The goal of our intentional community is to embody a rule of life in Three Rivers that aspires to hospitality, simplicity, joy, interdependence and contemplative activism.

Shortly after we purchased the Huss School property in Three Rivers, Michigan, to begin doing community development work, several Calvin College students approached us about the possibility of moving to Three Rivers after graduation to help with the project. So, in the summer of 2010, we partnered with Trinity Episcopal Church for housing, quickly developed an internship program and five recent Calvin graduates joined us.

By the fall of 2010, more people started arriving and we started to realize an intentional community was organically forming. Since then, more than a dozen people have joined us for various amounts of time — either as summer interns or as longer-term resident community members. And several local folks connected with the burgeoning intentional community, broadening the group to include several households within walking distance of downtown Three Rivers.

The intentional community has become the core at the center of *culture is not optional’s work. We share good food and drink together (our Friday night dinners are pretty amazing, if we do say so ourselves), work on various *cino projects together, and get involved with the Three Rivers community in all kinds of ways (working at the local public library, providing respite care, reading Shakespeare plays, connecting with other communities, and more).

We’re currently working on a community rule and will post it when it is available.