When Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-c. 550) set out to form a new Christian community — a monastery — he did it all wrong. If he’d been a member of my denomination we would have set him straight. He should, of course, have started with a “mission study.” We want our communities — typically local congregations — to be all about participation in mission.
So, guided by the regional office he would gather with his leadership team.
- They would look at all the demographic data, finding out how many people, in what age groups, and social strata were around to reach out to.
- They would survey those people: What kind of unmet needs did they feel? What kinds of activities did they like to engage in? How many might be interested in joining a monastic community? Just what kind of monastery might they find appealing?
- And the team would study themselves: What did this little band of monks feel their gifts were? What might they have to offer their potential target market?
Oops. Did I slip into marketing language? In the mission study we try to keep that at the subliminal level.
No, Benedict did it a very different way. No mission study. No mission statement. He had trained in the monastic life as a hermit, and studied all the available models of monastic community. He wrote his Rule adapting it to what he thought was wise and helpful.
He did not run the idea through focus groups. He had his Rule and then he allowed some of those who were interested to join. And to join they had to agree to his conditions. Among other things this would mean
- they would give up all their possessions
- they would obey their superiors in the monastery
- they would be celibate
- they would commit to staying for the rest of their lives
- and by the way, they would have to get up in the middle of the night for prayer, every single night
You can see how appealing that would be.
But, Benedict’s plan, as we say, went viral. Within his lifetime he founded something like a dozen separate monasteries. His Rule became the norm for monastic life throughout the middle ages. Even today, when monasticism is having a pretty hard go of it, there are somewhere around 1500 monasteries in Benedict’s tradition worldwide.
And the result?
- Mission.
- Service.
- A world changed by Christ’s disciples.
When you do the roll call of medieval missionaries and other leaders, the people who spread discipleship to the far ends of Europe, you will find a stellar list who were, in fact, monks. They were formed as disciples and equipped for service by living in the kind of communities Benedict designed.
Compare this with the churches of my denomination and their mission studies.
Why was that so? What is it about the nature of Benedictine community that made it such a catalyst for mission?
I want to explore this kind of question in a series of posts over the next while (alongside my other ongoing series on prayer in the Heidelberg Catechism).
Some of you know from Chad Allen’s blog that I’m working on a book about ways Christians have shaped their community life in a variety of movements. I’m thinking a lot about Benedictine monasticism just now, but I will be looking at quite a number of other movements too. I imagine there are some you will be more drawn to and some you’ll frankly dislike. That’s all good: wisdom about ourselves, our communities, and our place in God’s mission can come from both reactions.
I’m hoping that people starting Christian communities, or seeking renewal in Christian communities, can explore these movements along with me. There is wisdom to be mined in people like Benedict, and movements like monasticism. After all: They changed the world for Christ. I’d like my community to do that too.
What draws you or repels you about monasticism?
What Christian movements do you think of as having a rich and distinctive way of being community?
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I think the single-mindedness of monasticism appeals to me. There hearts were on God and God alone. I want to learn how to have more moments like this in my every day life.
Thanks Lisa! I’d say that single-mindedness is a goal for monks and nuns — something to grow toward, rather than being a given. The more I read by people in this tradition, as well as the more time I spend on retreat in monasteries and convents, the more it seems like a kind of workshop where the whole system keeps nudging them to attend to the integrity of their life in Christ. What we don’t have in the workaday world is the structured nudges.
Looking forward to your follow-up posts, Gary. There is a richness in the contemplative, monastic life of community that we’ve missed in our efforts to be relevant. The truth seems to be that to have the benefits of such a life requires discipline and “hard work” that we are not willing do. A Sikh Buddhist shared with me that they find Christians confusing. We have a relationship with a living Christ, but are not willing to do the “hard work” of getting to really “know” Christ. It is that experience of transcendence that his religion works fervently to achieve. The monastic contemplative life has a lot to offer, but it seems to be an all-or-nothing approach. Our cultural expectations of what “church” and “mission” should be seem very much at odds with such a life. How do we resolve that? How, in our culture, can we turn from the “numbers” game and accept the importance of being Christ to a few? So glad you’re on this subject!
Donald, thanks for joining the conversation! (Zap me an email and let me know how you are doing sometime.)
I think you are right — monastic life is hard work, and the work is aimed at forming one’s life to know and serve Christ.
