Appendix to the Rule
Process toward Membership in Community
In order to start the process of exploring community membership, a new individual would schedule a visit to Community and is welcomed with a ceremony of welcome. Then if circumstances allow and the Spirit directs, a longer visit should be undertaken. After this, a person is a Visitor and can attend church services on Sabbath, attend all calendar holy days, may visit for as long as they are approved for, and freely come and go. They may then, at any time, ask the Council of Community to enter into First Omer Classes. This is sometimes referred to as the “first-year.”
Upon acceptance into Community by Council decision, the first-year person may then choose to live in Community. Residence is not required to become first-year. However, one full year of residency is required to request status change. During the first year, a new person begins to learn about repentance, languages of repentance, hearing God's spirit, and knowing how to integrate what they hear with others and basic workings of community such as work requirements, gardening, and community structure. During the first year of residence, at Ingathering, a new person may take the Covenant. A first-year person must participate in the storehouse (community providing basic needs, food, clothing), but will be required work-crew participation. A first-year person may spend money on themselves, as they wish, but may not spend money on/for community, except tithing. This first year orientation process can vary in actual time, for it may take longer than an actual calendar year to grasp all these principles and apply them effectively. After the repentance process is grasped, along with other basic knowledge of how community works, the first-year person may, if they wish, ask the Council to move onto their Second Omer or “second-year.”
After having received the Council's approval to become a second-year resident, the person may now attend the various Purifications of the Many, which are blessings and services for healing. A second year person must live in community and they practice not spending or handling money, neither do they drive cars, but travel with Community drivers. Those who carry the purse will purchase for them whatever is necessary with the individual’s own money. The person still may not spend money on community but may tithe out of their own income or savings. Community uses the second-year to focus more intensely on an individual’s ability to hear the Spirit, especially within the group setting of Community, and on the individual’s application of the second commandment to their life. The second commandment (Matt 22:39) focuses on a person’s willingness to view relationships as unconditional, just like the Covenant. Again this process of second-year participation can take a year or it may be longer. When the second-year person is comfortable in their repentance process and desires to move to third year, they may approach the Council for approval.
After Council approval for beginning their Third Omer Class or third-year resident status, the person may participate fully in the Purifications of the Many, healing prayers and blessings. They focus on their learning righteousness, their relationship and joining with the Eerkodeshiy, as well as their own purifications. A third-year person does not spend money and the Storehouse will hold the individual’s money in trust for them, in the case that the person should wish to leave community Also, they may prepare to become a full member. This third-year process can take longer than a year. When the third year is completed, the person is ready to request permission of the Council to train for Common Consent. All persons must arrive at the fourth year status within seven years or depart from community, unless otherwise decided by the Council.
During the fourth period, or Fourth Omer toward membership, the resident is permitted to sit with the Council during meetings as a person in training in the common consent process. They will sit with another member and quietly ask that person questions if needed. They must ask permission to speak. After showing an understanding and ability to use common consent as an apprentice, an individual may be approved by the Council to participate in common consent fully as a member of the Council of Community.
In order for a person to live in the Community on corporate property, owned or leased, they must have approval for their residency process as outlined above. Any person leaving the Community to reside elsewhere shall remove from the property only those items which are not held in common or an element of religious worship. They shall not be reimbursed for any monies or resources expended to build or develop the dwelling in which they resided, land improvements, buildings, or other investments. All farm equipment, buildings, homes, common resources (such as firewood, food, animal products, or processing components such as spinning wheels or looms, etc.) are held in common by the Council for the use of community residents. These items may only be removed by permission of the Council, in writing. All stoves and permanent fixtures may not be removed. Building supplies purchased but not used may be taken. Any person who leaves their residency or membership in Community forfeits all benefits from their residency or their role on the Council and their use of any commonly held resources and may be subject to pay damages or prosecuted for theft, should they take things inappropriately, according to the decision of the Council and the laws of the State of Iowa.
Every resident of the Community shall abide by the labor policy, dress code, building code, gender protocol, food policy, and the Community Rule which all together are the Storehouse Regulations. Persons who leave the Community and have been members of the Council for 10 years or more, may never participate on the Council again should they ever return to reside in Community.
