true the spirit that inspires their existence.