For Information:
Kathleen Monts
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Koinonia HOSTS A RECORD NUMBER OF VISITORS THIS SPRING

Ten from Indianapolis, fourteen from Boston, twelve college students from Iowa, a family from Korea, two students from Japan… Year-round, people from all over the world visit historic Koinonia Farm. Thanks in part to the national PBS broadcasts of Briars In the Cotton Patch: The Story of Koinonia Farm, the number of visitors has increased in recent weeks. During March, 776 people, the largest number in recent history, traveled to spend time on the 600 acres located on Highway 49 South.

Koinonia is a place of prayer, work, study, service, and spiritual renewal, and hospitality is the farm’s central mission. The community invites people to see how nature and spirit are intertwined, how a prophetic history can inspire new action in a troubled world. Visiting members of Honey Creek United Methodist Church report that spiritual renewal came as a welcome surprise to them. They were focused on the physical work at first, but found that a week working, worshiping, eating, and serving together affected their
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relationships in joyous and positive ways. Visitors describe Koinonia in many ways: as a healing place, a peace walk with nature, an alternative lifestyle, an oasis, or even as fly paper: “You come here and it sticks. You can’t go away. You don’t want to.”

Visitors are welcome to worship with the community during morning and noon devotions, to participate in study sessions, to share the noon meal and to work in a variety of areas that keep the community going: the organic garden, the bakery, the orchards, construction projects, the woodshop, the library, tutoring school children, repairing homes for those who need assistance, delivering meals to shut-ins, the store, the museum and more.

In Koinonia’s museum, visitors can travel the timeline of Koinonia history and also learn about African-American history in Sumter County. Many visitors join a wagon tour of the 600-acre farm and the two neighborhoods built by Koinonia, the birthplace of Habitat for Humanity. Tours also offer a chance to see the pecan orchards, pecan processing plant and bakery, and the Koinonia store is open seven days a week.

Out-of-town visitors often also spend time at other Sumter County attractions, such as the Habitat for Humanity International Global Village; Plains, GA, birthplace of our 39th President Jimmy Carter; and the Andersonville Prisoner of War Museum.

Koinonia is proud to be a part of local history. Koinonia aims to become a “beloved community” grounded in reconciliation and redemption, and we believe that our rich heritage will bring us together and inspire the broader community.

David Castle
May 11, 2005