I wonder, though, if it is really all or nothing. Could it be seasonal? I mean, the disciplines of monastic life might become “all” for a season, and that season might prepare you for a later season in which mission is more the focus.
An expansion of my earlier tweet: The Christian concept of “community” is basically schizophrenic. Biblical examples abound: “Man is not meant to be alone,” but the disciples sought, again and again, to be left alone. Our human nature seeks a closed system, but it becomes centrifugal as we’re thrown out to “do” mission in the world. We gather to be sent out, claiming the world as our “community.” (What that means for monasticism and the Benedictines, I’m not sure.)
Charlie, thanks for being willing to expand from 140 characters and join the conversation.
I’m not entirely sure what you mean by schizophrenic, but I think your post hints at something rich and true about scripture’s teaching about the church:
We are called together as community; in community we encounter and are transformed by Christ; and all of this is intended to send us out in God’s mission in the world.
Gary: Probably a bad use of a scientific term, but I’m inclined to think that Christians (based on what Paul wrote about doing what he didn’t want to do) find it more comfortable to be narrowly focused (at least the “I’s” in MBTI), but are sent out into the world (Great Commission) whether they want to go or not. So, in the sense that our natures might be conflicted, I’m connecting the dots to define that as schizophrenic. Playing on the “community” idea, I wonder if many Christians would prefer to define it more narrowly than we are called to do — a la this Sunday’s lectionary passage of Peter & Cornelius.
Since you’re fortunate enough to be in Iowa, I see three opportunities to study those who live in Christian community. Obviously, the Cisterians at New Melleray and Our Lady of the Mississippi take Benedict’s rule seriously. The “Community of True Inspiration” at Amana offers a fascinating example of a group who have adapted but survived. And finally, the state’s several Amish and Mennonite communities can teach “the English” much when approached with respect.
Jon, I lived for two years in a small Indiana Amish-ish (German Baptist) community. From that perspective, I would make a distinction between a monastery community and a “co-op style” faith community. While there are some similarities, I found the Amish-ish community to “come up short” on spiritual formation. There were plenty of rules that, if followed, seemed to take the place of spiritual formation. I sense what Gary is talking about leans more to spiritual formation. I’m presently reviewing a book… The Intentional Christian Community Handbook” by David Janzen. Real life faith communities are revealed with their successes and their failures.
Donald, to my eye the monastic and Amish communities are simply very different kinds of Christian community. Each, measured by the other, will seem to excel at some things and fall behind in others. The interesting thing for me is to explore what it is that shapes community life, and what it leads to in terms of flourishing faith and mission.
Yes. I’ve been asking how a weekly gathering for worship and celebration can become more of a finding God and dealing with self in a seasonal or semi-monastic formation while being in community with others at different places on their journey, even the first-timers. I have a sense that the vibrancy and growth of faith in community will come from this direction rather than re-tweaking the spectator style of worship we have today. I sense a yearning in the faith community for this deeper more connected path. imo…
Thanks Jon! Great to hear from you here on the blog.
I think you are right. I don’t know much about the Amana community other than as a tourist destination, but the Anabaptists like Amish and Mennonites who have sought to live separately from the larger society have developed very distinctive forms of community life — growing straight from their understanding of the nature of the church.
In the Dubuque area of Iowa we are really surrounded by riches in terms of Catholic religious communities. Several mother houses of women’s orders are here or nearby, as well as the Trappists you mention.
Gary, thanks for your perspective on “seasonal” monastic life. That resonates, a lot, with me. I have friends who have gone to austere Thailand monasteries for a month to “find themselves.” It seems a seasonal monastic experience could be a huge growing time for disciples of Jesus.
Thanks, Donald. Even if one spends time in a monastery to find God, one finds that one’s own self has trailed along and must be dealt with.
Some denominations take seminary as a kind of semi-monastic formation in preparation for outward service. I wonder if there are other ways that people could glean disciplines and practices from monastic life even while living in the world. Lots of good books coming out on that these days…
Just last Sunday, our pastor concluded a sermon series on loving God with our whole heart, mind and soul and in it he framed community as taking time to be together with other believers who are focused on God’s calling and as the knowledge that Jesus created us for and calls us to love others. Relationships matter! From Acts 2:42-47, Pastor David reminded us that love is actions of sacrifice of our interests for the well being of others. Life is not about me – it is about using God’s gifts to glorify God while loving our neighbors. I sense from the comments to the blog that more-structured Christian life in the monastic fashion can offer depth to our otherwise spontaneous and random spiritual formation .James Bryan Smith points to a middle way in his book The Good and Beautiful God. He encourages developing soul exercises to replace the world’s narratives with Jesus’ narratives of God.
