We are exploring the mDNA component -disciple-making or discipleship from Alan Hirsch’s forthcoming book and how it applies to Northern Community. The other posts in the mDNA series are here

Approaches to disciple-making (continued)

Benedictine tradition
The middle ages marked a dangerous period of history for the Christian Church. The structure of Roman society that had provided security and a privileged position for the Christian Church had broken down. A new form of community called the monastery sprung up to counter this new threat. It is commonly thought that the monastery was a withdrawal from the world to the safety within the walls of the monastery. Missiologist Ralph Winter points out that “during the early period of the medieval epoch the specialized household called the monastery, or its equivalent, became ever so much more important in the perpetuation of the Christian movement than was the organized system of parishes…”.

Early in the Sixth Century, Saint Benedict of Norcia wrote a series of guidelines for living together as a religious community. These guidelines became to be known as “the rule of Saint Benedict” and were used by many communities in time. The rules of S. Benedict offer us great insight into the life of a Benedictine monk. Detailed instructions are given for aspects of their lifestyle like clothing, food and drink. Simplicity of lifestyle is the main theme. Excess of any possession or comfort is seen to be contrary to the lifestyle that Jesus promoted. Of particular interest is the emphasis within the rules on hospitality. The rules indicate a desire to reflect the love of Jesus through the life of a follower. In constructing these rules on possessions and hospitality, there seems to be a serious effort to incorporate the life and teachings of Jesus and the experience of the early Christians in Acts into the life of a Benedictine member.

The Benedictine tradition has much to teach us as we review the ways in which we empower people to be followers of Jesus. One of the concerns of the modern view of spirituality is that it is seen as separate from the world – an escape from life. The Benedictine tradition embraces the world and everyday life and does not retreat from it. The rules offer a way to deepen our spirituality within the midst of life. This is a key challenge for a discipleship strategy for Northern. Many of the past attempts have provided spaces for deepening spirituality but these have often been separate from everyday life. For instance, in the Christendom model of church the church service is seen as a critical component of discipleship yet it is in a separate place to people’s lives. This is not altogether a bad thing but there are advantages in offering other ways that integrate discipleship, life and missional activity.

Alpha

More recently, the Alpha course is a ten week practical introduction to the Christian faith. It is designed primarily for non-churchgoers and those who have recently become Christians. It was established at Holy Trinity Brompton twenty years ago and there are now more than 5000 Alpha courses all over the UK and the world. Although primarily designed as an evangelistic tool, it is also about training people in the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Interestingly, my own experience of Alpha in a former church was that people within the church had their faith enriched by their participation in the Alpha course.

Perhaps this indicates the poor job that we as Christian leaders have done in providing training and education in even the basics of the faith. We have relied on a short series of baptism classes at the beginning of someone’s faith journey as if the baptism were a line to be crossed rather than a point within a process of continuous learning. Alpha’s genius in my opinion is its simple format that provides a light meal, input and then interaction over coffee. As I read the official Alpha web site’s description of the format, I was struck by how similar it was to many of the new emerging church formats for worship gatherings.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 27th, 2006 at 9:07 am by phil and is filed under mDNA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.