Out of Ur on Monasticism

Check out this encouraging post from the Out of Ur blog (from Leadership Journal). Here’s a snippet:

Recently friends from a major publisher of Sunday school curriculum called me. They were researching trends in spiritual formation, they said, and they thought I might help them.

After a few warm-up questions, they got to the heart of the matter: “What would you recommend for spiritual formation in our time?”

“The monastery,” I said.

There was a long pause.

“I?m serious,” I said.

I had someone tell me recently that “new monasticism” isn’t new…it’s the same thing as a Christian commune. This article reminds me that not only is new monasticism not new, but it is in touch with the Tradition in a way that the communes of recent decades were not. New monasticism unashamedly draws from the monastic tradition and seeks to root itself in theological and spiritual soil. Not that communes of the past were uninterested in such things. But it seems to me that “new monastics” are more intentional about deep spirituality, missional engagement, and working with the larger Body of Christ. The biggest difference is perhaps that new monastic communities center around a “rule of faith”–which is what makes a group an order, rather than merely a group of Christians who live together.

for further reading . . .

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