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What would you do if three people moved into your home and then decided to open it up to the public? Would you be willing to share everything you own with strange neighbors? Would you miss your personal space?
Two years ago, four friends met at a restaurant for an evening of conversation and a pleasant meal. Helms and Greg Jarrell and Joanie and Jason Williams were all graduates of the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia and began discussing how they wanted to share their faith and serve others. Sitting around the table, they all came to the conclusion that there was a need for service in inner city neighborhoods. Several months later, all four friends moved to Enderly Park in uptown Charlotte to begin living out their faith by simply being good neighbors. Now after a year, the Hyaets Community - pronounced "Hi-eights," Hebrew for "tree of life" - consists of an inner city partnership, a ministry publication, retreats and community living.
The transition was not easy. First, the two couples had to decide where to move to. It had to be an urban area and since three of them are from North Carolina, the location was narrowed down to Raleigh, Winston-Salem or Charlotte. Charlotte it was and the group decided to pay Paul Hanneman a visit. Hanneman worked at the Urban Ministry Center uptown and knew the group from the Baptist Peace Fellowship.
The friends explained that they did not know exactly what they were supposed to do in Charlotte, but felt called to serve their neighbors.
Leaning forward in his chair, Hanneman replied, "I know why you are here." His own church had a similar idea but no one to carry it out. He told them he had been praying for someone to come.
So here are four white, middle class, young adults who decide to move into a small house off Tuckaseegee Road and share pretty much everything they own, including money, plus two dogs. Michael and Christine Kellett are also part of the Hyaets and help make group decisions, but do not live in the house since they have a small child. "If you feel called to do something, it's hard not to do it," said Helms.
As Associate Baptist Campus Minister at UNC Charlotte, Helms also works 30 hours a week on campus. She remembers thinking it would take forever to get anyone to show up at the community meals and events. "You know when someone moves into a new neighborhood and you're supposed to bring them pie?" she asked. "Well we kind of did the opposite. We moved in and took the neighbors pie and said, 'We're here!'"
The couples first started passing out fliers advertising potluck dinners and walking around the neighborhood to meet people. They also played basketball with the kids at the Enderly Park Recreation Center. After a few weeks, kids started to show up at their house to hang out, get homework help, play games and grab snacks.
The Hyaets is more than just a bag of chips and a couch to crash on, though. It gives anyone interested an opportunity to work with kids, mentor, tutor or help out around the house, said UNCC Baptist Campus Minister Dan McClintock.
The Hyaets is a true example of faith in action. The communal living, service to one another and sharing all things in common reward those involved with an understanding of the real world and a sense of companionship. "It is an opportunity to see something outside the norm," McClintock added.
The community benefits more than the neighborhood; it benefits the six friends who make it work. Helms said she is not just here for the neighbors - although that is part of the reason - but for herself as well. "I'm here to be discipled, to learn, to grow, to be taught, to hear a different perspective, to get up out of myself, to be changed, and to be made whole," she said. "I'm here so that my neighbor can help me to dispel my own myths."
Although she occasionally misses having her own space and putting her spin on decorating, Helms would not trade her new friends for a lifetime of me time. Within the walls of a regular 2,500 square feet house with two bathrooms and only one shower, Helms, her husband and the Williams', along with the Kelletts have found wealth. They have found community, shared faith and set an example for what it really means to serve. They have realized that just being available to people is sometimes the best way to show them you care.
To witness for yourself what the Hyaets has done, get involved. "It's somehow less appealing to drive 15 minutes in your car and work in the inner city than to go on a mission trip to do the same thing," McClintock said, "but the need is still there." Every other Friday evening, the Hyaets holds community meals. They feed over 120 people a month, so help is always appreciated.
There are also monthly projects through the Baptist Campus Ministry and an upcoming Halloween party. In the future, an Urban Mission Immersion program will be started as well. This program would teach others how to serve and be on a mission. Plus, the three couples are hoping to create a poverty simulation weekend in which a small group spends the weekend finding out what it is like to be poor or homeless. If none of that appeals to you, just hang out or join a group for a retreat or workshop. Helms said the neighborhood is home to three musicians and one painter, so they could probably teach you a thing or two.
Whether or not you are still skeptical about sharing everything you own and the kitchen sink, the six friends who got a big idea over dinner two years ago would have it no other way.
On her Myspace page, Helms describes the community as "a group of kids sitting down at the table for a hot meal and prayers, a crazy old man coming to the door and asking for a dollar to buy a cigarette, a trip to the beach for the first time, a slip and slide in the back yard, a house that needs a lot of work, a piggy back ride given to a 7-year-old…decorating for holidays and celebrating with neighbors, putting up the birthday banner and having cake for a girl named Ikea's 16th birthday, housing homeless and near strangers, setting up a tent in the back yard for 15 year old boys to play in…digging a garden…loaning our bicycles to the neighbors, getting our car stolen, getting our house broken into, stopping fights…encouraging education and learning, watching out for signs of abuse, supporting teenage mothers as they care for their children…telling Bible stories, and more!"
