REBA PLACE

At first glance, the intentional community in Evanston, Ill., is not discernable from any other community in the area. The houses have either two or three stories, and the neighbors all seem friendly. However, closer interaction reveals the deep, personal ties between members of Reba Place Fellowship.

Church elders Allan Howe and Orwin Youngquist discovered the community as young adults. Each had been searching for a sense of fellowship that, until then, had been elusive.

As a college student in the mid-’60s, Youngquist was involved in a group of students who met to discuss philosophical issues. “Near the end of my schooling, the whole group fell apart and I couldn’t figure out why. … I think in retrospect, those students who were more aware understood that our involvement with each other exceeded our commitment to one another,” he explained.

After hearing about the community near Chicago in which everything is shared, including income, Youngquist decided to check it out. “I wanted to be with committed people like the small group that I was in, who were really in there for the long haul, to work things out,” he said.
 

He has lived in the community ever since.

Families residing in Reba Place do not use the word “community” lightly. When a major decision is made, everyone makes it together, whether it deals with accepting new members or choosing schools for youth or paying medical bills.

“We have people who need serious medical things and we pay serious money for medical help for people. We basically sort of trust God to use the body to promote mutual aid among Christians, so we don’t pay insurance companies to cover our costs. Instead, we just pool in and cover it as we go,” says Howe, who joined the fellowship in 1965.

Reba Place members place less importance on money and possessions and more on friends, family and shared experiences. This community mentality shows itself with continuous offers for babysitting, grocery runs and shared meals.

While members of Reba Place present a unified front today, this was not always the case. The fellowship went through some rough times in the late ’70s and early ’80s when membership increased rapidly because of a large outreach to those with mental and emotional issues.

“With the advent of people who were quite needy, we took an approach of being much more authoritarian,” explained Orwin.

The fellowship became smaller when other community options were presented that did not involve a common purse. Two affiliated churches drew people who desired a sense of community but did not want to be financially committed to one another. Today, these churches have larger memberships than the fellowship though they retain the same sense of communal responsibility and care.

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Laura Mangan, 16, Allison Simmons, 14, and Sarah Zabel, 17.
REPORTER: Libby Bowling, 11.

Copyright 2010 Y-Press