As I said at the end of the last blog it has taken 25 years for a new type of monasticism and the Church, specifically but not limited to the UK  to start  getting  up ‘ close and comfy’

A friend of mine recently commented that new monasticism and the Northumbria Community are now an accepted part of the vocabulary of the College where she is training to be a Priest in the Anglican Communion. That said, getting up ‘close and comfy’ has not been limited to the Anglican Communion.

Roy Searle, the current leader and one of the founding members of the Northumbria Community has built bridges and made partnerships between new monasticism and the offspring of both the Reformation and the Radical Reformation Churches.  The ongoing acceptance of new monasticism in those churches is reflected in the appointment of Roy as the President of the Baptist Union in 2004/5.

His colleague and my successor in the Community, Trevor Miller, faithfully continues building on the legacy of the ‘Gift of Community’ and Northumbria remains  an eclectic mix of folk from every type of Christian background or not.

Ant Grimley, my student and colleague for over 10 years has built a solid relationship between a new type of monasticism and traditional monasticism. Check his work out at www.monos.org.uk This is a realization of a shared vision that a new type of monasticism has to be inextricably connected to traditional monasticism. (Sorry Dietrich…but we know you were a closet traditional monastic!!)

How did a new type of monasticism manage to get up ‘close and comfy’ with the Church?

Have we really developed the kind if relationship that we both need to face the challenges of these uncertain times?

The first real dialog between a new type of monasticism and the church in the UK took place in 1985. I was a relatively young man then, and truly believed that when I presented Bishop David Jenkins with a vision for a ‘secular monasticism’ supported in the Church he would jump at the possibility. The concept was simple. Our small community would live and worship alongside the Churches in the Parish in which we lived , and at the same time be immersed in the local community. We would slowly cultivate the soil to enable us to grow in a new monastic vocation, sharing the fruit of that growth with others who feel that they may share our vocation. Our small community was shocked when the Bishop suggested the ‘desert‘was a better location for this to grow rather than the Church. As a Priest, I could not see how this vocation could grow if it was not fully connected to the Church? To follow the new monastic way meant I would have to leave my ministry in the Church.

Linda and I did move to the ‘desert’ a somewhat secluded rural area in Northumbria. Only one other family was able to join us.

The Archdeacon asked me not to attend the local Anglican Churches, in case people were confused about my status? Fortunately two of my friends were local Vicars, so an unofficial relationship was maintained. Through our regular Easter Workshops our ‘community’ began to grow, even at a distance, and so did our conflict with various Churches. Our Easter Workshops, which were normally a seven day event, were located in Northumbria with the final day taking place on Holy Island. We always tried to work and gain the support of local churches for the workshop.

In one town, we arrived at the Church who had agreed to host us, to be told by the Vicar that the Bishop had cancelled our meeting. Looking at the 60 or so people standing behind me, I informed the Vicar a booking had been made and paid for and walked passed him into the Church.

At another workshop, one of our communities had set up a meeting with all the Church leaders in a particular town. Terry, had worked hard to do this, she had spent time meeting with people privately or talking to folk on the phone. I was asked to speak at the meeting, and I shared some new monasticism themes. One of the Independent Church leaders stood up and declared me ‘psychologically unstable’ and off he went. Most of the other leaders joined him with the exception of two catholic Priests. They said we could use their Parish to host our workshop and said they could handle the occasional nutter!  It became our most creative workshop, whose themes would prepare us to embody new monasticism into a much wider community. Throughout these years of conflict with various Churches we were supported by communities from traditional monasticism: The Society of St. Francis at Alnmouth and the Community of the Transfiguration. Br Jonathan, Br Colin Wilfred, Br Ramon and Br Roland taught us the meaning of ‘constructive subversion’ in the Church.

