ABOUT WORD OF LIFE COMMUNITY
Word of Life, formerly kown as Washtenaw Covenant Community, is located in Washtenaw county (Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti), Michigan, USA.  Please contact the community office for further information: 
Email address: wcc@rc.net
Telephone number: 734-677-3662 
Mailing address: 2512 Carpenter Road, Suite 201B, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA
Historical background: Word of Life, an ecumenical Christian community and member community of The Sword of the Spirit, takes its roots in the founding of The Word of God community in 1970.  In 1982 The Word of God community founded The Sword of the Spirit as an international community of communities along with other covenant communities worldwide. Twelve members of The Sword of the Spirit were among the first group of people who made their covenant commitments in The Word of God in September and November of 1970: Bob Bell, Steve Clark, Sue Cummins, Ted Kennedy, Ellen Gryniewicz, Jeanne Kun, Dick LaCroix, Mike Morrissey, Nancy Murphy, Don Schwager, Sherry Snyder, and Bruce Yocum.  See related articles below written on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of covenant community.

Steve Clark, a founding leader of The Word of God and The Sword of the Spirit explains the significance of covenant communities today:

“As throughout the ages the Holy Spirit has been active among the Christian people to bring about renewal, groups of Christians have come together to respond. Many Christians have come together to perform some special services or foster spiritual growth with no further bond among themselves than that necessary for achieving particular goals.
“But the human race is naturally social, and it has pleased God to unite those who believe in Christ in the people of God (cf. 1 Peter 2:5-10), and into one body (cf. 1 Co 12:12, AA 18).  Therefore the very nature of the Christian people is to be brothers and sisters in the Lord, one in the Spirit in the bonds of peace and mutual love (Eph 4:3).  Consequently, when the Holy Spirit renews his people, he often leads groups of Christians to join themselves to one another to live more fully the life together of the Christian people.  Such a coming together is not intended as an alternative to the life of the Church.  Rather, it is a renewed living out of what the life of the Church should be and so signifies the communion and unity of the Church of Christ.
“In our day, desire for such coming together is felt with greater strength because of the loss of natural community in society and in [many parishes and congregations]... In recent years the Lord has brought into existence new forms of Christian life that are called covenant communities.  They are covenantal because they are based on the voluntary commitment of members to one another in a serious way that is not  necessarily lifelong and does not necessarily partake of the nature of a vow.  The commitment is in the for0m of a personal covenant of brothers and sisters one to another that supplements and strengthens the relationship that comes from being baptized members of the Church.  They are communities because they share together their spiritual and material goods as a way of expressing their relationship as brothers and sisters in the Lord.” [excerpted from, Covenant Community & Church, by Stephen B. Clark, (c) 1992, Servant Publications, Ann Arbor, Michigan]
30th Anniversary
Annual Community Fall Festival 







 
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