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Mission Statement of Nazareth Farm

Nazareth Farm is a Catholic community of volunteers inspired by the Gospels and Social Teachings of the Church and focused on prayer, community, simplicity, and service.  We are devoted to developing relationships and eliminating sub-standard housing through home repair in rural West Virginia.  We provide a communal experience of Church as a center of action and prayer.

What does our mission statement mean?

Nazareth Farm is a Catholic community of volunteers inspired by the Gospels and Social Teachings of the Church and focused on prayer, community, simplicity, and service.  This community is impelled primarily to reach out to high school and college volunteers who come to work with us for a week.  The full-time community of Nazareth Farm and the community of week-long volunteers together form a community rooted in the Gospels and Social Teachings of the Church by sharing morning and evening prayer, meals, work, service and outreach.

Nazareth Farm is devoted to developing relationships and eliminating sub-standard housing through home repair in rural West Virginia. The community of Nazareth Farm lives in and serves the people of Doddridge County.  We are prompted to reach out to the families of Doddridge and surrounding counties with whom we minister build relationships and offer home repair.  This service is rooted in the four cornerstones of prayer, simplicity, service and community.

Nazareth Farm provides a communal experience of Church as a center of action and prayer.  The Nazareth Farm community lives its mission through shared prayer, meals, work, hospitality and community development.  Thus, the community through reflection, promotes and advocates for social action and economic justice.

More about the cornerstones

Prayer:  On the Farm, we pray to begin the day, before each meal, as we work, and each evening to end the day.  We recognize that God has given us all that we have, and we thank the Lord for the many blessings we experience daily.  As Christians, we are called to promote a community of peace and prayer.

Simplicity:  Too often, our lives get cluttered with the “stuff” of modern life, such as television, radio, and cell phones.  The cornerstone of simplicity is all about being in right relationship:  with God, with others, and with ourselves.  We feel that by giving up things like TV, make-up, cell phones, iPods, etc., we are free to “tune-in” to one another.  Conservation is another important part of simplicity, particularly with water.  We ask that volunteers take only 3 showers during the week here, and that two of those be with our bucket showers (they use only 5 gallons per shower!)  We also encourage volunteers to conserve water by using our outhouses instead of the indoor toilets.

Community:  As a community of equals, we eat together, do dishes together, work together, pray together, and spend free time together.  During meal time, we ask that volunteers take what they eat, and eat what they take.  Rather than play video games or watch TV, we play board games, sing songs, and have good conversations together.  Also, on Tuesday nights, we invite many of our friends from the community over for supper, prayer, and fellowship.  Rather than shop at large stores like Wal-Mart and Lowe’s for our food and supplies, we give our business to small and locally-owned businesses.  We feel that we are called to be responsible members of our community and use our gifts and talents for others.

Service:  We choose to do home repair for people who can’t afford the labor, and or can’t make the repairs themselves.  We do repairs for no salary or compensation.  We work with people, not for them.  We try to recognize when our needs have been filled so that our excess can be used to fill someone else’s needs. The next step is to give of ourselves by truly giving of our need, not just our want.  Nazareth Farm is about home repair, but more importantly we are about people.  We believe that God loves each of us in the same way and so we strive to give all people the dignity and respect they deserve.