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Northumbria Community

New Monastics

Northmbria Community
One of the emerging strands of the Mission-shaped Church report was a fresh expression of the monastic spirit. A number of groups that could be called "new monastic" have grown up in the British Isles in the last 30 years and there are yet further, smaller attempts to draw on the inspiration of an order. New monastic communities differ from old monastic in that they are essentially dispersed groups.

Why has the new monastic arisen? This issue Northumbria Community: Matching Monastery and Mission outlines several reasons that include the chance monasticism offers us a way of quietly resisting today's dominant powers, living simply in the face of excess, being a prophetic voice to an indistinct church and finding hope in what can often feel like a new dark age.

The founding story of Northumbria Community is told as an example of a new monastic community that is impacting over 3000 people in the UK and abroad. Nurturing such a community has been no easy task and this issue explores those aspects of their life that have made their community life and their mission so effective.