Doing life together

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 16th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: From paddock-to-plate.

Paddock-to-plate is the Australian version of our farm-to-table. For one community of Christians in New South Wales, it’s a way to show love for neighbor.

It’s a community called the Danthonia Bruderhof.

BROWN: They live off the land and paddock-to-plate is the norm. But their story is about more than just food. This community works, lives, and serves together 24/7 because they believe that’s what God has called them to do.

WORLD Correspondent Amy Lewis spent three days with the community and she has our story.

NORANN: So last year, a local bride and groom asked me if I would cater their wedding, because they were quite keen to have a paddock-to-plate experience. And they know that we grow most of our own food here at Danthonia.

AMY LEWIS, REPORTER: It’s a Saturday morning in Inverell, New South Wales. White fluffy clouds fill the blue sky over Danthonia, the name of the large Bruderhof farm.

AUDIO: [Talk about greens, just like at home only bigger, production line...]

Norann Voll calmly moves around the kitchen. She’s overseeing the final food preparations for this afternoon’s outdoor wedding reception featuring food grown on their farm.

NORANN: Our 16-hour brisket, our three meat sausages, our special barbecue sauce, a fresh garden salad with Caesar sides with our homegrown bacon and eggs. Then we finished out with cheesecake, New York style cheesecake, my mom's recipe and fresh fruit…

Even with such a diverse menu, she’s not stressed. This project is like any other the Bruderhof undertake. They live, work, and serve together. That includes the community’s auto mechanic—who doubles as their butcher.

NORANN: Our butcher, he did a lot of work on the meat. But that's the end product right. So you had the farmers growing the pigs and growing the the beef. And then basically of the last week I had myself and about three other young ladies who've been helping me.

About 200 people call Danthonia home. This is their church, their neighborhood, and their workplace all rolled into one. It’s a self-contained village, complete with school, a sign-making business that provides income, an on-site doctor, and 5,500 acres.

The Bruderhof have 24 communities in seven countries. Because of the women’s skirts and head coverings, people sometimes mistakenly think of the Bruderhof as Amish. But unlike the Amish, the Bruderhof have all things in common and personally own nothing—except clothing and toothbrushes. They resonate more with the early Hutterites, who believed strongly in the Great Commission and welcoming new neighbors.

The Bruderhof do use technology, judiciously. For example, on Sunday, Australia’s rugby grand final game airs on the dining room’s big screen TV. Some people carry the latest cell phone in their pockets. And the agricultural team electronically records all their data.

But Norann’s husband Chris Voll recognizes their vocation and particular way of life isn’t for everyone.

CHRIS: We take lifelong vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. And within that vow of obedience, we place ourselves completely at the disposal of the church to serve and do our best wherever we're asked.

For the Volls, that meant flying from America to Australia 20 years ago when their second child was only 12 weeks old. They had a tough transition, including contending with upside down seasons.

CHRIS: We were 10,000 miles away from the people who are nearest and dearest to us. Both my wife and I left our parents overseas. Or just, just being in a country where everything felt upside down and backwards. We arrived in November, and going into that Christmas season was, was quite confronting I would say.

Norann says that confrontation was just what she needed.

NORANN: …got me to a place I really, really didn't want to be and has changed me in ways I didn't know I needed. So it's been a humbling journey to come to a foreign land with very capricious weather and wild seasons that I was completely unprepared for, and be changed and I hope I'm still changing.

Now, the area’s capricious weather makes an appearance just before the wedding. The fluffy morning clouds have changed to dark menacing ones. They deliver one of those gullywasher rainstorms New South Wales gets too many of.

NORANN: And realized pretty soon by the time we got there, that it was going to be a really big challenge to get the food actually to the wedding site. And the DJ had already got his ute stuck right in front of the wedding shed and was making quite some tracks there.

On top of that, the quinoa gets overcooked and the lettuce crop is flooded. The Bruderhof manage to get the DJ’s ute—or pickup—out of the mud. The wedding goes on, and the couple give their wedding vows inside an old woolshed. Afterward, the guests head outside to warm fires and all the food Norann’s team prepared.

NORANN: So the meat was coming off the grill fresh, and the brisket was being sliced in front of the guests, the pork was being pulled off the shoulder in front of the guests. And they could actually load up their plates right from the table. So it was, it was just a delight.

The practical act of offering this new couple what the Bruderhof have grown in their paddocks means more than just filling people’s plates.

NORANN: And I really feel that when we are sitting around a table or around a campfire or under a marquee with rain pouring down, and there's beautiful food that's bringing us together, there's something else that happens. It's kind of like a spiritual transformation. Much more simply, of course, it's nothing airy fairy, it's very down to earth. But the joy of, the joy of Jesus is there when people are together celebrating.

The Bruderhof say the world will know the gospel is true when Christians show love and unity. Working together to cater a wedding in a rainstorm is one expression of that.

CHRIS: Our way of life, our expression of faith community, is not about retreating from the world, but actually being an encouragement both to the church at large and also to people that don't share faith that another life truly is possible. And clearly, that starts with our faith and a life that’s centered on Christ.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Amy Lewis near Inverell, New South Wales, Australia.

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