THE MEANING OF OIKOS
The word oikos is an ancient Greek word meaning household and refers to three related but distinct concepts: the family, the family's property, and the house. It was also often used in a much broader sense to include extended family, neighbors, coworkers and friends, and all those whom we come into regular contact with.
OUR FOCUS
The Oikos Project is a faith-based initiative that seeks to bring hope, healing, and delight to communities through hospitality, guidance, and shared life experiences. This is accomplished by living out specific missional practices that bring others into a Gospel-centered community that fervently displays and shares the love of Christ.
MODERN TIMES
Just in the last couple of decades, our ability to connect with people around the globe has exploded.
In 2017, worldwide annual air passenger numbers exceeded four billion for the first time and were approaching the five billion mark in 2020 before COVID, and we are on the way to realizing that number once again. Improvements in global economic conditions and the introduction of online shopping have allowed us to much more easily and quickly acquire everyday amenities with just the click of a button.
The internet has allowed us to chat, join newsgroups, and online communities, or email anyone in the world. Advances in cellphone and smartphone technology have made it possible for us to stay connected (continuously) to people even when we are away from our desks and outside of our homes.
By the end of 2024, it is forecasted that there will be around 5.17 billion social media users around the globe (over 60% of Earth’s population). These social networks allow us to connect with our neighbors, childhood friends, college buddies, coworkers, and other distant strangers around the world with a few taps and swipes.
Never in human history has worldwide travel, the exchange of goods and ideas, or communicating with people been so simple and accessible. So you'd think we'd all feel pretty known and satisfied because of a greater connection to the world, more access to stuff, and all-encompassing social lives, right?
Unfortunately, these advances have not helped us feel more connected with anyone. In fact, studies reveal almost half of us feel lonely and isolated. It is becoming more and more evident that our increasing use of social media and lack of pursuing real genuine ties to local social life is what is leading to our isolated nature. The United States, in particular, has experienced a steady decline in social connectedness over the past years as travel, technology, and social media have all advanced.
“The biggest disease today is not leprosy or cancer or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for, and deserted by everybody.”
HEALTHY families
STRONG communities
FORGOTTEN PRACTICES
In today’s over-connected world, it is easy to overlook the fact that we all need reciprocal friendships and communities of genuine care right where we live if we are to grow and flourish. As is often said, “We are meant to bloom where we are planted.”
Starting with one of the most basic components of community, the family, we want to take a faith-filled approach to engaging with people in our immediate communities through simple expressions of generosity, love, and kindness coupled with heartfelt hospitality, face-to-face interactions, and meaningful conversations.
We hope to inspire a movement of people who are hungry and thirsty for deeper connection and authentic community. We want to journey with others in reacquainting ourselves with practices of cultivating a life in common, instead of being held hostage by the individualistic and distracted tendencies that make up the society around us.
By living, working and sharing together, we hope to reawaken the possibilities of experiencing life-giving relationships and finding simple pleasure in the abundance of provisions that are right in front of us.
AN EMPHASIS ON FOOD & GATHERING AROUND THE TABLE
“There is a spiritual thing about food. It’s the magnet that brings people to the table. Through food we connect to our roots and to each other.”
Over decades of doing ministry, some of our community’s most fruitful times and best spiritual conversations have happened around a dinner table. An intimate meal has the potential to be welcoming, comforting, and disarming–creating space for real conversation and a deeper connection to happen.
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We may not reflect on it very often, but food plays a central role in all our lives. Food can also be pivotal in how we understand and connect to our spiritual journey–from the fruit that caused the Fall in the Garden, to Jesus' pronouncement of the New Covenant during the Passover, to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb which we will one day experience in Christ's Eternal Kingdom–it provides a powerful platform from which we can relate to each other and to our Creator.
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There are many records revealing that practicing a communal meal was part of the weekly habit of the Early Church. Eating together and inviting others to join has been a central Christian practice since the beginning of our movement. Jesus was often found eating with (and feeding) others during his earthly ministry. He was both celebrated and ridiculed for this.
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“It is through the daily practice of the table that we live a life worth living. Through the table we know who we are, where we come from, what we value and believe. At the table we learn what it is to be family and how to live in responsible, loving relationships. Through the table we live our neighborliness and citizenship, express our allegiance to particular places and communities, and claim our sense of home and belonging. At the table we celebrate beauty and express solidarity with those who are broken and hungry.”
– Chef Simon Carey Holt, Eating Heaven: Spirituality at the Table