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The History of Alleluia Community

(Note: This is a copy of a powerpoint presentation that has been used for outreach ministries.  It simply highlights much information.)

Need for Community
 From before Moses and the Exodus to the present, God has always called people to be a community of believers united by love in a common fellowship with Him and with each other. With this purpose in mind, we can Scripture’s correlation to Christian community.
 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14 )
Early Roots of Community
 Around 1970 the first charismatic prayer meeting was held in Augusta Georgia.
 By 1971 Dale Clark and Bill Beatty had visions about community. Dale expressed how the people would come together and live out the Gospel. Bill shared how he believed that people would live in close proximity in small houses with many trees and a cross gleaming in the distance
The Beginning of Alleluia Community
 Bill and Laurette Beatty, Dale and Carolyn Clark, Dennis and Harriet McBride, Kevin and Karen Murrell, Mrs. Jacqueline Ledbetter and Fr. Mike Burke met to discuss community and became snowbound at the Beattys' home for the weekend. The Covenant was drafted and the community was given the name Alleluia
 Three leaders of the Augusta prayer group were selected as coordinators of the community
Structure of Alleluia Community
 The Covenant is our foundational document explaining the basic principles and agreements we hold
 The body of Elders is a group who together serve as the government of Alleluia Community.
 The Pastoral Structure is responsible for overseeing how our Way and Rule of Life impact individuals and for maintaining a just and vibrant life.
 Each community family, extended household member, and single person is fitted into a support group.
 A Support Group Head leads each support group. The Head is responsible for caring for support group members and helping individuals and families live in solidarity with each other and the broader community.
 Each Support Group Head relates with and is responsible to a Pastoral Coordinator.
 The father and mother who form its pastoral team lead the family, recognizing and respecting the human dignity of each family member, in normal circumstances.
 Jesus is our Lord!

2. The Lord has called us to make a solemn covenant with Him and with one another to be a people of praise. We accept the Lordship of Jesus in our lives, individually and as a people. He has destroyed our isolation and joined us together
3. We commit ourselves fully, subordinate to our primary covenants to marriage, celibacy and the church, as brothers and sisters in the Lord, entrusting our lives to Him and to each other in Him. We promise to build up, exhort, admonish and listen to one another; to be quick to forgive and to ask forgiveness; to assist each other in seeking His perfect will in all things.
4. In His joy and peace, therefore, we yield our lives to Jesus; everything past, present and future and we agree to:

(1) Love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
(2) Be faithful to our commitments to community prayer, fellowship and service, seeking always the vision and the growth to which the Spirit is calling us.
(3) Accept responsibility for community order.
(4) Foster the growth of the community by accepting responsibility for a program of Christian initiation and formation in community life.
(5) Recognize the headship of the coordinators and agree to obey, correct, and pray for them.
(6) Accept our financial responsibility to the community.
(7) Be held to this covenant and to hold one another to it.

5. We promise to love one another and to call each other to holiness. We believe that this is the way God has chosen for our sanctification. We willingly ask Him to use it. We regard this as a solemn and serious commitment which we enter in good conscience, freely, and in faith.
 During our first years, a number of prophetic words led to a creation that has come to be known as the Ten Words. The following Ten Words epitomize the nature and character of the vision God gave to the Alleluia Community:

(1) Be holy
(2) Be one
(3) Owe no man
(4) Heal the whole man
(5) Prepare for tribulation
(6) Become an alternate society
(7) Join as a spiritual army
(8) Prophesy to the church
(9) Raise up shepherds
(10) Take possession of the land

2. Our Covenant and the Ten Words continue to be our foundation stones. It is our hope that the attached documents will help us live under the Lordship of Jesus and propel us into the new millennium with a renewed solidarity of mind and heart.

3. Attached are new documents defining our purpose, our vision, our way of life and our rule of life. We do not see the attached items as replacements for the Covenant and the Ten Words, but as documents that add clarity and specificity to what we have always believed and are attempting to live.
The Growth of Alleluia Community
 Building Community was never harder than the early days. The community “In Common Group” was established. In order to save and draw community members closer together. This meant total sharing of goods, motor-pool, common clothes closet, common food pantry, financial allotment.
 Alleluia Community Total Services (ACTS) was formed. It provided services such as spiritual, physical, emotional, financial, and intellectual
 The first Alleluia Publication, The Dove was hand delivered door to door
Coming to Rest in Faith Village
 Around 9:00pm Dennis McBride, Dale Clark, Kevin Murrell, Bill Beatty and Gil O’Brien got in a car and drove to a South Augusta and got out to Find what has come to be called Faith Village. Bill vision of a large filed of grass, trees, and the shinning cross in the distance was realized. At first 18 apartment complexes were purchased for $365,000. Now over 130 separate single family dwellings are owned in the Faith Village area by Full Covent Members.
 The cross of St. Helena’s Covent is lit up with spot lights and can be seen wile diving down Bobby Jones
 Faith Village used to be a pecan grove. Many of the Pecan trees are over 70 years old
Alleluia Community Today
 Ecumenicity is not based on anything political or social instead it is over all love. We relate at the level of “highest common denominator” which is to say we try to do our very best to represent out particular denomination and to respect others
 Mantles and Veils buring the mid-seventies, a custom developed in Alleluia. This involved the presentation of mantles to covenant signers. Around 1979 a prophetic word was received that stated full covenant men should wear mantles and women veils. At first the women wore crepe veils but after many complaints they switched to lace in 1981
 The Bell Tower was on Norton Court where one of the many Faith Village sign sits and where a large cross has been built. The bell for the tower that was built on work party in 1975 came from St. Helena Convent. The bell was rung for reasons such as full covenant meetings which were held in center circle behind the bell tower, noon prayers, Easter, when guests arrived and when members died. The bell tower has since been taken down due to decay yet it is still used figuratively to mean meet at the O’Brien center located behind where the bell tower stood. 16 feet tall
 The Alleluia Restaurant was established 1971 in order to give members of the community a job and outreach to people in Augusta. After several unfortunate events such as a fire, and a lease problem caused the Alleluia Restaurant go out of business.
Community Life
 We are a body of people dedicated to God. We desire to model God's ways faithfully and fully.
 All meetings begin and end with prayer
 We strongly believe that each individual is made in the image of God and so we honor them.
 Celebrations are an important part community life. Our celebrations are an expression of our identity as a people and of the values we embrace.
 The Alleluia Community birthday and Covenant signing, February 11th
 Easter season
 Alleluia Community School Graduation, First Sunday in June
 Independence Day, July 4th
 All Saints Eve party, October 31st
 Thanksgiving Prayer Meeting, Thanksgiving evening
 Christmas Season
Alleluia Community School
 This move of the Holy Spirit is not just for one generation but for many therefore everyone including the young are apart of the community. This understanding lead to GCG meeting which allowed the children to be apart of what their parents were doing and learning. The Community realized that GCGs weren't enough so the first Alleluia Community School was founded in 1981
Alleluia Community Outreach
 “He gave them the power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. ...So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere. (Luke 9:1-2, 6)
 It is clear that we, as Christians are called to the mission fields.
Alleluia Music Ministry FOCUS Weekends Retreats Local & International Missions Recording Ministry Lyman Street Outreach Internet Outreach Recording Studio Pro-life Ministry Prison Ministry Parking Lot Ministry Youth Development Homeless Ministry Life in the Spirit Seminar Neighborhood Improvement Project (Zip 30906) National Prayer Watch