Thomas, thanks for these thoughts. Somehow I neglected to reply — sorry!
I like what your pastor said “Love is actions of sacrifice of our interests for the well being of others.” I think a miracle of healthy community life, whether in something as structured as a monastery or as familiar as one’s own congregation, is that it catalyzes that kind of love. Of course it is God at work inside that really brings that about, but I’m convinced that some communities have ways of helping — not nagging, not bossing, but somehow prompting.
I keep hearing good things about Smith’s book — glad you are adding to the chorus.
What resonates with me about monasticism is the focus on prayer, simplicity, labor, and community. Waking up to pray at 3am….not so much. But it is interesting how the movement flourished despite the rigorous requirements for entry. That is worth noting for us in the 21st century. As for your Christian movements question, the Wesleyans come to mind, as does Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement. For a not necessarily Christian movement from which Christians have a great deal to learn, I think, see Benjamin Franklin’s Junto.
I commend you on this series, Gary! It’s sure to make your book better.
I’m with you, Chad. I would probably add liturgy, including music, to prayer, simplicity, labor and community. Whenever discussions come up among “nones” about what a worship experience would be like, IF they were to start going to church, liturgy seems to be in the top three. To my surprise, I hear it from under 30s as much as any age group. Perhaps in your thinking, prayer included liturgy. I’m not familiar with Dorothy Day. Thanks for your post.
Thanks Chad! I think you are right about this improving the project — and in lots of different ways. (It is my first post on the topic and already it has garnered the most conversation, so that bodes well.)
My mind goes to Wesley and Day too — but I’d not heard of Franklin’s Junto, so thanks especially for that tip.
As to high requirements for entry: It often seems wise to people trying to grow communities to set the bar low — leading to much surprise when members are actually asked for their serious efforts once in. And counterintuitively, it seems that many groups that set a high bar find people jumping higher, since good goals always require real efforts.
Gary, I find this post particularly interesting as I have just finished reading Calvin’s Institutes book 4, chapter 13 (Of Vows). Perhaps I misinterpreted – but Calvin seems to be drastically opposed to this form of Christian community. I wasn’t comfortable with that. God’s timing of exposing me so quickly to widely varying views of monastic life is really drawing me into reflection.
What draws me toward monasticism is the potential for the disciplines employed in the life of the community drawing one into a deeper more intimate relationship with God.
What repels me is the concept that seems so common that those who are called to this lifestyle are somehow “automatically” more holy – without acknowledging the hard work involved.
I like that you emphasize how many of these communities do not remain locked behind the walls. You seem to focus on the reality & potential each of us have toward increasing service growing out of increased intimacy with God.
Hi sm, Your post resonates with me in several ways. It affirms to me what I’m hearing over and over as I move among mainline believers, and that is a longing for a more intimate relationship with God in Christ. Unfortunately, our western paradigm of pastoring has created so much “busy-ness” for the pastor that little time is available to guide parishioners into the place of deeper relationship. imho. I sense that our pastors would love to have time for “solitary reflection” but are unable to find a spare minute to do it. It seems the distinction between the urgent and the important has been lost.
As to your comment about Calvin, I’m reminded of an undergrad church history professor who cautioned, “Never forget, all of our idols have clay feet.”
It seems we too easily “canonize” some of our fathers of the faith.
imo, the Roman Catholic church has much to teach us. Only recently have I given myself permission to explore some of those teachings for fully.
Please continue your posts. It seems Gary has “popped the lid” on something very exciting for us all. Shalom.
Susan, I think you are reading Calvin exactly right: I can’t remember a single positive word he ever wrote about monasticism.
Hard to overstate my respect for Calvin (I wrote my dissertation on him and have been on the board of the Calvin Studies Society) but on this I don’t want to let him have the last word. It seems there was a lot to criticize in 16th century monasticism. As an institution it seems to have been at a low point. I think that the abuses of monasticism in his own time prevented Calvin from seeing any of the good found in its ideals or the amazing positive work it had accomplished in the thousand years previous.
And there is a kind of irony in Calvin’s rejection of monasticism since his own work in Geneva could be described as trying to make a monastery out of the city/state as a whole!
I appreciate both the pros and the cons you mention.