The Center For Sharing was birthed as the result of a trip of perspective to Mexico in 1982. The conditions encountered caused those present to ask many questions about the causes of poverty and racism as well as what role the Church should play as ambassador for reconciliation and transformation in today's fractured world.

What began in a church basement with two volunteers in 1986, now draws others together to flesh out the mission of the Center For Sharing...calling forth the gifts of all people through Christ-centered community...

We at the Center order our lives of service around the following principles:

• Engagement in a spiritual journey rooted in community and personal practice.
• Leading by serving, in such a way as to enhance the power and freedom of others while not seeking to dominate or control.
• Valuing all people, with special desire to stand with the least privileged in society.
• Evoking personal call and unique gifts of each person as the result of accepting the "Call To Community" with God, self, and others.
• Committing to celebrate our on-going learning and growth in consciousness about the interdependence of all creation, and how I can best serve now.
• Calling others to be Servant Leaders.

Although the Center for Sharing had been informally raising up servant leaders (and building programs around them) since 1986, our first formal Servant Leadership course was held in 1995. This intensive Local Leadership Formation Course was held in collaboration with the Servant Leadership School in Washington, D.C. The nine month intensive course builds community, offers spiritual structure, and introduces the biblical and theological foundations for the principles of servant leadership. As a result of this process, individual calls to service are heard and claimed, which often result in a person creating or joining a mission group that serves a particular group of marginalized people. In this way, the school realizes its vision of raising up servant leaders. Since 1995 local leadership formation courses have been held in Walla Walla, Pasco, Spokane, and Seattle Washington, Portland and Salem Oregon, San Diego California, Tijuana, Mexicali, and Juchitán Mexico, Nairobi and Malindi Kenya, and in the fall of 2007 Kisumu Kenya and the spring of 2008 the Mindoro Bible College in the Philippines.

If you are interested in the possibility of starting a Local Leadership Formation Group in your area, one way to taste the experience would be to host, with a small nucleus of interested people, a Servant Leadership Orientation event. Please call the school at (509) 546-5999 to discuss the different possibilities.