Virtues in Community
In Community, there are many virtues we keep that maintain peace and harmony and foster personal dignity and respect between persons and enhance or create a deep relationship with God. These virtues help us to “keep the Law,” which is to live your vision of created purpose and the Community Rule.
A virtuous person…
Does not dishonor others
Does not take revenge
Bears no malice
Is happy and enthusiastic
Does not have the heat of anger
Does not pacify others
Is led by the Spirit
Does not loathe another’s repentance
Is trustworthy, predictable, protective, and dependable
Is not impatient
Has no perversity of heart or is intimidating
Is not haughty or bossy
Is not ill-tempered
Does not interrupt another
Is not disrespectful
Does not lie for gain
Is not hateful
Uses discretion with the truth
Does teach, instruct, edify, and enlighten
Is clean and tidy
Gives of self, to be unselfish
Does not measure the cost in service to others
Is modest in all things
Loves in spite of sin
Has no deception
Is kind, forgiving and compassionate
Holds no grudges
Is an example of holiness to reveal God
Is not violent
Does not insult
Does not speak malice
Does not sleep at blessings
Strives to see their vision
Is righteous and clean before the Lord
Is charitable and open
Keeps the Sabbath day
Is not a slackard
Does not betray the Covenant
Loves the Father and feels Him
Is not covetous
Does not violate the storehouse
Uses morning and evening prayer corn
Is gentle
Obeys inscription
Does not speak against repentance
Is sexually disciplined according to purity & perfection
Speaks with no profanity
Is not negligent
Does not speak sarcasm
Assumes the best of others
Does not speak ill of others
Does not complain
Does not dishonor righteousness
Does not dishonor repentance
Is not rude
Does not dishonor forgiveness by openly accepting apologies but
inwardly holding a grudge
Is not boastful
Respects older elders
Does not remain to listen intently when ill is spoken of others
Does not dishonor Righteousness
Most of these virtues come directly from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Community Rule, War Rule, Temple Rule and Damascus Document. Others have been added because of necessity. When these virtues are broken, the offender does days of penance, which would separate them from participating in blessings and common consent.
1st Commandment Community
Our community is a 1st commandment community, where we put God first. Whether it is in what we eat, what we wear, how we plant the gardens, nothing is too small. The idea is to put God, and what He thinks about, first in our lives. Matthew 22: 37,38, Christ says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment." Deuteronomy 6:5, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." This is interpreted to mean every part of our lives with every aspect and fiber of our being, leaving nothing out or behind. That is why everything means so much to us in community.
The Four Foundations of Community
The Storehouse Repentance Common Consent Righteousness
The Storehouse – The Storehouse is to provide, by the hand of God, every clean and sacred thing for use in worship and to supply every daily need of all the Community. The storehouse is to insure equity between all so as to eliminate the influences that divide the people and prevent them from having all things common. It is to better provide for their children, elderly, handicapped, and orphans, and to promote a clean and righteous way of life. The land of all the earth, except that which is under the domination of the wicked, is in the storehouse of God, this includes: all the trees, water, food stores, firewood, building materials, and provisions
Repentance – Repentance is change to be a better person according to the desires of the Lord, which He expresses to you personally. We freely and lovingly reprove one another in Community and believe a call to repentance is a call to have some specific, personal relationship or experience with Christ. We believe the Lord and all the Eerkodeshoi reprove people on a regular basis. We love our repentance processes and we love each other’s. One of the most essential components for the repentance processes to work in Community is honesty. We find that people who come into Community from the world do not grasp the full meaning of the profound nature of our kind of honesty until they have been here awhile. It can be a huge adjustment. We see repentance to be a happy, exciting, and gratifying process. A call to repentance is seen as a most extreme act of love and compassion. There is a host of tapes, scriptures and reading material on repentance available. The one critical element to have a successful, happy life in Community is to love repentance; love finding ways to change to be a better person, parent, friend or neighbor; love coming to a knowledge of your sin for the excitement to be better, more virtuous, honest, and effective for the Lord.
