Reba Place Fellowship is a Christian intentional community in Evanston, Illinois, within the Chicago metro area. Founded in 1957, Reba Place Fellowship is the oldest urban Christian commune in the United States.[1][2] Families and singles share life together in houses and apartments owned by Reba Place in two different Chicago neighborhoods, one in Evanston and the other in Rogers Park.[3] The community shares a common purse, where paychecks are pooled, and members are given monthly allowances.[4] After distributing personal and family living expenses, Reba uses the remainder "to further God's Kingdom," by meeting needs within the group, or furthering ministries outside of the community.[5]
The Overground Railroad
In the 1980s, Reba Place Fellowship, in conjunction with Jubilee Partners initiated the "Overground Railroad," a collaborative effort among 60 churches to help hundreds of illegal immigrants from Central America cross over into Canada.[6] The name "Overground Railroad" was chosen, to distinguish it from some of the illegal actions taken by the "underground railroad" inspired Sanctuary movement.[7] Instead, the Overground Railroad set out to defy the spirit, but not the letter of INS laws, by seeking asylum in Canada for the population of (what was mostly) Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees. If Canadian asylum was not achievable, the group used techniques to extend the asylum process in the U.S., to minimize and delay the possibility of deportation.
References
^Cox, Meg E. (August 10, 2007). "Evanston commune hits 50". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 27, 2020. Shuford, who joined about 400 people in Evanston last weekend for the fellowship's jubilee reunion, believes it has become the oldest urban Christian commune in the U.S. because it has been able to shift the focus of its vision while holding onto the vision itself: 'the idea of being a community.'
^Varela, Celina (2010). "Reba Place Fellowship: Portrait of a New Monastic Community"(PDF). The Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University. Retrieved November 27, 2020. Members of the oldest urban Christian community in America frame their daily lives around honest and loving relationships, the full sharing of resources, active witness to God's justice and peace, practical service to those around them, and a visible common life.
^Jackson, Dave; Jackson, Neta (2012). Living Together in a World Falling Apart. Castle Rock Creative. 395 in Kindle edition. After distributing personal and family living allowances, they used the remainder 'to further God's Kingdom,' whether by (1) meeting the needs of a family within their own group who had no wage earner, (2) supporting a person within the group who had been designated to give time in a nonpaying ministry, (3) or by underwriting needs and ministries outside the community.
^deFiebre, Conrad (May 9, 1986). "Churches are refugee stops on Overground Railroad". Star Tribune. It's called the Overground Railroad, a 100-percent legal alternative to the Central America sanctuary movement.