[Dialogue] The 12 Marks of a New Monasticism

[Harry Wainwright]

SOJOURNERSmagazine 

The 12 Marks of a New Monasticism

by Josh Andersen

Moved by God's Spirit in this time called America to assemble at St. Johns
Baptist Church in Durham, N.C., we wish to acknowledge a movement of radical
rebirth, grounded in God's love and drawing on the rich tradition of
Christian practices that have long formed disciples in the simple Way of
Christ. This contemporary school for conversion which we have called a "new
monasticism" is producing a grassroots ecumenism and a prophetic witness
within the North American church which is diverse in form but characterized
by the following marks:

1) Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire.

2) Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy
among us.

3) Hospitality to the stranger.

4) Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities
combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation.

5) Humble submission to Christ's body, the church.

6) Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the community
along the lines of the old novitiate.

7) Nurturing common life among members of intentional community.

8) Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples and
their children.

9) Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of
life.

10) Care for the plot of God's earth given to us along  with support of our
local economies.

11) Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within
communities along the lines of Matthew 18.

12) Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life.

May God give us grace by the power of the Holy Spirit to discern rules for
living that will help us embody these marks in our local contexts as signs
of Christ's kingdom for the sake of God's world. n

>From www.newmonasticism.org.

Josh Andersen, a former Sojourners intern, is a student at Eastern
University in St. Davids, Pa.

The 12 Marks of a New Monasticism. by Josh Andersen. Sojourners Magazine,
January 2007 (Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 35). Features. 

(Source:
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0701&article=
070122a)

 




 


 






 


 

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