Neighbors at Sacred Settlement Mosaic longed for a paved walkway through their six-home community and began talking to all the right people – church staff, Supportive Friends, and other neighbors – to make it a priority. Those conversations trickled into Community Dinners, where the idea for the next big project was an ongoing topic around the table.

The idea grew and grew.

Soon it became part of Bible studies and office conversations. The question shifted from “Can we install a walkway?” to “Who is going to lead the walkway project?”

Through those conversations, both within Sacred Settlement Mosaic and outside it, people discovered a common theme: Not only do each of us have something to contribute and something to receive in community, but we also have friends who have friends.

Community is strengthened
when others are invited into it.

Our work is designed to create welcoming pathways – both physical and relational – so people from an array of experiences, churches with varying backgrounds, and organizations with differing expertises can join us.

A longtime supporting church of Settled and Sacred Settlement Mosaic had connections to a concrete business. The business was willing to donate material. A Supportive Friend at Mosaic who spends days in the trades offered to oversee the project with a close friend. A men’s Bible study group was willing to spend their time forming, pouring, and wheeling concrete. One of those men even had all his old tools from decades past, when he spent his college days working with concrete.

Concrete pouring day arrived – and so did a small army of people, wheelbarrows at the ready, who had heard whispers of this community project.

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With every wheelbarrow full of concrete, every foot of the pathway formed by lumber and rebar, with every hand float and placer, a group of people declared they were willing to labor for the sake of community. The neighbors, who once had passing discussions about a walkway, found supporters of the Full Community Model in other churches, in private businesses, and in the public sector to make this dream real (just in time for winter).

Conversations open us up to other pathways, too. Conversations at Community Dinners have ignited other churches to discern and plant Sacred Settlements. Through conversations exposing a shared vision, Settled is finding collaboration with other organizations and growing deeper roots.The paved walkway makes Sacred Settlement Mosaic more accessible for every person who graces its grounds; it makes life easier for neighbors who maintain the path through winter snow and ice; it reinforces permanency on St. Paul’s Eastside. It deepens a sense of pride in the community.The power of life together and inviting others into it isn't limited to Sacred Settlement Mosaic. We all have something to contribute. We all have something to receive. Take a look at our calendar to find a Community Meal or an upcoming tour — and invite others into it.