About a month ago, Elizabeth Wotring left her Center City apartment and moved into Shalom House in West Philly. Shalom House is an intentional community that proactively pursues Jesus’ call for Christians to be peacemakers, to love our neighbors and enemies, to work out our conflicts, to reconcile and to speak out in truth and love about violence and injustice that plagues our world.
Elizabeth, 24, joins Mimi Copp and Emily Kephart in the house, which is located at 51st and Pine. Circle of Hope summer intern Heather Eisenberger is also spending the season at Shalom House as she fulfills her compassionate duties.
The path to becoming a Shalom House member wasn’t that clear-cut for Elizabeth, she said. Although Elizabeth is not new to Philadelphia, she is relatively new to Circle of Hope and is still figuring it out.
Elizabeth moved to Philadelphia from western Maryland in 2005 to attend Philadelphia University to pursue interior design. About a year ago, she was talking with a friend about churches in the area and he suggested Circle of Hope.
The first Sunday Elizabeth came to Broad and Washington, she met Ben White who introduced her to Forest, who asked her to play on his worship team the next week. The next week she played on Forest’s team and was introduced to Rachel who asked Elizabeth to play on her team the following week. Months later, Elizabeth still regularly contributes on Rachel’s worship team. She is also a cell leader apprentice for Petagaye’s cell that meets in South Philly and Nathan’s kid’s cell that meets on the mezzanine on Sundays.
Elizabeth made a covenant at the January 2010 Love Feast (this was only the second one she attended). That is where Elizabeth met Mimi. Rachel encouraged Elizabeth to talk to Mimi about Shalom House.
Elizabeth credits Rachel with pushing her to explore the potential she could have at Shalom House.
“She was gung-ho about me doing this from the start and would not even listen to any of the doubts I had. She planted the seed and watered it and staked it,” Elizabeth said.”
Elizabeth said she was a bit hesitant about the decision, but thankful for the support of friends that helped her get to a more comfortable place.
“Shalom House was still kind of a mystery while I was moving in, but I saw it as a way to support Circle of Hope and overall a good direction for me to go as a person,” Elizabeth said. “I want to get involved in making peace in this world and so currently I feel like a student learning what I can and helping when possible.”
Elizabeth said she is finding it easy to embrace and interact as a member of Shalom House and is also experiencing some personal growth.
“Right now I’m kind of just enjoying living in a community where people want me around, that in itself is pretty great. But I would like to learn how to open up more. I’ve come a long way already, but I still have a ways to go.
Elizabeth is also adjusting to a schedule that is filled with meetings and potlucks and prayer time, which is something new. The house gathers for prayer at 7am on weekdays. On Monday nights, they host an open potluck and on Wednesday nights, they gather for a house meeting.
As she continues to develop her role as a proactive peacemaker in Shalom House and the community, Elizabeth says she is thankful for the intentional community environment and the presence they are in the city.
“Actions speak louder than words. Lead by example. This is why a peace-seeking community needs to live in intentional community. It’s easy to say you want peace for the world, but not so easy to live peace in your community,” Elizabeth said. “I think Shalom House is a great way to test out peace and educate others in our community.”
Elizabeth is excited about the opportunities at Shalom House to share peace with others.
“I want peace and more importantly, Jesus wants peace, but I am just an ordinary person trying to offer up what I can to help promote peace. We’ve been reading 1Corinthians in cell and I can really identify. I don’t feel ready to talk, to write, to be heard, but even in my insecurities, I know God can use me.”
