The Lab: Missional communities

Missional communities may be branded with different names - incarnational or mission-shaped communities - but they have a shared way of being. These communities are a group of Christians - who experience life and engage in the mission of God together. It’s more than a Bible study or small group, missional communities focus their lives towards a particular place or group of people with the intention of being the hands and feet of Jesus in that place and making disciples through presenting and enacting the gospel.

Missional communities are populated with missionaries. Individuals and the community plan their work, resources and decisions around reaching out to a community and being where those groups of people gather and share their lives. These are known as third spaces. First spaces are people’s homes, second spaces are the workplaces or schools where people spend the majority of their time. Third spaces are those which anchor community life and foster interaction. It could be a local café or pub, the school gate or a skate park. Churches used to be third spaces but in our post-Christendom world, churches are no longer centres for the whole community and are often only used by the faith communities that worship there.

Sarah and Georgia have just joined the Community of St Thomas. In November, the Bishop of Monmouth commissioned a new monastic community in West Newport connected to The Lab. They live as modern-day friars focused on prayer, study and serving the local communities:

Sarah: I’ve been going to church all my life. Aged 12, I felt God call me to mission, so I connected with a nearby project on an estate in Weston-Super-Mare. I volunteered, doing detached work and running a lunch club in the holidays. After finishing my A-levels, I met with the project leader at The Lab, James, found out more and made the decision to join.

Georgia: I’d been working in a shop while studying for my qualification in childcare. I met some people from The Lab project seven years ago when they were doing work in my area. I’m not from a religious family but started to get involved in some of the things they were doing. My older brother got involved in project and recently got baptised. I’ve seen him grow as a person and wanted to follow in his footsteps.

What did your friends think when you told them you were joining a monastic community?

Sarah: I didn’t know what to tell my friends. Most of them were at university - they’re all studying the subjects they’ve chosen and, in a way, so are we. We’re running toddler groups and music clubs; our learning is more practical.

Georgia: I tried to explain what I was planning to do, I think they were a bit unsure about it. But now they’re supportive.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said: “The restoration of the Church will surely come only from a new type of monasticism which has nothing in common with the old but a complete lack of compromise in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ.” Missional communities often draw their inspiration and way of working from the monastic movements that have come before them. These include a focus on building and sustaining intentional community between the members; committing to a rhythm of life together that involves patterns of prayer, worship and contemplation; practising hospitality and generosity, especially to those who are different to themselves; and a commitment to live simply, placing people before things and engaging in missional activity that serves the community.

In 2004 a number of active new monastic and missional communities drew together the ‘twelve marks’ of new monasticism:

• Relocation to the ‘abandoned places of Empire’ (at the margins of society).
• Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy.
• Hospitality to the stranger.
• Lament for racial divisions within the Church and our communities, and the active pursuit of a just reconciliation.
•  Humble submission to the Church.
• Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the community along the lines of the old novitiate.
• Nurturing common life among members of an intentional community.
• Support for celibate singles alongside married couples and their children.
• Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of life.
• Care for the plot of God’s Earth given to us, along with support of our local economies.
• Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within communities.
• Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life.

These help guide missional communities in their engagement with God, each other and the local community.

What’s been different to your expectations about living as part of the community?

Sarah: I knew we’d be running lots of groups and engaging with young people, but it’s the way of life that’s different. We’re doing lots of praying. In the morning, we spend time asking God where he wants us to be and do and in the evening we are thankful for the day.

Georgia: I feel more independent. Before, I was living at home, now I’m living as a member of the community. I question myself more about who I am and what I do, in a good way. As we’re living intentionally, I’m more considered in my actions and what I say.

What do you hope to get out of being part of a missional community?

Sarah: Even though it’s a gap year, I’d like to stay as part of the community for three or maybe five years. While the Lab have a number of projects around Newport, ours is a new initiative. I want to unite people. There’s a lot of conflict in the area, between different groups of young people. I want to see those groups united. I also want to see the Church looking out and engaging in the community. Our local church is mostly older people and I want to encourage them to be part of what we’re doing. I want church to be a safe place for young people. I want to be a peacemaker and a light in the community.

Georgia: I agree with Sarah, I can see myself being part of the community longer than a year. For me, being part of this community is about spreading God’s love in a practical way. I’d love to start some projects with homeless people and asylum seekers.

In Jesus’ parable, the good Samaritan has compassion for the injured man. Binding his wounds and placing him upon his own animal he leaves him in the care of an innkeeper whom he pays to nurse him back to health. What would it look like to bring a missional community to that area? The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was so dangerous that it was known as the ‘Way of blood’, so maybe they would work with locals to campaign for new street lighting to make it safer. Maybe they would run first-aid classes and hand out personal alarms. Maybe they would try and befriend the robbers to find out what brought them to this lifestyle and work with them to get more meaningful and less violent employment. Being part of missional community is about embedding yourself in the context and finding ways to bring about God’s kingdom.

Experiment Yourself

Choosing to join or start a missional community is a big decision. It is a reorientation of your lifestyle and not something that should be taken lightly. So important is the decision, some monastics have called it ‘the second decision’, the first being the decision to follow Christ. That said, if you are interested in joining, talk to your local bishop, elder etc who may know of local missional communities. Other organisations that will be of use would be the Church Mission Society, Fresh Expressions and Urban Expressions.

Rhythm of life

A useful element that we may want to take from these communities is the practice of a rhythm. This might be a rhythm to your day or a rhythm to your group. Involve young people in a discussion about what you could strip away from the time you have together and still feel uniquely your group. It may be sharing doughnuts each session or a certain way you celebrate each other’s birthdays; whatever it is try to distil it as a central element. What about it chimes will God’s heart? Is the way you give thanks together or the way you offer hospitality? Begin to make it a ritual and rhythm that has significance uniquely to your group.

If you want to read more about the how the monastic rhythms of life can help our contemporary lives I would recommend reading Cave refectory road by Ian Adams.