Milestones

Outlining the key milestones of our congregation.

This page outlines the milestones of our congregation in chronological order.

Note: this is obviously super biased. I'm narrating through my personal lens, and that's deliberate.

Arrival and Microsolidarity (Feb 2020) - Michaล‚ arrives in Pico Island, which coincides with discovering Microsolidarity. He decides to learn by doing and begins a series of digital microsolidarity experiments. He then decides to implement microsolidarity in Pico.

Note: here's my personal Microsolidarity Journey.

Flatwarming Sharing Circle (July 2020) - instead of hosting a flatwarming party, Michaล‚ and Silvia host a sharing circle with a theme: New Beginnings. The guests decide to continue with a biweekly sharing circle, which evolves into proto-congregation. The circle continues until Fall 2021.

First Crew (November 2020) - sharing circle bring together Annia and Jess who decide to launch our first crew: Pico Animal Sanctuary, which is a manifestation of their lifelong dream.

Winter Gathering (December 2020) - we decide to spend a few days together over Christmas. The Gathering is quite messy, but catalyses energy for another (drum)crew and introduces a scaffolding to our congregation based around two gatherings per year.

Summer Gathering (June 2021) - we host our first "proper" Gathering, with the intention to connect deeper, weave social fabric, and create opportunities for new projects to emerge.

Autumn Gathering (October 2021) - we host a Gathering themed Stepping Into Belonging. The intention was to take the next step in the community building process, by tuning into our individual visions of what community in Pico could look like, and discovering how we could support each other in making these dreams come true in the context of our island with all it's blessings and limitations. The Gathering launches multiple crews and projects.

Pico Network (January 2022) - we launch a beta version of our first digital communication channel on Signal (the most secure and aligned communication app available atm). The network is designed to facilitate exchange of gifts, requests, services, sharing event details etc.

Distributing Initiative (Spring 2022) - until this point most of the events and community developments were catalysed by Michaล‚. While I'm delighted to remain of service as a catalyst for some time, it's vital that we distribute the initiative. After our Pico Community Day in February 2022 more people started to step into coordinating roles.

Piconomics (February 2022) - We begin our conversations about money and decision-making within the congregation.

Faial Community Day (February 2022) - Michaล‚ facilitates a community weaving workshop in our neighbour island, Faial. The workshop marks the beginning of the journey towards co-creating Azores Regenerative Network.


Updates

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