SETTLED

by Elizabeth Pedersen

It was the spring of 2020 when I first met Gabrielle Clowdus, founder of Settled. I reached out to her during all the COVID pivoting while searching for high school mission trip alternatives. I thought, “How cool would it be to build a tiny home in Lord of Life’s parking lot?!”

We met on Zoom, along with a couple of other Lord of Life staff. It didn’t take long to catch Gabrielle’s passion and vision for this ministry as she shared about our call as the Church to come alongside God’s people—including and especially those experiencing homelessness. She taught us about the importance of how a stable home and community contributes to a person’s overall health and ability to navigate adversity—and what happens if a person has no stable community to lean on and finds themselves, for one reason or another, without a place to live. Add to that an addiction or unresolved trauma or a disability and how likely is that person to have the resources or support to find their way to stability and health? In most cases, simply giving this person a roof over their head isn’t going to cut it. This is where Settled’s full community approach to addressing homelessness comes in.

The full community model rests on the philosophical assumption that the single greatest cause of homelessness is the profound, catastrophic loss of family. For one to come out of long-term homelessness, a full community model presumes that one must be invited into a community where there is restoration of the human heart. And, to experience homefullness (the sense of being settled and belonging) is to experience being fully and wholly known and loved, inherent needs of every human being. For Gabrielle and Settled, this approach to addressing homelessness is manifested in Sacred Settlements.

Sacred Settlements are an innovative, research-based way to address long-term homelessness by developing holistic tiny home communities in cooperation with faith communities. Each resident has their own rooming unit (i.e. tiny home) placed around common facilities on under-utilized land of religious institutions. The land is managed by a religious or social organization to maintain standards for safety and welfare.

These settlements are designed to foster community through regular interactions with others and working with the broader community to live a lifestyle of service. Specially-trained intentional neighbors live in the settlement and work with all the members to ensure that the settlement is healthy and thriving. A team of advocate-befrienders wrap around inhabitants coming off the streets to build trusted relationships, walk alongside them as they journey to meet their life goals, and connect them with valuable support services.

It is not hard to say “yes” to this vision of caring for our neighbors in partnership with Settled. Since first learning about it, Lord of Life has said nothing but. In 2021, we built a tiny home in our parking lot—and this summer, we will build another one! We don’t know what the future of the second tiny home will be, but just as the first house we built became a home for Valerie Roy at Prince of Peace in Roseville, we have faith that God will use the second house to bring someone home.

Stay tuned for work schedule sign-ups (lordoflife.org/tinyhouse) to help build the second tiny home!

To learn more: https://settled.org https://www.house.mn.gov/sessiondaily/Story/17839

In the winter of 2022, Roseville police approached Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and asked if Valerie Roy could park her van in which she was living in their parking lot. They said yes. As time went on, it became clear that staying in her van on cold winter nights was not sustainable. Out of that, a partnership with Settled emerged and an interim Sacred Settlement was established.

Valerie chose the tiny home Lord of Life built to call her home, and she moved in in January 2023. Shown at right is a message from Ms. Roy to everyone at Lord of Life!

How do I say thank you for a gift so significant as to give me my safety, my dignity and my security back all at once in under a hundred words? Even if I wrote ‘thank you’ 100 times— it’s still not enough. I’m way better for this experience, I’m more active and have new community around me. A few months is never going to fix a lifetime of damage, but you need to know how grateful that I have been given a fair chance at living again. I couldn’t fix my problems myself, LORD KNOWS I TRIED, but it has taken all of you and now you know how big of a difference this makes. Many thanks and much gratitude.

—Valerie M. Roy

Answer the Call to Worship —Outdoors!

On Sunday, July 23, 10 am, there will be one worship service and it will be held in Lord of Life’s lush and green backyard! Pastor Kaitlyn Forster will be preaching. Music will be led by David Frank and Brian Schroeder. Bring your own chairs and/or blankets for seating. Worship will be accessible for wheelchairs and walkers. After worship, there will also be picnic food: hot dogs, chips, fruit, and cookies. In case of rain, we’ll move inside to the sanctuary and Fellowship Hall.

These photos are from the most recent outdoor worship services in 2021. On July 23, no face masks will be required— let’s all give a “hallelujah!”