Welcome to the First Resident Cohort!
The presence of a resident community has always been foundational to the mission of Iona House and it is truly thrilling to be able to welcome the first cohort of six residents (including two children) into the fold. The communal life of Iona House, with it’s daily rhythms of worship, prayer, and care and stewardship of the campus, is inhabited by the residents. Guests and visitors are invited into these rhythms, led by the residents.
The residents arrived on January 3, 2024 (see photo above left) and began settling into the Resident House, aka “The Dome.” They quickly found themselves integrating into life on the 71-acre campus by caring for the animals, managing firewood, starting cozy fires in the guest houses’ stoves to welcome guests, assisting with construction tasks to complete the Village Chapel, etc. The Feast of Epiphany was hosted in the Resident House on January 6 (see photo above right), giving the local community a chance to meet the group, pray blessings over them and the home, and share a meal together. The residents’ daily schedules are filled with praying the Daily Offices together and with visitors, working around campus, group spiritual formation and direction led by Ryan and Elizabeth, silence and solitude, and undertaking a personal project to be completed during their residency.
Below the residents share why they’ve decided to join the cohort. Please keep them all in your prayers as they live into this season at Iona House.
The Thomas Family is excited to join the Resident Team as the first step of their permanent move to the Placerville region. They're looking forward to forming new family rhythms centered around prayer, community, and work, as well as more time in nature and helping Iona House grow.
Danielle first heard about the residency program during a group retreat, and she felt immediately compelled to learn more about it. At the time, she was longing for a career break and a space to be still and hear from God. With prayer and time, Danielle realized that she could spend her sabbatical purposefully at Iona House - resting and abiding in belovedness, building a sense of wonder, and reimagining her relationship to work/vocation.
Although Jack could not have planned or foreseen doing the residency at Iona House, due to a series of circumstances over the past year, it felt that God was trying to get his attention. All normal activities of the year - his health, his job, his car - came to a rather abrupt halt. Yet, he was still alive and began to take a step back to see that this looked like a season of serious pruning. Jack saw that the opportunity to restructure his previous rhythms of life to one where regular prayer, silence, solitude, nature, physical labor, creative projects, feeding the animals, and the chance to grow in love and virtue - could re-shape his life upon returning home.
Learn more about Residency.