Why "Ripple"?

Here's the story and the meaning behind the name.

During one of my seminary classes, Multicultural Evangelism with Prof. Leonard Sweet, we were given the assignment of creating a final project that would express our understanding of the material in any format that we wished to present. I already had it on my heart to move to Burlington and create a spiritual community of some kind (I didn't know at the time what that would look like: a new church start, a spiritual community resource, whatever) so I decided to design a website that would express the purpose of this hypothetical community. In the process of building, I came up with a name that would describe the central mission I intended to express: Ripple. At the time it also had a tag line: Disorganized Religion for the Spiritually Thirsty.

Well, fast forward a few years and again I was presented with a spiritual community in need of a name. My intention was not to impose my preconceived notion upon a group I was still getting to know, but when asked for ideas I explained my previous vision of Ripple. To my delight (and, frankly, surprise) it was met with, not only acceptance, but excitement! So I mulled it over a little longer and then presented it to a few other people. Again, an energetic response. Over and over it has been presented and almost always the response has been positive, very positive. So it seems to be sticking.

So what is the metaphor that Ripple represents? Truth be told, it is not limited to one metaphor. (which makes it more fun!) Below are two of the primary metaphors behind the name Ripple.

This can be found right on our website homepage:
"We never quite know how one small action, inspired by love to bring about peace, might ripple out and change the world. "

The other is the concept of ripples of peace starting from each of us when we are peaceful and flowing out to our families, then our friends, our communities, and into the world beyond. This is the basis of our Ripple Prayers (you can find examples of this on our website).

Because it is such a rich metaphor and is easy to say, to remember, and to use with young people, Ripple has stuck.

May the ripple effect change the world one small action at a time!