Brazos de Dios Community

This past Sunday The Dallas Morning News ran a story on the Brazos de Dios Community situated in Elm Mott, just north of Waco, down yonder off I-35.  The story, which covered the better part of three pages on a prime readership day for the paper, offered insights into the life of Christian folk who migrated down here from New York over the last 30 plus years to establish a place where they can live a more natural and harmonious existence.  What I found interesting is what the article didn't address or follow up on.

The majority of folks mentioned in the article had Pennsylvania Dutch last names.  The women wear traditional clothing associated with Amish and Mennonite communities. There is a general agreement on homesteading using lower tech tools and processes in the community whenever possible.  They run a Homesteading School which is highly thought of and are open to teaching the general public the tools and techniques of their way of life.

What I also know, indirectly through discussions with a friend who has visited the community, is that the roughly 1,000 member community also shares an Anabaptist faith which is not open to the general public.  That there is both a public and private community face in Elm Mott and that the community is both intensely inwardly focused and outwardly manifested.

I support Brazos de Dios making a place for their way of life within an hour or so of the Metroplex - they greatly enrich the culture and options for all of us.  I respect their willingness to shun many of the predominant values and mores of the surrounding society for their own vision of the good life.  And I pity them that their public noteriety will undoubtedly bring down on them every sort of dreamer, looky-loo, and nut case in the Metroplex for the forseeable future.  God help ya and bless ya, folks!