Living in God’s community: A conversation with Rose Larson
Rose Larson is the Prayer Pastor and Associate Pastor of Missional Life at Church of the Open Door in Maple Grove, MN. She lives in a tiny home community in St. Paul which invites people who have experienced chronic homelessness to live in a community on church land, where they can experience healing and have the sense of stability and family restored. She will host the Christos online Tending the Call event on April 10, The Least of These, about being present in marginalized populations. We talked to her recently about her experience in this life-changing ministry:
How did working with people who were previously unsheltered become your life’s work?
For years, I felt the call of having a heart for people on the margins, and wanted to share the abundant love of God. I had been doing outreach on the street with neighbors experiencing homelessness. I have built relationships and made friendships with many people, and that has evolved into living in community together in a sacred settlement adjacent to Mosaic Church in St. Paul. We’re seeking to shine Jesus’s light and love to people who are on the street. We see this as an open door to build relationships and trust, and eventually friendships with people.
You truly are putting your call to work for a concrete purpose.
Yes, it’s a big part of my call! I am a pastor on staff at the Church of the Open Door in the Twin Cities, where missional living is a big focus. About seven years ago I heard about settled.org, an organization that seeks to build God’s community among people who have been homeless. That was really a heart cry for me. Settled is the organization that works with local churches and plants tiny home sacred settlements. It’s based on the Full Community Model, the groundbreaking research published by Dr. Gabrielle Clowdus at the University of Minnesota.
There are currently two tiny home sacred settlements are in Twin Cities, and I have lived in one for two years. In a sacred settlement, volunteers live there full time as well as people who have come out of homelessness. I live in a community on the east side of St. Paul with six tiny homes, and eight people total. My tiny house is about 250 sq. ft., with a loft.
Settled is privately funded, mostly by churches. There is a strong ecumenical faith background; we believe in unity among all denominations.
“It’s beyond simply being present: it’s being a friend, being family. ”
Tell us about your experience moving into a tiny house and being an active part of the community.
This sounds like a cliché, but I think it’s God spirit. When I experienced relationships years ago with people living on the streets, my heart was broken for people with such painful stories and who need community and loving relationships. I couldn’t see how there could be a way out of that hopeless trap people find themselves in. When one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts. I saw my brothers and sisters living on the streets and thought, they were hurting.
When I heard about Settled, it was in my heart already. This is the solution: people coming together, all having something to contribute. It’s such an expression of incarnational living, living among people and growing better together.
There are real challenges for people in homeless encampments, a lot of pain manifesting in really unfortunate situations. Building friendships with people, seeing them as my brothers and sisters and friends was easy. Trust took a while to build, but the friendship part was easy. Our goal is not only a loving community but a safe community, and a practical solution for homelessness. We share a “good neighbor agreement” for a safe and respectful community, which helps set expectations. And they bless me, too. We’re better together.
One my neighbors was able to move out of a shed, into a tiny home in our community. He has a full-time job now, is receiving health care and mental health resources, and has grown in his faith in significant ways. I asked him if I could share his story and he said yes, I want everyone to hear this story. “It’s amazing what God has done,” he says. “This isn’t just a community where we live. We share each other’s burdens and joys. This is my family.”
This is the heart of a sacred settlement and the heart of why it’s on church land. People of God are a family, sharing in God’s abundance. The thing we envisioned years ago, coming together to live in God’s light, is actually happening.
