community

This is a community project I led as a gift for the small group leaders that served us this past year at the River Church Community. There are two sides to this, I am only publishing one side of the project online. One side celebrated the individual leaders through a gift of words of love & affirmation, one side celebrated the community as a whole through an image. The word collage side was composed of gifts of words for each small group leader. On this side, each panel was a complete expression. To respect the privacy of the individual, this side is not published online. The image side represents the small group community as a whole. On this side, each panel is a partial expression. While each panel can exist on its own, when all the pieces come together, we see a far more complex and complete image. Likewise, each small group exists as a community on it’s own, but when they join together as the larger church body we see a much richer image of community. The image of birds on branches is an echo to the “Who Are The Birds?” Community mural the church created during the Lenten season. Each bird sitting on a branch represents one of the 18 current small groups that could serve as a safe place for any new birds arriving to seek refuge. The six colorful birds flying are in honor of new and future leaders to come. The remaining bird silhouettes in the background honor all the other people that all play a part in supporting the small group leadership team. For example, pastors and mentors that disciple the small group leaders, prayer warriors that intercede, spouses and childcare workers that care for kids so that leaders can serve, worship leaders, sound team members, just to name a few. The patterns of each bird are inspired by folk art and textile patterns from around the world as a way to honor the diversity of culture that we all bring to the community. Image design by Alison Higuera