1965-1969: MOVEMENT TRAINING
1965
Summer 1965
“In the summer of 1965, fifty students came to 5th City for six weeks as a study and work group in the community. We were the audience for the comprehensive curriculum as it was being developed by the Ecumenical Institute; and we were the work force for the beginning of the 5th City Community Development project. We did work days on many properties in the neighborhood as well as recruiting children for the preschool to start in the fall. This gathering was the first experiment in bringing outside people into the community for the summer, and it became the model for many years.” As told by Marilyn Oyler in 2018
- Summer ’65 Brochure, Terry Loomis and David Scott
- TALKS IN 1965: “Common Worship”, Joseph Mathews, May; “Corporateness”, Joseph Mathews, October
1966
Summer ’66: Beyond Protest, June 26-August 7
In the summer of 1966, summer participants were in three groups: clergy, teachers and students. The teachers focused on imaginal education as well as methods of working together to create a revolution in the schools. We developed curriculum for our subject areas and mostly fell in love with the idea of having a team to work with, doing important work in the civil rights movement. Several of us returned in the fall to teach in the neighborhood public schools. We created a teachers cadre, composed of elementary, middle and high school teachers (maybe 15). We created “image explosions” to offer alternative personal understanding, following the formula of our basic understandings: All of life is good, my life is received, the past is approved, the future is open. The cadre worked with youth in the neighborhood and continued to develop the spiral curriculum, the life triangles and the first imaginal education course for educators. As told by Marilyn Oyler in 2018
More on Summer ’66 HERE
Global Council I Manifesto, Strategies and Tactics, August
- “Laboratory for Tomorrow’s Church”, Together Magazine, March
- “You Can Help Bend History”, Chicago Magazine, Autumn
- “ Church Renewal”, Joseph Mathews
- “E.I.” Great Plains Observer, October
- “Letter to Laymen”, compilation of 1966 letters
1967
Summer 1967
- Declaration of the Spirit Movement of the People of God Century Twenty
- Fifth City Instructions, George West
- Model for Ecumenical Parish, David McCleskey
- UR Images Introduction, Joseph Slicker
Global Council II
1968
Summer 1968: Beyond Accomplishment
Two 3-week sessions: June 30-July 21 and July 28-August 18
Global Council III
- New Social Vehicle Report
- Permeation and Dissemination, JWM
- The Construct of the Movement
- Council III Documents
The infinitely interconnected, mysterious web of life so overwhelms us that we sometimes close our eyes and pretend we are its organizers. Tarsi Vitachi