Common Consent – Common Consent is the process by which all decisions in Community are made. Common Consent is not majority rule it is unanimous consent. Unless everyone on the decision making body commonly consents then the decision is not accepted. In order to be part of the Common Consent process a person must be a full member of Community and not be doing days of penance that result in exclusion from Common Consent. Courtesies extended during the Common Consent process are: 1. treat Common Consent like any other worship by being positive and saying only virtuous things, 2. speak only as instructed by the Spirit, 3. have respect for the Languages of Repentance and Glory, 4. do not express self-interest, 5. keep the common good uppermost, and 6. be willing to change at any indication improvement can be made. A willingness to adapt and change plans as the Spirit directs is the definition of stability in Community.
Righteousness – Righteousness is the correct practical, theoretical and religious relationship with any given element among the Eerkodeshoi. Often thought of as the “right” relationship with all holy element. In the Book of Remembrance is listed and described in detail how to approach the leaders of the Watchers of Holiness.
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To speak against these Foundations of the Community, publicly, with the intent to change them, eliminate them, or to degrade them, will result in expulsion from Community. However, we all commonly speak of how to better express them and improve upon them.
The Covenant of the Community
Verily thus saith the Lord God Almighty, even Anokeesed, unto all the Righteous who are assembled unto their repentance: If you will love Me and learn the Languages of My Son, even the Languages of Repentance and Glory,
Yea, love Me until these Languages which are in all things become the foundation of every aspect of your lives, then will I make a New Covenant with you to view you as a repentant people and a people willing to come clean before Me.
I will view you as a people who exercise faith in Me until they become sanctified in Me, so My words to My ancient prophet will be fulfilled insomuch as the things that have been sealed from the foundation of the world will be unsealed for you, even to the unfolding of all My revelations.
As My people under this New Covenant, I will send before you the Holy Order of My priesthood, yea My presence will be with you even so much as you shall be known to Me as the New Jerusalem upon this the Promised Land, and be blessed upon the land forever.
As My Covenant people I will fight your battles for you, I will nourish your young children in the light of My ancient revelations, I will multiply you and teach you Songs of Glory. There is no blessing that need be withheld from you and your posterity forever, but you must love Me as I have loved you and in your love for Me, come unto Me and confess and repent all your sins – willingly, humbly, openly, and happily.
And as you do this and you develop relationships with My Son through righteousness in all things, you will become sanctified in Me and sickness and sorrow will be done away.
No individual one of you can come in unto this New Covenant because of someone else’s love for Me or by someone else’s repentance. Each must find and love Me. You each must become clean before Me.
It is My desire for you in the terrible days to come upon the earth that your pathway take you softly past the fear and turmoil of soul that shall beset the hearts of men. Do whatever it takes in your repentance and discipline to know Me and I will do whatever it takes to preserve and bless you upon the Promised Land forever.
The token of this Covenant I have sent and is before you, even that part of the Book of Remembrance which reveals to you how to prepare to stand before Me at the last day.
Greater truth can no man know; more profitable knowledge cannot enter into the heart of man. I am your God. I am Anokeesed. I am multiplied in your heart and all things. Amen.
Conditions of Taking & Keeping the Covenant[1]
Intend to form no opinion, nor influence others, without hearing the Lord first about everything.
Develop your personal, intimate relationship with the Lord and the Eerkodehoi, and learn how He wants you to communicate it.
Study scriptures and related subjects a significant time every week.
Develop a full prayer life, intending to pray unceasing, including prayer corn twice daily, prayer before meals, etc.
Use initiative, led by the Lord, to express your clan, order of service, and/or responsibilities to the Lord in the community as an expression of your dominion.
Respect the four foundations of the community and pursue becoming skilled in them.
Prepare diligently to participate in the holy days and all corporate acts of worship, by seeking the Lord about them ahead of time.
Develop a conscious awareness that everything you do is for the Lord.
Develop a growing, conscious awareness of loving Him completely, without conditions or limits; and everything you love you will love fully.
Learn and practice all the dynamic of your religion - the Religion of Shabuwa
Respect your elders and learn more of what that means by following their examples.
Be loyal to the Lord, your religion, and your people in all your behavior.
The Storehouse of Anokeesed
There is a tradition that Melchizedek was the keeper of the storehouse of the Most High God Anokeesed. And in Genesis 14:20 Abraham is said to have given Him tithes of all he had.
