The Mission Statement of the Othona Community at both our centres

Othona is an open and inclusive community rooted in the Christian tradition, and drawing on a wealth of other inspirations. We welcome people of all ages, abilities, backgrounds and beliefs. Through sharing in a daily rhythm of work, learning, worship, and play, we seek personal renewal and glimpses of the sacred. In community we explore the relationship between faith and life, and encourage one another in caring for the world and its people.

These are fundamental values which shape life at Othona West Dorset

Relating

It is in relationships that community and spirituality come together. In our experience of relating – with colleagues and friends and family, with strangers, with enemies, with our environment and the whole cosmos, with God – we are continually offered both challenge and blessing.

In our relationships with each other and with the wider community, we “seek to know each other in those things which are eternal” as Quakers say. Our founder Norman Motley used to put it this way: in community, as our fears and defences are lowered, we experience what Christians call the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. And as with the African term “Ubuntu” we recognise that as this is sometimes translated as “I am because we are” and also “I am because you are”

Embracing Diversity and promoting inclusivity.

Othona values diversity and aims to break down barriers of age, sex, race, ability and background. Any community alive to today’s world will face the challenges of diversity. It helps if we cultivate an understanding of the many factors that produce difference. Some may be relatively obvious: gender, age, race, religion, physical and mental ability, nationality, social background, sexual orientation. Others are less evident but equally influential: personality type, ethical stance, spiritual maturity and so on.

We hope to discover common ground by meeting honestly and living generously. No genuine sense of community can grow without integrity and honesty. The New Testament advises “speaking the truth in love”. To discern a proper balance between truth and love, when to speak and when not, is a vital art. And we do well to remember how partial our own ideas of truth may be.