Are you ready for deeper community?
"Foundations of Regenerative Culture" is an immersive learning opportunity about sharing life deeply for discipleship of Christ.
Foundations of Regenerative Culture Workshop has a new format!
The workshop will take place over 8 Saturdays in February and March of 2026.
The capstone gathering will take place from April 16-19 at Maple Ridge Community in New York.
Kent Smith of Eden Community in Abilene, TX (co-organizer) writes: We believe this workshop will help to fill a vital need for seeking people on-ramping into deeper expressions of God’s life together.
What it is:
The Nurturing Communities Network was originally formed to help guide people on the journey into intentional Christian community with support and answers to the many questions they face.
20 years later, NCN hosts a website that provides searchers with excellent books, articles, “Where do you start?” live Zoom trainings, regional and international conferences, and more. Still, for most people a gap remains between answers to their early questions and actually joining or forming an intentional Christian community. Sorting through the many differences between common assumptions and the call to God’s Kingdom lifestyle requires a level of time and attention that is hard to find—both for seekers and communities alike.
Years ago the New Monasticism movement offered an immersive learning experience called “Schools for Conversion” to address this gap. Since then, nothing has met this need—until now.
For the past 3 years, the Eden Community in Texas has offered an immersive course for seekers of deeper Christian community called the Foundations of Regenerative Culture Workshop. The course grows out of decades of reflection and experience in forming intentional Christian communities on five continents.
Each year community leaders and searchers from across the US and Canada have participated in the workshop. Author and scholar of Christian community
Evan Howard, after his participation said,
“This workshop is a doorway into life-giving ways to follow Jesus together for a new era.”
Based on feedback from Evan and other participants, NCN has decided to make the workshop more widely available by sharing it online over an 8-week period, with a final, in-person capstone weekend. For our first run, the Maple Ridge Bruderhof in New York has agreed to host us for the capstone weekend in April of 2026. Long term, our hope is that many communities may provide trainers and locations for this work in support of an expanding movement of vibrant intentional Christian communities.
How it works:
Three options:
Basic Course: Online for 8 weeks with trainers and cohorts
Capstone Experience Together: Onsite with an established community in New York
Certification: Draft your own reviewed Regenerative Culture proposal
What it includes:
3 Dimensions of Regenerative Culture: Story, Setting, and System
10 Elements of Regenerative Culture that every community must discover together
A path to run on for developing regenerative culture in your setting
A community of practice for the workshop and, if desired, beyond
A large workshop portfolio with exercises and comprehensive web and print resources
Our Training Team
Kent Smith
Ian Shelburne
Lakshmi Piette Walker
Joel Ruch
Learn more about our training team here.