My grandfather’s brother was a bishop in a religion that held the ideal of righteous communities. He was one who managed the finances for his religion. He did a lifelong study of religious communities where the people had the intention of following the example in Acts 2:44 which says, “All that believed were together and had all things in common.” He wrote a report by hand of two volumes of thousands of pages on his investigation. It is hardbound and is one of our family’s heirlooms. He studied 2500 attempts at community. Most of them failed in the first 3 years. And when I last spoke with him in 1958, he knew of none that survived the long term.
The failure, in almost every case of attempts to start communities, was because the people followed two principles that have been designed by the society at large. And they are, first, people’s desire to pursue the satisfaction of possessions, and, second, to achieve dominance over their fellows. The first is the pursuit of the accumulation of wealth and the second is the drive to be in charge of people with its attending honor of position. Those two principals were established early on after our first parents left Eden by Cain’s son in what was called the city of Enoch (See Genesis 4:17 and Melchizedek 5:66). I remember an attempt he told me about that happened in Puyallup, Washington. About 25 families started a housing development of new houses built around a small central park with a community center in it. Before 3 years were gone by, the community broke up over things like someone didn’t take care of the lawnmower, and someone didn’t clean up after themselves, and three men competed over the pastor’s role. The Lord’s storehouse is designed to eliminate those two detrimental influences, that is satisfaction of possessions and dominance over your fellows.
The Essenes, who were the early church that Christ was a part of, set the example. They were the only expression of Judaism that did so. Every group of them had someone who carried the purse for the rest of them, like Judas. And that person, or persons if the group was large, were the only ones who spent money. The purpose for this is to separate yourselves from the subtle influence money has on the spirituality of the people, conveying to them the desire for things. I have not handled money to spend it now for more than 40 years. My grandchildren here in community who are grown with families themselves have never spent money in their lives. The results are amazing, they don’t lust after things. When I was young and in the world, I always wanted something. On my way home from work, I would go by a sporting goods store to just look at a fishing pole I could hardly wait to have enough money for.
So this is the basic structure of how the storehouse works in a righteous community. We have a special ceremony to set a person aside especially to carry the purse for the rest of us. We bless their hands with sage smoke in the 4 ways and pray that they will be protected from the bad influences of money. The Essenes held that money was unclean. (See Vermes Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English p.498, 544; and Abegg Wise and Cook The Dead Sea Scrolls p.206) For the Essene policy on money in the process of becoming a full member of the community see the Community Rule 1:3; 3:1,6,11; 6:12. As you study all these references, this is what you will find in a condensed form in regard to money.
A first year/Omer person can drive their car and spend their own money. But they can’t buy Decadarchiy things and bring them into the community. This would be electric/battery operated things, plastic toys and items of plastic, genetically altered food, and such things like loud colorful clothing, etc. The reason this is done is often new people need time to get used to living in a moneyless culture. We do not do our work for money. You can do a lot of very hard work and get the same as the other guy who did not have to work as hard. Christ’s parable where everyone got the same pay no matter how long they worked is a good one (See Matthew 20:1-16). If people come with no money, we do our best to provide for them. Coming after the fall harvest is hard because the newcomers were not here to help produce the winters provisions. Also, coming with no winter clothing is hard in our climate. It is best for those who prepare to come to community to try to time it so they can work in the gardens. It is best if they come without debts to be paid because we do not work out for money. We labor because we love one another.
Everyone who lives on Community property must be in the storehouse. And work on work crews if a man, and do what the women do if a woman. In the Rule appendix, there is a section on our labor policies that we require - other communities may be different. When we first started in Community, there was a mindset that one not need to work, life just sort of came out of nowhere. We had people who thought they could just stay home and play their guitar all day. And we do every kind of work. We raise cattle and sheep to sell. It is our only source of income. We are very self-sufficient with a lot of industry. All our industry is run with horses. We have:
Buggy Shop
Black Smith Shop
Machine Shop
Horse Harness and Collar Shop
Flour Mill
Pottery Kiln
Wood Shop
Saw Mill
And more...
