Applications for the 2026/2027 Intentional Living-Learning Community are now being accepted and will be reviewed as they are received; interviews will begin the week of March 23rd.

The Intentional Living-Learning Community at Martin Luther House in Edmonton strives to live each day into three purposes:

1. To nurture a community shaped by the way of Jesus that accompanies one another through the practice of mutuality, inclusivity, vulnerability, empowerment, sustainability, and accountability.
2. To foster a learning environment where faith, justice, and academics intersect with robust conversation and creativity.
3. To co-create with the LSM and LCM-E communities a space rooted in the Love of God outstretched for the sake of the world.

Our life together is intentional…

We are rooted in the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-31). Two disciples walk and talk together as they process the death of their Rabbi, Jesus; and the women’s proclamation early that morning of the empty tomb. Jesus comes up alongside them—unrecognized and unknown—accompanies them along the way, hearing and responding to their grief. They invite their unknown companion to stay with them; at the table, Jesus takes bread, blesses it and breaks it and gives it to the disciples, and the disciples recognize Jesus.

We come together, choose community, and commit to walking alongside one another with intentionality. As we accompany one another along the journey, we trust that God is coming up alongside and accompanying us throughout the journey.

Along the way we strive to recognize God in daily life, amidst mutual conversation and consolation, and in, with, and under the ordinariness of water and the simplicity of bread broken and shared.

So that, living and learning together, we might reach out to accompany our co-residents, our LSM and LCM-E communities, our university communities, our church communities, our neighbourhood, and the world.

As we commit to walking with one another, we root our community in six practices of Accompaniment:

• Mutuality
  • Trusting that each of us is created, called, and uniquely gifted by God, we work to build up our capacity to proclaim and live out the gospel of Christ. We affirm that each of us has gifts to offer and we value the gifts of all while caring for each other’s needs. As we give and receive trust, we grow together in Mutuality.
• Inclusivity
  • Incited by Jesus’ compassion extended to all whom he encountered, we commit ourselves to the full encouragement and participation of persons of a plurality of gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, faith orientations, abilities, races, and cultures. We actively look to discern who is excluded, and we seek to build relationships across boundaries that exclude and divide.
• Vulnerability
  • Embraced and empowered by the vulnerability of God, who enters fully into humanity in Jesus, we enter into relationship with one another with openness. Together, we strive to create a sacred space that is safe for the vulnerability of all.
• Empowerment
  • As the Spirit removed barriers of language, culture, gender, and socio-economic standing at Pentecost, so we seek to recognize, name, and work to remove barriers in our community, at our places of learning, in the church and world, so that all creation might grow and flourish.
• Sustainability
  • Reveling in the Dance of the Trinity–interconnected, interrelated, interweaving–we name and claim the centrality and complexity of relationship and the work needed to sustain us and all creation in, with, and by relationship. We recognize that any and all relationships require an intentional commitment of attention and time to build up those who are involved. As a community, we strive to embed our projects and commitments amidst ongoing relationships and communities.
• Accountability
  • Called by the Theology of the Cross to speak truth and to respond with grace, we commit ourselves to acknowledge and take responsibility for our actions and to understand each other’s actions in the kindest way. We allow others room to grow and the space to make mistakes, and we nurture each other as we work through conflict and differences of understanding.

Our life together interweaves living and learning…

As we come and go, moving from learning to living and back again, the threads of study, faith, self-discovery, and community weave together to form the fabric of our individual and communal vocation –– “the place where the your deep gladness and the world’s great hunger meet,” as Fredrick Buechner wrote in Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC. 

We strive to deepen this intersectionality in community by asking each resident to identify and explore a question of “faith and…” throughout their year — “faith and academics”, “faith and justice”, “faith and business”, “faith and history”, “faith and ecology”, “faith and sustainability”, faith and wherever each student feels called to dwell.

These “faith and…” explorations will form the basis for weekly discussions, along with a shared book read each term. Amidst these explorations and discussions, we root ourselves in a shared understanding of Dialogue in which each person commits to bringing their whole self to the dialogue, each person commits to practicing deep and sometimes difficult conversation with respect, and each person commits to opening themselves up to being changed by one another amidst the dialogue. 

Out of their “faith and…” exploration, each resident commits to curating at least two events during their year for the community — LSM, LCM-E or other. 

Students are welcome to work a question that interweaves with their areas of academic study, and are welcome to combine “faith and…” exploration with course work, where possible.

Our life together is embodied in commitments to, with, and for one another…

• We participate in the life of the LSM/LCM-E community, including regular participation in Tuesday Night Dinner and Sunday Night Worship.
• We gather weekly as an Intentional Living-Learning Community with the LCM-E Pastor for community building, faith formation, “faith and…” project planning, and accountability.
• We nurture the intentionality of our community by prioritizing at least one regular gathering of the residents each week, such as for lunch, dinner, or a group activity, as an opportunity for mutual support and community building.
• We are guided by care and concern for other residents’ needs, well-being, space, and privacy.
• We include and respect all residents in the planning of large gatherings at Martin Luther House.
• We strive to explain one another’s actions in the kindest way and to work through conflict with direct, kind communication. We work as a team to overcome challenges within the Intentional Living-Learning Community and the broader LCM-E community.
• We steward Martin Luther House for the sake of our community and for the sake of generations of communities to come by sharing the general cleaning and upkeep of Martin Luther House and its grounds.
• We nominate a member to the LCM-E Council, who will attend its regular meetings as a voting member and report any needs or concerns.

Application Timeline:

• application form opens on March 9
• applications are reviewed as they are received
• reference letters are requested as applications are received
• in-person interviews begin the week of March 23rd (zoom for those located outside of Edmonton)
• initial offers are anticipated to be extended in early April
• applications may be received on a rolling basis until the Intentional Living-Learning Community is filled