Covenant Community Kids

Marie is a practicing Catholic living in Seattle. She grew up in Washtenaw County and discovered that community she had heard about all her life was still active. She happily joined in college and was suddenly barred after 4 years of devotion to Word of Life in Ann Arbor for marrying outside of the community.

Rachel Montgomery comes on the podcast to discuss personal experiences with consent and sex education, and how different educational approaches on these topics effect young children. Rachel is an early childhood educator, artist, mom and partner. She lives with her husband, 2 sons, 2 kitties and 4 chickens. She loves watercolor painting and power tools. She was involved in community all through ch...

Simon (Nic) Mishler was born into the Word of Life Community and remained there until shortly after high school. He is a voice teacher living in South Carolina with his husband and their two huskies. Simon shares that he always felt stuck in community, and yet never felt like he belonged. He hopes that anyone hearing his story will know that they do not have to feel trapped, and they are not alone...

And we're back!! Evie (left) and Jacquie (right) kick off the second season by checking in with each other about what doing the podcast has been like, and how our thoughts around covenant community have evolved from speaking with all of you. We're extremely grateful and excited to continue having these conversations and are excited to be back!

Richard was born in Ypsilanti and raised in the Washtenaw Covenant Community, now called the Word of Life community. He was a third generation community member, and remained a part of the community until high school.

Hope Yarrington was born into the Work of Christ Community in Lansing, MI, and left community soon after her gap year in Dublin, Ireland, in 2018. She is currently pursuing a social work degree from Central Michigan University, aspiring to work alongside families and individuals struggling with addiction. She hopes that her story will be encouraging and enlightening to those who have left communit...

Ellen Sellstrom grew up in the Work of Christ in Lansing and was an active member serving in youth ministry as well as women's leadership til her early 30s. She currently lives in Detroit with her husband and two rescue pups and works in corporate leadership. She shares her experience of growing up immersed in community and serving heavily in leadership, and eventually transitioning out of communi...

Mark grew up in and around Glasgow and is just shy of 42 years old. For around 12 years from adolescence to his early twenties he was involved with youth groups attached to an ecumenical, charismatic covenant community called Community of the Risen Christ that he also eventually became a member of. CRC is part of the Sword of the Spirit global network of covenant communities.

Charlie Foeller is our first guest who did not have direct involvement with a covenant community. He did however grow up in similar circles, and in this episode Charlie shares the perspective of being adjacent to the members of Sword of the Spirit and Word of God. He still considers himself Catholic but does not fall on the side of the church in many “hot topics” of today. He studied history and p...

Chrissy was born and raised in the Word of Life community In Ann Arbor, MI as the youngest of seven kids. She currently lives in Ann Arbor with her husband (and two pets). She shares how learning to navigate life with a mental health disorder has been a process requiring tremendous awareness and continuous reevaluation of what's effective for her. One of the most important lessons she has learned...

Elizabeth Royce was born into the Word of God Community(Ann Arbor, MI) in 1973 and attended Franciscan University of Steubenville for English Literature. She is a published author and working on a book about her experience being raised in one of the original Covenant Communities

Rina was a homeschooled, Charismatic Catholic and closeted community kid. She shares some of her story in hopes that in it other's would find comfort, courage, comradery and hope. She learned that she was never as alone or ill-fated as she was encouraged to believe. She hopes sharing her story will help others find the connection and support she often needed.

Genevieve and Jacquie interview Rachel McCorry, the first female baby born into the Word of God covenant community.

Siblings Evie and Jacquie Jones kick off the podcast by interviewing each other about growing up in a covenant community.