We produce maple syrup, honey, and sorghum, and all our livestock feed, and all our own food in extensive gardens. So there is always a lot of work to do. The women spin and sew most of our own clothes, make cheese, butter, candles, soap, vinegar, medicinal herbs, etc. We use midwives, home school, and do healings.
A second year/omer person turns over their money to be spent by Community on themselves only. Neither a first year person nor a second year person can spend money on community, only on themselves. A person cannot extend this two year/omer period longer than seven years, By the end of the seven years, they must be into their third year/omer status or leave the community. During this second omer period, all of a person’s money that they do not spend on themselves is put aside for them in case they decide to leave. In that way, they will have the means to get started elsewhere. We want it easy for people to leave who do not wish to be in community.
A third year/omer person turns over to the community all their assets to be used in common by the storehouse board. Money of people that has been kept in reserve so they would have had the means to decide to leave Community and start life out there again is then turned over to the Community. We figure by that time a well informed decision was possible about a long term life in the Community. The living we produce comes seasonally. Whatever is produced is equally shared. In winter when we butcher cattle, sheep, and chickens, every individual gets an equal share. We do this with all garden produce, sweeteners, medicine, spices, clothing material, wool and etc. This is accomplished by a system called “adult family units (AFU).” After a child is fourteen they are one AFU. A little child is ¼, a child up to seven is ½, from seven to fourteen ¾. Milk, eggs, cheese, sweeteners, meat, garden produce, orchard produce, wild fruit and gatherings, all passed out by AFU. This includes things we buy in town.
The Council of Community and other decision-making bodies may decide to sell livestock and other assets to pay for community bills. We do not borrow money. Also, on occasion, people will work outside the community to pay for special needs if approved by the Council. Our goal is to become completely self-sufficient and eventually need to use no money. Money is unclean and a Fallen Watcher. Only those chosen to “carry the purse” handle or hold money in community, except first year people. All persons with gift or inheritance monies must have them held by a keeper of the purse, except first year people. It is recommended that how an inheritance is spent does not bring any inequality into the community. It is best to get advice from the Council in this regard.
As you proceed through your repentance process and learn about your vision remember to be conscious of the Eerkodeshiy. Learn their names and do the repentance to approach the leaders. They will be a great source of strength and comfort to you - a clear voice to you from the Lord. This relationship with the Eerkodeshiy also helps us to comfort the Lord in His times of sorrow because they can help us know and respond specifically to His needs. Read I Achee 12:59 –73 and chart on the Eerkodeshiy in the Appendix.
In the above reading it also gives an indication of our view of the Decadarchiy or Fallen Watchers. Verse 73 states, “ and they viewed the element of Semihazah and his band as rubbish before the face of Messiah. And they abandoned them like dung heaps, and walked away, and did not look back.” In our process of building up Zion, we have taken care to eliminate the Fallen Watchers from our daily lives as much as possible. There are some few remnants left in our Community; you might notice plastic toothbrushes and buckets, for example. However, we have taken steps to reduce or eliminate major influences of the Fallen Watchers in such things as automobiles, generated electricity, copper pipes, and money. The list of the leaders of the Fallen Watchers and what they teach is found in the appendix of this handbook. The following is a sample of items that should not appear in Community homes or on Community property. These are some tangible Fallen Watchers to avoid. There are also many teachings and ideas that are promoted and taught by the Fallen Watchers.
Radios pagers cell phones
computers aluminum cookware
cosmetics mirrors unclean oil
alcohol copper cars
marble dark glass guns
GMO’s inappropriate books (pornography, astrology, black arts, fantasy, etc.)
Study these as well and eliminate those too from your life. Fallen Watchers we do have in Community (bulldozer, cars, welder, etc.) must be used by persons approved by the Council. They are used only to aid us in getting established or to be able to pay our taxes. They must be used with the feelings of being temporary and used with the expressed understanding of looking forward to the day when they will no longer be used.
In regards to pets, the Storehouse does not purchase pet food, except in special circumstances like guardian dogs, therefore a person should plan carefully if they have pets and are planning to move into community. Any animals brought to community must be friendly, safe around the elder and children, and they will need to plan how they will feed them after they become third year.
