Mark Ireland - LIchfield Diocesan Missioner has passed one of George Lings booklets on to me... Matching Monastery and Mission - based on Lings relationship with the Northumbria Community... A few gems...
Lings quotes Rowan Williams...
"The early Monks and Nuns moved off into the communities of the desert because they weren't convinced that the church in it's ordinary manifestations showed with any clarity what the church was supoosed to be about."He goes on to discuss Antonio Romano's work on church 'founders'...
"The founder has the great merit of being the one to have approached the shortcomings of the time in which they lived with ingenuity and to have tried to make up for them by personal example"More to come on the relationship between new-monasticism and mission... but I wanted to start with this encouraging bit, that Bonhoeffer and Romano seem to be identifying something which is without doubt growing organically within the UK... intentional community, entrepreneurial leadership, simplicity, justice, renewal of spiritual life beyond 'the service', contemplative and holistic spirituality, creative liturgy, prophetic frustration, life in exile, etc. Brother Samuel SSF talks of his sense that "The renewal of both the Church and Society will come through the re-emergence of forms of Christian community that are homes of generous hospitality, places of challenging reconciliation and centres of attentiveness to the living God" I guess there is an encouragement to Emerging Church here but there is also a challenge... not to exist in a perpetual state of opposition nor to fall into the trap of simply acquiescing to the structures and culture of the church (e.g. getting too caught up in the 'service', etc.)
The attitude among founders is significant. Romano sees a significant difference in humility between those who act as rebels rather then innovators: "The second works within the system, while the first leaves banging the door." ... Romano does not imply that founders are acquiescent in the face of a church that is dull or stubborn. Because the root of their creativity is a gift of the spirit, they may be 'unexpected and daring' As vanguards of the Spirit their charism keeps "them moving ahead of the church. They are placed like a sign of contradiction for all those not living their Christian lives urgently." Their genuine originality can be disturbing and cause difficulties to the church. Yet they are to be seen as prophetic not heretic... "The renewal of the church will come from a new type of monasticism which only has in common with the old an uncompromising allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
The Northumbria community sees mission as an intrinsic part of community, not as a separate activity... Lings quotes Kate Tristram, Deputy Warden on Lindisfarne as saying "Mission is a by product of being on Pilgrimage" Mission is what happens when a community living in tune with the Sermon on the Mount, exploring the nature of intentional spiritual community, goes on a journey with God in God's world. "Wandering for the love of God" Lings therefore sees the new-monastic community more as Friars than as Monks... closer to the character of the wandering St Aidan than to the enclosed communities we often think about. Lings concludes that Monastery naturally includes mission... and that all those engaged in mission need to operate out of the monastery of the heart. I guess there is the nub of it if we are to engage in new forms of community, of church, then Mission must be at the heart of it... and if we are to rethink Mission then we need to explore just what it means to be community... and what it means to be on a 24/7 pilgrimage.
Technorati Tags: Books: Emerging Church: Mission
Mark, sounds really interesting. Where could I get a copy from? Pleased that GREENBELT went well for you. Looking forward to getting there myself one year.
Posted by: Paul Fromont | 30/08/2006 at 23:24
Hey Paul, thanks... you should get over!
You can order copies of the 'Encounters on the edge' series from http://www.encountersontheedge.org.uk/
Posted by: Mark Berry | 30/08/2006 at 23:30
Mark, are you saying that it's in the latest "Encounters on the Edge" that's featured on the website...
Posted by: Paul Fromont | 30/08/2006 at 23:46
No, its issue 29... click on 'order encounters' in the side bar, then 'would you like to order individual issues' then scroll down to the next to last one.
Posted by: Mark Berry | 30/08/2006 at 23:58
Thanks Mark. Sorted! We'll see what happens.
Interestingly Mike Riddell write similarly several years ago. In a section of "Beyond Ground Zero:Resourcing Faith in a Post-Christian Era"
Posted by: Paul Fromont | 31/08/2006 at 00:15
It is interesting, I started looking into new-monasticism around 2002... it does seem to me that there is a global move of the Spirit, common themes 'springing up' all over the place. Perhaps part of the phenomenom is down to new forms of communication enableing wider exposure of the stories... but I am becoming convinced that there is more to it than that. Not only are the 'ideas' shooting up all over the world but from all sorts of 'church-manships' and denominations... sometimes from the places you'd least expect!
Posted by: Mark Berry | 31/08/2006 at 00:40