I occasionally participate in a synchroblog with bloggers and thinkers from all around the world. Many of them have a more studious or theological bent to them than I, and sometimes the topics will be expressed using terminology with which I am unfamiliar. This month’s synchroblog, New Monasticism, fell into that category. Of course, in today’s instant Wikipedia world, I just googled my way to a better understanding of what New Monasticism is all about. And, as I thought about how my family currently lives I realized that, in a sense, we are a part of a new monastic system by serving, living, and ministering at a YWAM base.
After doing my minimal amount of research I would sum up New Monasticism as a relaxed version of what most would think of historically. A “new” monk may live in a monastic setting where he or she can be married, may not have a particular rule of life (such as celibacy or silence), and isn’t necessarily limited to a single geographic location. Nevertheless, new monasticism is committed to community living, social justice, contemplation, and simplicity.
When I tell people in the U.S. that I now live with about 100 people in a single building, sharing shower rooms and meals, at The King’s Lodge, a YWAM base in England, they often cannot fathom what it would be like. It sounds horrible to them. The idea of living in community, in a “commune,” sounds cultish and confining. They may relate it to dorm life during their university years, but they are very glad to have left that behind. So, adding community living to the life of faith we now lead, many would not see us as anything as noble as monks; instead, they’d conclude we’d gone bananas.
But, like the Monkees, “I’m a believer.” I believe in Jesus and what He taught. And one of the greatest marks of His teachings was a call to true community and a call to follow Him. He taught us that we, as His followers, are united into one family. And the early church went to great lengths to care for one another, practicing unbelievable hospitality and communal care. We are to give to those in need. We are to share, even to the point where we have nothing left, knowing that as we do God will provide for our every need just as He does for the birds and the lilies. Kingdom living is living under God’s authority, following His voice wherever He leads and whatever the cost.
At The King’s Lodge we see constant encouragement, praying together, accountability, reconciliation, confession and repentance, discipleship, and a unity among diversity that comes only through the miraculous provision of our Father. We have people from more than a dozen countries living on base right now, from dozens of church backgrounds, ranging in age from 1 to 70+, and we worship together, eat together, pray together, work together, play together…. and it works. Not only does it work, but I am growing in Christ by leaps and bounds through the constant encouragement and sharpening that such living brings. People think unity in Christ is just the stuff of daydreams, but I must be a “daydream believer” because I have the blessing of living it.
I would highly encourage any follower of Jesus to consider taking some time off of their personal Merry Go Round - their Matrix - and trying life in a Christian Community. A very easy way to do this is to take 6 months and do a Discipleship Training School with YWAM. There are schools offered all over the world. It could be your chance to see New Zealand, Hawaii, Arkansas, England, Switzerland, Nashville, or any place you’ve ever considered visiting. At the same time, you would be investing yourself full-time into getting to know the God you serve in a personal and intimate way, receiving that blessing and then pouring it out on outreach to people who greatly need to hear, see, and feel the love of Jesus Christ. If you are willing and do what is possible, God will do the impossible, and you might even find yourself in places you’ve only dreamed of before, not unlike the crazy video above. LOL.
Check out others’ thoughts on “New Monasticism” at the links below!
Phil Wyman at Phil Wyman’s Square No More
Beth at Until Translucent
Adam Gonnerman at Igneous Quill
Steve Hayes at Notes from the Underground
Jonathan Brink at JonathanBrink.com
Sally Coleman at Eternal Echoes
Bryan Riley at at Charis Shalom
Cobus van Wyngaard at My Contemplations
Mike Bursell at Mike’s Musings
David Fisher at Cosmic Collisions
Alan Knox at The Assembling of the Church
Sam Norton at Elizaphanian
Erin Word at Decompressing Faith
Sonja Andrews at Calacirian
Posted by: Bryan Riley
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