HISTORY

The Well was started by Queen Anne United Methodist Church in 2012 as a dialogue and lecture forum. Begun in response to broken and dysfunctional public discourse and to respond to the growing needs of small congregations to offer in depth spiritual formation opportunities, The Well started as a public commons - a place for people to gather and explore issues that affect mind, body, spirit, community, and world. By 2014, The Well struck out on its own, becoming a ministry of the Seattle District of the United Methodist Church.

 In 2014, it started its first intentional micro-community, a small gathering of United Methodists, both pastors and lay people, who wanted to go more deeply into generous community by keeping a rule of life centered on shared principles and values. By late 2015, The Well had gathered the first three people to begin our initial residential community. 

Our community life and public engagements are connected by our vision of what the world ought to and can be - a place of generous and compassionate community. We seek to build deep community centered on generosity, hospitality, simplicity, justice, compassion, embodiment, beauty, neighborliness, and joy. We are rooted in the Christian tradition, but we seek to be good neighbors with all people regardless of creed as well as all creation. We believe that these principles and values are central to the biblical concept of  "Sabbath." And, we give life to our beliefs and to our commitments by offering a generous space for spiritual and community exploration. 

Vision and Mission

The vision of The Well is to nurture micro-communities into life - small intentional communities that share a commitment to the same principles and values and that adhere to a general rule of life together. We express our commitment to community with Queen Anne and the larger Seattle region by offering generous space to explore issues that affect mind, body, spirit, community, and world. We offer "intimate space for big conversation." And, we reach across boundaries that have typically kept people divided. We build coalitions and partnerships (and hopefully friendships) with people who are both "conservative" and "liberal," Christian and other religions and with those who profess no religion. We seek to build friendships and partnerships across race and ethnicity, welcoming all gender identifications and sexual orientations. We honor the special status of Native Americans and African Americans. We reach outside of the speciesism that drives much of humanity in order to see the sacredness of all of creation.

We learn from the way of traditional Benedictine monasticism, which strives for balanced life of "ora et labora," (pray and work). To this ages old wisdom, we dare to add "joy" as part of the rhythm of life. 

We are always looking for new friends and community members, both residential and non-residential.