The Exodus - A 40 Year Journey

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Ernie
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The Exodus - A 40 Year Journey

Post by Ernie »

This video chronicles the 40 year history of what is now Homestead Heritage.
http://www.homesteadheritage.com/videos/an-exodus/

It starts with a young family moving from Texas to a run down section of Manhattan to bring hope and the Gospel to these people. It goes on to tell the story of how God directed their church towards community and many Anabaptist beliefs that are held by conservative Anabaptists today. They even changed from a pacifist position to a non-resistant position in recent years.

There are lots of negative things that could probably be said about this group, but I don't want that in this thread.
Feel free to raise questions and share things that inspired you but please skip the slander and defamation.
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MaxPC
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Re: The Exodus - A 40 Year Journey

Post by MaxPC »

Thank you for sharing this again, Ernie. I've looked at their website several times over since you let us know about them at MD.

I'm inspired by their desire to serve the Lord in the manner they discerned was His call to them. As someone who loves rural life, homestead skills, etc. I personally feel that there should be more communities like this. It would be a witness and a blessing to the surrounding areas.

Not all are called to this witness but certainly many feel drawn to it and the founding of more communities like this would be wonderful.
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Josh
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Re: The Exodus - A 40 Year Journey

Post by Josh »

Homestead Heritage is interesting since I think they fit into the "intentionalist" stream of Anabaptism, with no ethnic component at all, yet without descending into becoming a bizarre cult; they are really like an opppsite of Bruderhof, who migrated from nonresistance to pacifism and migrated towards being more cult like.

I hope someone eventually studies them and what they did that was unique. The rest of us intentionalists could learn from that.
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Wade
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Re: The Exodus - A 40 Year Journey

Post by Wade »

The sense of community and oneness that seems to exist or at least what is presented in this video is truly inspiring. :clap: :clap:
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Steven Avery
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Re: The Exodus - A 40 Year Journey

Post by Steven Avery »

The Exodus 40-year Journey video is quite good, although it does take a big of artistic license and many important elements are omitted.
Ernie wrote:This video chronicles the 40 year history of what is now Homestead Heritage.
http://www.homesteadheritage.com/videos/an-exodus/
It starts with a young family moving from Texas to a run down section of Manhattan to bring hope and the Gospel to these people. It goes on to tell the story of how God directed their church towards community and many Anabaptist beliefs that are held by conservative Anabaptists today. They even changed from a pacifist position to a non-resistant position in recent years.

A few years back, I watched the video when it first came out, in an auditorium when I was at the Thanksgiving weekend fair (as a person formerly involved who was visiting) and again recently. Offhand I don't remember a discussion of the distinction between pacifist and non-resistant, although their website does cover some of those issues. Did you get that from the vid?
MaxPC wrote:I'm inspired by their desire to serve the Lord in the manner they discerned was His call to them. As someone who loves rural life, homestead skills, etc. I personally feel that there should be more communities like this. It would be a witness and a blessing to the surrounding areas.

In terms of what they have accomplished with family, community, crafts and some other elements, I would agree.
Josh wrote:Homestead Heritage is interesting since I think they fit into the "intentionalist" stream of Anabaptism, with no ethnic component at all, yet without descending into becoming a bizarre cult; they are really like an opppsite of Bruderhof, who migrated from nonresistance to pacifism and migrated towards being more cult like. I hope someone eventually studies them and what they did that was unique. The rest of us intentionalists could learn from that.
Studying them is a bit difficult today. There are various layers to peel back, and what is on the surface may not show you the history or the current reality. One gentleman who wanted to have a bit more access was given some heavy-duty non-disclosure riff, in the form of written agreements and/or oral affirmations, when looking at the internal literature. (It seems to me that agreeing to such limitations is not a very good idea.)

And on the flip-side there are difficulties as well. There was a group of contras, egged on by a media outlet and one cult-ministry group (the gentleman who was most involved there has now passed on) that really would give a poison pen view of Homestead Heritage. This has been a big problem in trying to discern truth from error.

Personally, I do believe they began and ran with an anointing, vision, dedication and zeal that was quite unique. I was there rather early, in the 1970s, and have crisp and sweet memories. So, can the positive parts of this be accepted, received and run with today by others? I certainly hope so, may the Lord Jesus bring this to pass. It may take a shaking, or a remnant, or others totally new with a vision and direction from God.

Especially as I see Homestead Heritage as having failed to hold on to fundamentals of the Christian faith. The fundamental doctrinal changes (beyond the ongoing increase of the community and crafts component) are simply not able to be seen on their website or in any videos.

However, that is not the emphasis of this thread :).

Steven
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