Dependent households of old people or single women or handicapped are provided for with heating and cooking wood and water. We also help new people just learning how to hand saw firewood by supplying what they are short on. The Community provides transportation to out of community doctors’ appointments. We also provide in Community transportation in the form of horses and buggies. In our case, all four of our villages are about 1 mile apart, all on our contingent property. Going to work, church, and school requires this especially in winter or during hot times of the year.
We need people with old time skills and a person can learn them here. Any person can pay tithing into the storehouse. It has to be identified as tithing. We are a 501 3-c corporation tax deductible in the church and a 501 d farm corporation.
The culture of a subsistence community does not entail monetary currency in exchange for labor. The rewards of labor are realized in a share of what the farm produces. Consequently what is “earned” may seem detached from the actual labor performed. We produce all foodstuffs which include: garden produce, wild foods, field crops, poultry products, meat products of sheep, cattle, fishing, and hunting of wild game. Our work culture requires an entirely different motivational structure than when working for money. Our motivation to work has to arise out of a sense of responsibility of love for each other and the Lord. We are a relationship based society. Personal incentive to work does not include rewards of advancement or increased pay. New people often find it difficult to switch over to this kind of motivational skill. All of us receive an equal share of what we produce except what is produced by hunting, fishing, and wild food gathering which is shared by those who procured it, by their initiative, according to their established relationships as led by the Spirit. And in crisis times, these things are shared like anything else in the Storehouse.
We are capable of producing almost everything we need to live. A wide variety of skills are expressed in our Community and a person will be able to do many of them over time, so there is much satisfaction that can come in learning. Generally, for 6 months, from our New Year to Ingathering (March – September), we begin work at the first hour (7 a.m.). During the other 6 months, work starts at the second hour (still 7 a.m. as we do not have Standard & Savings Time). It is best to plan the start of a work day at the weekly work-crew meetings with the crew members one will be working with. It is essential to be to work on time as fellow workers depend upon each other. A wise worker will have in mind alternative plans for work when unexpected things come up that inhibit their plans, especially in relation to the weather or household needs or mishaps.
The maintenance of our land to facilitate food production is our highest labor priority. Next are other basic needs such as housing, sanitation, and help for dependent households. We hold that our animals are members of our church and we have the same religion, so the treatment of animals reflects a love and respect for them not commonly found. Taking the life of any animal is done soberly and in sorrow. We eat meat sparingly and mostly in times of winter or famine.
Everyone has at least 3 weeks a year off of required work-crews: a week at Winterfest time in December and 2 weeks at Ingathering in September. All other time off, for any reason except illness, must be coordinated by agreement with the work-crews with arrangements being made for a stand-in to do one's work or chores. It is best not to expect to get time off during times of heavy need for crop labor, of tending to planting or harvesting. These requirements are seasonal and there are time of the year when it is easier to take time off to visit relatives and the like. People with poor work habits, or who are on probation, will have difficulty in procuring time off.
It is essential in our work culture that workers act in certain ways that foster a happy work environment. These are:
Fix, in a timely way, whatever is broken while you are using it (which usually means immediately during that work period)
Put things away in terms of equipment, supplies, and tools
Take care of Community tools and put them in the place they are expected to be by other workers
Be to work when expected
Have forethought so you can do your part
Be inner motivated and not have to be told everything
Don’t do chores or hours of Community Service during work time
Be willing to see a change in plans as normal and acceptable
Invite critique of your performance both individually and at work-crew meetings
Learn how to be productive in our way of life with a minimum of idle time
Be dependable and keep your word in the duties you need to perform
Prepare for any new phase of work ahead of time so you are not just getting ready while everyone else is working
Know where your personal tools are and have them handy & ready for work
Clean up after your work and be tidy
All of these things make a person pleasant to work with. You will want to develop a reputation where everyone wants you on their job. Remember, our view is everything we do we are doing for the Lord and what He wants for us or for an individual. When entering into any endeavor, always determine & communicate first what your part is and be certain you do your part or a little more - the person who is uncomplaining and willing is a delight to work with.
