Church
Cloister
Nation

Uniondale, New York 11553

(516) 776-6120

Vision
Mission
About me

Church
Mission
Religion
Education
Chaplaincy

Cloister
Mission
Community
Work
Services

Nation
Mission
Ideals
Path

About me

My name is Finn Mauritzen. I am 54 years old and live with my family in Uniondale, New York. For some time I've been observing the apparent decay of morality around me. Home invasions and shootings have become almost daily occurrences in my neighborhood. Wars are raging all around the world. Greed is dividing us more and more.

My vision
In their book "Starting a House Church," Larry Kreider and Floyd McClung say that you should never build something in a spirit of pride, anger or rebellion. I thought that might be a pretty good starting point. Instead of fighting evil, I am committed to work for world peace by building connection, understanding and appreciation.

My mission
I have recently come to the conclusion that you can not change other people unless they let you. You can only change yourself. When you change, the relationships you have will change. When the relationships change the people around you will change.

I think there are three steps we can take towards world peace: (1) Work on the relationships we have with one another. (2) Work on eliminating greed and violence from our lives. (3) Persuade other people to do the same.

Working on relationships
Steven Stosny is a family relationship expert who has taught me most of what I know about relationships; not just family relationships, but relationships in general. I think it begins with our families. This is the reason why Freedom Church is a network of family-based churches. Not until we have order in our own house can we go out in the world and help others. Marshall Rosenberg has written an excellent book we can use in our daily lives. We often think that violence is always physical, but the fact is that most violence is verbal and happens every day all around us. Freedom Church is where we work on our relationships.

Eliminate greed
Most of us have heard of Utopia written by Sir Thomas More in the 16th century. In his fictional society, money is eliminated beause it leads to greed and theft. In Freedom Cloisters I seek to join with others who are equally commited to eliminate greed from their lives. Fredom Cloister is a network of intentional communities where we seek to become self-sufficient by our own labor and our relationships with others.

Duplication
Once we have order in our own houses and have eliminated greed from our lives, it is time to go out in the world and teach others. We do this by providing chaplaincy where needed and by participating in the democratic process. Freedom Nation is where we do this.

Join my networks
Hi5
Myspace

Chat with me