A Shared Journey by Jim Wallis

Christian writer and activist Jim Wallis is best known as the founder and editor of Sojourners magazine and as the founder of the Washington, DC-based community of the same name. Below is his introduction to Against the Wind, a biography of Bruderhof founder Eberhard Arnold by German theologian Markus Baum.

Since the time of Jesus, small groups of earnest Christians have tried to live by the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount. From St. Francis to the Benedictines to the Anabaptists, living as disciples of Jesus in community has been a sought-for ideal. While many Christians have viewed these ethics as for a time yet to come, others have insisted that Jesus meant for his followers to live them in the here and now. Eberhard Arnold witnesses to Gods faithfulness and Gods intervention in human history. God can only act in human history through people, and Arnolds commitment to discipleship, community, nonviolence, and his faith in the immediate reality of Gods kingdom continue to inspire and challenge all who seek to follow Christ. And it is also true that the Bruderhof, a Christian communal movement Arnold helped to found, is today a vibrant community of faith from which we at Sojourners have received great insight and strength over the years. Our 1984 visit to the Woodcrest Community in upstate New York was one of the most profound community exchanges I have ever experienced. There is a deep wisdom there about how Christians can truly live together. A strong presence of love exists among themnot the sentimental kind that relies on excessive words, but rather a mutual respect, a readiness to serve, and a joy in one another that has been born of much faith and struggle. Our life at Sojourners has been enriched and strengthened through sharing with the Bruderhof the joys and struggles of our attempt to faithfully live the kingdom of God in the world. Our shared belief that the gospel calls us to live in relationship with the poor continues to shape our vision and work at Sojourners. We are all on a journey, one that has led the Bruderhof into the pain, injustice, and suffering of the world. A new movement of the Spirit has led them to minister in the prisons, to march for peace, and to journey to far-off places of conflict. Their involvement in the campaign against capital punishment has powerfully demonstrated the truth of the gospel. This active involvement remains grounded in the faithful witness of the past, in the integrity and vitality of community life. It also raises a challenge for the future: is this involvement in the world putting the integral life of Christian community at risk? From our experience at

Sojourners, I can testify to the inevitable tensions that arise in the efforts to maintain community while being involved with suffering humanity. May all of us continue to follow the way of Jesus in community and in the world.