We accept that a person may need process time to learn how to work in our culture. We cannot “fire” a worker like is done in the society at large, but things can reach a point where we can ask a person to leave the Community or withhold from the Storehouse for a trial period. We all have to work and be productive – we are making a living here. We have learned from experience that we cannot tolerate long term loafers, complainers, and those who are not considerate of others. Their presence in Community is not worth the discord they produce. We need happy, willing, and productive workers from both men and women.
We suggest a six month “break-in” period for a person to learn to work in our culture. Then we begin to advise and help more directly with reproval and kind consideration. If need be, there will be a period of using repentance to improve work skills with the worker themselves, hopefully, initiating the self-discipline of days of repentance (see Community Rule). Those days will include hours of Community Service. In a culture like ours, everyone has to work and be productive, according to the way the Lord has made each personality and unique worker with consideration for physical ability.
There will be consequences for the following poor or destructive work habits:
Habitually being late for work.
For breaking things and not repairing or replacing them right away.
For being unproductive over a long period of time.
Being a complainer and working grudgingly
Being irresponsible and undependable so as to not be able to be counted on by fellow workers.
Not using initiative so that you must be told everything to do
Excessive idle time
Habitually being unprepared to perform the scheduled task in a timely way
For using negative informal leadership
Maintaining the precedent for untidiness and not putting tools away.
When any of these things occur in a continuing way after the six month break-in period, and after many attempts to assist with reproval, then the other workers on their work-crews can decide to put the person with such behavior on what is called an “open period of probation.” By “open” it is meant to be a period of time where serious effort is put to remedy the problem but without any stated deadline.
If this does not bring results, the Council can put the second period of probation in place and this has a deadline. If effective remedy is not shown by the deadline then the person will be asked to leave the Community.
This is the policy concerning Community Service. When a person is doing days for any lack of virtue, it is good for that to be open and communicated, as it is essential for everyone to be aware of each other’s efforts to be better persons and virtuous in their love for the Lord. It fosters a feeling of security and confidence in the stability of Community. Community Service is a public expression of humility and sincere desire. It is important for it to not be done during work-crew times as it is an expression of “going the extra mile.”
The numbers of hours of Community Service will be determined by the man of service who is assisting with the days of repentance. It will be common for the service hours to be one-half of the number of days being done – one hour for each day. It is recommended that before the days are started, that plans and preparations be made to perform the hours of service. It is also recommended that a person do their hours of service in some other village than the one in which they live, so the labor does not feel like a chore, but one of genuine service.
In each village there will be a young mother with a list of Community Service needs that she has compiled for her village. She will need to be consulted so that the tasks she considers to be the service priority will be done, of course this is with respect for the opportunity available. It is also recommended that the items required to perform the service be applied for right away so as not to delay the service. It is expected that the hours of service will be done a little each day or every other day during the Days of Repentance, as it is difficult to arrange blocks of time outside of work time. Also, it enhances the relationship benefits in doing the service to have a continuing feeling of the joy of being served and of the satisfaction of being of service.
Here is our policy on healthcare. Whenever someone gets sick or injured, depending on the severity, an administration to heal will be applied first. An administration is a prayer service for healing and is a time for confession of sin. James 5: 14-16 (KJV) says,
"14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
It is our policy in community that prayers for the afflicted be used first before seeking health care professionals, unless the injury or illness is immediately life threatening or an emergency. In such a case there would be immediate hospitalization, etc. There will be individuals who access free government and health care programs. These all must be approved by the Council before such arrangements are made. Each individual or family is responsible to make decisions about their own healthcare in conjunction with community. Anyone acting outside of the advice of the community will be responsible for any debts incurred by that decision.
When this policy is followed, the storehouse will pay for necessary healthcare, if not, then healthcare debts are left up to the individual who incurred them.
Those people who are a part of the storehouse have access to healthcare they may need. All healthcare situations are subject to consideration by common consent through the various decision-making bodies. Doctor visits, dental, eye care, are all provided for through the storehouse, if gone through the decision-making bodies, such as Young Mothers, Heads of Household, and Older Elders.
[1] In Melchizedek chapter 6, there are instructions on how to formulate a covenant of the community and how to put together a community rule that supports the covenant. There are listed seven foundations of the covenant of Shabuwa. All community covenants must be in direct relation to those foundations.