When the Northumbria Community was founded in 1992, and we moved to our first Mother House, we had already won the trust of the local Churches. Bishop Alec of Newcastle visited Linda and I and apologized for our mistreatment by the Anglican Church. We were deeply moved by his humility and sincerity, and we accepted his invitation to have my Licence restored so I could minister as a Priest in our Community and in his Diocese. He also gave permission for the Eucharist to be celebrated in our Community Chapel by Anglican Clergy. This permission was given officially and unofficially by nearly every other expression of the One Holy Catholic Church.

The Mother House gave many more people an exposure to a new type of monasticism. They in turn, shared their experiences in their Church Communities, and the whole thing snowballed. The number of individuals and communities who have been influenced by Émigré: a new type of monasticism are too numerous to count nor is it possible to evaluate their very own distinctive contribution to Church and Society.

So, without doubt, new monasticism has got up ‘close and comfy’ with the Church in the UK…but are we in a beneficial relationship?  We can get round to that next time when we check out  ’constructive monastic subversion.’

John and Linda would pioneer the place of the Nethersprings and cultivate a spirituality that would find focus in a new monasticism. Although John and Linda are no longer at the heart of the Northumbria Community they continue to have an enduring influence on both community life and direction. Their definitive contribution was to provide the images, metaphors and models that created the focus for a new attention new monasticism that was and continues to be a primary and guiding influence in the organisation of meaning for the community.

In their journals and diaries which span two decades and from John’s lectures you will find many of the distinctive words, phrases, quotations and thinking that are peculiar to the self expression of the Northumbria Community and were foundational in the construction of the community ethos.

For both John and Linda the monastic church was a guiding influence in their nurture and development in the Christian faith.

It was John who in 1979 during his first year at theological college had first discovered the Bonhoeffer quote on a new type of monasticism;

‘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. I think it is time to gather people together to do this’

(Bonhoeffer a letter to his brother Karl-Friedrick 14 Jan 1935 an extract)

Unlike Bonhoeffer, he felt that this new monasticism must have an intimate and deep link with the old.

At 18, Linda had left her home in Sale, Cheshire, for a working holiday in New Zealand. It was on this adventure that she first heard the call of Christ to ‘deny yourself take up your cross and follow me.’ Linda did just that. Leaving behind her flat and possessions she took to the street sharing the same message that had captured her own heart. Mistaken for somebody who had a breakdown, she was rescued by a community of Sisters who helped her make sense of her newly acquired faith in the Lord. The images of their own poverty, prayer and dependency on the Lord would have a sustaining influence for Linda as she struggled with the insecurities that would follow her vocation and caring for an ever growing community of people.

John and Linda met and married while at Bible College in Berwick upon Tweed, which would eventually lead to Lincoln Theological College and John’s ordination as a Priest in the Church of England. When newly married they had attended a retreat at the Society of St. Francis (SSF) at Alnmouth Friary on the beautiful Northumberland coast, seeking God’s guidance for their lives together. It was SSF who would offer friendship and spiritual direction throughout the early years of pioneering the community, when the Church was suspicious and unsupportive of their vocation. It was Br. Rammon who first affirmed their call to the contemplative life. Br. Jonathan and later Br. Colin Wilfred who would give advice, support and spiritual direction. SSF gave them a very positive introduction to the Monastic Tradition. However, it was Br. Roland Walls of the Community of Transfiguration who became their mentor as they pioneered the Nethersprings and would be their spiritual director and soul friend for nearly fifteen years. The Community of Transfiguration became the model from which John and Linda began to shape their own lives and later that of the Community. The small garden huts in which the brothers live are a symbol of the vulnerability that opens the door to ‘the one thing necessary’ and their availability to people and place, a sign of a freedom that comes from a lack of security, possessions and social definition

From their days of living with Andy at Berwick upon Tweed, the dark and difficult days of discovering the Nethersprings, shaping the Northumbria Community and traveling throughout Europe, John and Linda have retained their pioneering spirit. This, as always, has endeared them to those on the journey and frustrated and alienated those who prefer a more established way.

(Linda and John have four grown up children Jayne, Sara, Sadie and Ben)

John & Linda Skinner

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