From Strangers
to Life Together:
Gotham
Community

By: Keith Park

It’s Tuesday night and I take my usual seat next to Johnathan and he asks how my week is going and I’m glad to see him. We’re an unlikely pair, a real estate broker from the south and a finance guy from Canada, but we’ve grown close over the past few months, first as assigned prayer partners but now as friends. There are a few minutes before class and I review my notes on the week’s reading, Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, and I have questions about whether this framework can exist in a work environment. David gets up to teach but first asks how our latest iteration of the devotionals is going. A poet in our class raises her hand and asks what characterizes a consolation, a musician offers her interpretation. As people begin sharing, I sit back and realize how much I genuinely care about these people and can’t wait to hear their thoughts.

When 44 strangers met in Princeton, I was skeptical that the Gotham Fellowship Program could live up to its reputation: a program designed to build deep community and analyze faith in the context of the world we live in. Six months into the program, I’ve been humbled by the knowledge, friendships and intentionality of every aspect of the curriculum. What’s unique to Gotham is a designed exploration of gospel-centered concepts on a weekly basis with a community of people I now consider close friends. I hesitated the second time I applied. The application was daunting, I made excuses about why I didn’t have time, and I kept telling myself “next year,” but I took a leap of faith and I found myself with amazing people who made the same jump, and I’m so thankful. It’s been an experience that has been nothing short of life changing. I still can’t believe there are only 3 months left.