The Sunflower Farm Church Collective

I am the founding philosopher of The Sunflower Farm Church Collective.

I have had a vision of these churches everywhere, taking on whatever the local flavor is. They are based on this meme, which turns out to be a myth -- which is not a bad thing to base a church on.

At The Sunflower Farm Church when it is dark we turn towards each other.

When we turn towards each other we notice when people are hungry, tired, scared, hurt, or lonely. We see our impacts on each other and how we are interrelated. We see what happens when everyone is nourished and has all their needs met.

We stop turning towards each other as a society when people stop being light for each other.

When we turn towards another and find no light radiating, we get no nourishment there. We may feel others as a lighthouse -- but a lighthouse says “I love you, stay away” not “you are my sun, bro.”

And, so, here we are.

People radiate light when they have all their needs met and they have cleared out that which blocks light from being absorbed and radiated back out. Who we are for each other is light -- and we’ve become lighthouses with dirty lenses.

“I can’t see you clearly and stay away” not “come closer, you are my sun.”

At The Sunflower Farm Church we feed everyone because everyone needs nourishment and it’s hard to clean our lenses with empty stomachs. We create and hold the set and setting for the fermented ick we carry to be witnessed and released and the light to ignite within without it. We tend the earth and make shelter and gathering spaces and medicine from it.

In the vision I’ve had this costs zero money.

The churches are already built, with plenty of land to tend. The owners and stewards of them have been praying for answers for what to do. Now that so many of their services are online it’s hard to justify keeping the buildings, paying for all that upkeep.

The money is already there, in the hands of people praying for solutions to the trouble they see.

The skills are already there, possessed by people who serve your coffee, paint your walls, make your graphics, and whatever else they can -- gathering vital skills not inherently monetizable.

What is missing is faith.

Not in a deity -- but in each other.

In my vision, when we have faith in each other and in our collective light, the collective is funded and the new work begins.

By @philosopherbonnie 8/30/21