Have you ever thought about becoming a monk or nun? What if you could without shaving your head or swearing celibacy? People of all ages and walks of life are engaging neomonasticism -- living in community, sharing all possessions, engaging in a rhythm of a worshipful life, launching out in missional action. Read reflections, notes, and other info picked up off of websites and blogs of the movement.

What Is Neomonasticism? 

From "New Monasticism " on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New Monasticism, or Neomonasticism, is a modern day iteration of a long tradition of Christian monasticism which has recently developed within certain communities associated with Protestant Evangelicalism.

New Monastic communities vary in their particular values. Some emphasize very specific marks, as below, where others emphasize other principles. The most common occurring principle among New Monasticism is a seeking after a more thought-out, prayerful, contemplative, and peaceful life.

For example, these are the specific marks of The Rutba House

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.

 Communities Associated with this Movement

• INNERchange
• Servants Vancouver, BC, Canada
• Monkfish Abbey, Seattle, Washington
• Mustard Seed House, Seattle, Washington
• 24/7 Prayer
• Bartimaeus Cohousing Community, Bremerton, Washington
• Church of the Apostles, Seattle, Washington
• Church of The Sojourners, San Francisco, California, California
• The Simple Way, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• New Jerusalem, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Camden House, Camden, New Jersey
• Rutba House, Durham, North Carolina
• Reba Place Fellowship, Evanston, Illinois
• LivingStone Monastery, Newport, Virginia
• Northumbria Community, Chatton, Northumberland, United Kingdom
• Missio Dei, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Culpeper House, Arlington, Virginia
• Deep Well Community, Washington, DC, DC
• Abbey Way Covenant Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Church of the Servant King Portland, Oregon
• Church of the Servant King Eugene, Oregon
• Koinonia Farm Americus, Georgia www.koinoniapartners.org 
  

Sources

Rutba House. School(s) for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism . Cascade Books, January 2005. ISBN 1-59752-055-1

http://www.newmonasticism.org

http://www.communityofcommunities.us

Rob Moll, "The New Monasticism", Christianity Today.

Similar Christian Movements

Authors of Note

• Dorothy Day
• Catherine Doherty
• Simone Weil
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Charles de Foucauld
• Shane Claiborne
• Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

Useful Literature and other Media

• Ernest Gordon's book "To End All Wars": An account of community, faith, and hope being established even under the most oppressive and violent of circumstances.

• "Into Great Silence" The acclaimed documentary of life within the monastic community of 'La Grande Chartreuse' by Philip Groning.

• John of the Cross, "Romances on the Trinity" and other works.