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Journeying with the Northumbria Community Many people have asked about the process of becoming linked with the Northumbria Community. In response to these questions, we have put together a small booklet, which sets out the various levels of commitment, and the process of becoming involved. Usually, it is sent out by post to those who ask! But we thought it would be helpful to make that information available here on the site - and so here it is in its entirety. It makes for a very long and wordy page, but the information is all here... you really need to start at the beginning and work your way through, but if you want to find a particular section, use these links: Background |
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| 'Covenanted together within the love of Christ we share a common vision to see the Kingdom of God extended in Northumbria and to carry the torch of the gospel wherever the Father leads us.'
'Dynamic and erratic, spontaneous and radical, audacious and immature, committed if not altogether coherent. Ecumenically open and often experimental; visible here and there, now and then but unsettled institutionally. Almost monastic in nature, but most of all enacting a fearful hope for society.'William Stringfellow |
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'The renewal of the Church will come from a new type of Monasticism, which only has in common with the old an uncompromising allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount. It is high time people banded together to do this.' Dietrich Bonhoeffer 'Community is the process of becoming united
through the common experience of a core vision.' Jean
Vanier |
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| BACKGROUND It is a noted fact that most Christian communities emerge during periods of significant social change, when Church and society are experiencing periods of crisis, conflict, struggle and decline. New Communities are often a reaction to this. (Desert Fathers, Confessing Church, Taize, Iona, L’Arche are all examples of this). They often begin with a sense of unease with what is, which is coupled with a desire to explore what could be, and this is expressed in a return to seeking God and His ways, asking ‘How then shall we live?’ Often it is prophetic people, visionaries who are used by God to pioneer and found these new communities, so that what develops is not only reactive and responsive to current trends, (that is wrong) but it is also proactive and prophetic in pioneering new ways of being Church. (How can we help put it right?) So Community begins, not as Community but as individual pioneers responding in vulnerability and originality to the call of God. Following a vocation but not knowing how it would appear or what it would look like in the future. Their pioneering drew others who shared a similar heart and a common commitment to the values and way of life being forged on the anvil of their experiences. Often it is a journey without maps, with risk taking and experimentation characterising the early formative years. As they pioneered and explored, a Community emerged around them, unplanned and spontaneous. Then out of a life actually being lived, with shared relationships and common values, a way of life was formed. The Rule becomes the interpretive framework for vocation and vision of all subsequent Companions in Community; a means of handing on the tradition. This has been our own story. ‘Committed
at the core, loose at the edges’, these core
values and distinctives of an earthed spirituality are the framework
for a life lived out in everyday ordinariness. ‘An
external framework for an interior journey.’ |
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| FORMATION In the winter of 91-92 at a Church in Old Bewick, North Northumberland, a foundational series of lectures took place called ‘Internal émigrés.’ These were the outworking of the single most important key to understanding the foundation and formation of the Northumbria Community. It was the crisis of faith that was the common experience of the few who started out on the journey. Like most ordinary people back in 1980, pluralism, secularisation, new age, paradigm shift, post modernity, were not part of our vocabulary. Yet intuitively each to a greater or lesser extent had begun to sense and experience the momentous changes and forces that were redefining our culture. We felt their impact and influence not only in the media and the arts but in our homes, in the work place, in the lives of our friends and neighbours. We also felt a lack of effectiveness as Christians in being able to contribute to the needed reconstruction of a society going through such radical transformation. As a response to the inertia of the established churches many had chosen to invest in the House Church movement during the renewal movement of the 70’s. Although supportive we were not convinced that this was the way forward for us. |
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| In the huge cultural change in belief and behaviour that was happening all around us we recognised three general responses: ‘If you can’t beat them, join them’ - an immersing as far as we are able in a selfish, hedonistic, ‘live for the present moment because life has no meaning beyond that’ philosophy. Leaving church and Christian faith behind. |
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A maintaining of the status quo while trying to renew the church from within with all the dangers of simply producing a ghetto mentality of them and us. a self conscious search for spiritual answers in the midst of the disintegration as a new way for living. An attempt to understand and think through what was happening in order to play our part in confronting what Merton called the ‘chaotic forces’ which were the cause of the crisis of faith. |
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The Northumbria Community’s response has been and continues to be the third option, although we quickly found that there were no pat answers to the hugely complex situation which was different for all of us. What we discovered were some central questions at the heart of the emerging Community ‘Who is it that you seek?’ ‘How then shall we live?’ ‘How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’ and the beginning of some responses to them. We continue to live these questions which are part of our life, our ethos and spirituality, encapsulating as they do the heart of our search for a deeper understanding of God’s vision and vocation as the Northumbria Community. |
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| We began to realise that what we had in common was that which could best be described as an awareness, an awakening in our spirits that what we were experiencing as individuals ie disquiet, uncertainty, disillusion and doubt, fear for the future etc was part of something much bigger. Western society (of which we were a part) was going through such major cultural, philosophical and psychical change and as a result, morally, spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically we were in a mess. | |||
| As a Community we were trying to make sense of it all in order to live with hope. So from the mid 80’s a formative period of research and creativity was born. | |||
| We discovered the history and heritage of Northumbrian spirituality; Celtic and Desert monastic spirituality, the saints and scholars of Ireland, the wisdom tradition of the desert fathers, the ‘mixed life’ of the Franciscans, a blending of cell and coracle, of monastery and mission. The cry of the heart ’Let your tender mercies come to us that we may live again’ was expressed in music, dance, liturgy, storytelling, creative art, metaphors, writing, lectures etc from which the language and ethos of the Community was born and is still sustained. The fruit of this gave understanding and hope, coherence and expression as together we sought ‘an ethic for Christians and other aliens in a strange land’ |  |
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| So then the Community began with relationships, people coming
together and embracing a common vision. Then together they built memories
and adopted a language distinctive to them. This gave meaning and expression
to the memories borne out of their ongoing relationships which in turn
created a tradition which we are seeking to pass on and hand down to those
whom God is bringing to us.
This is why it is essential for anyone who is prayerfully exploring
their vocation and |
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| VOCATION The two most powerful symbols within the Community at present are the cell and the coracle; they speak of the nature of our life together as a Community. They help us express the 'new monasticism' that the Northumbria Community is seeking to respond to and embrace in order to fully understand the nature of the vocation God has called us to live. The cell represents our aloneness or isolation as we live community at a distance. It also speaks of the desert and contemplative stream that flows through the heart of the Northumbria Community. Isolation is the fertile soil in which the seeds of the contemplative life are sown. The cell also prepares us for a life together, for it is during the times of isolation that we die to the false expectations we have of God and one another, which destroy relationships. It is often as we struggle against the misunderstandings and wrong perceptions that accompany false expectations and learn to overcome disappointments that we begin to understand the meaning of Community. The coracle speaks of the journey we are making together. The destination is to know God and to know ourselves so we can reflect something of his presence in the situations in which we live. The coracle represents our human vulnerability as we embrace God's will for our lives, in particular when this contradicts our own plans for security. The coracle calls us to make journeys beyond what is familiar, secure and comfortable, which is often a journey without maps. The coracle is not a progression from the cell, it is a case of both/and not either/or. It is the fulfilment of being Alone/Together, an important theme that resonates with the Companions and Friends of the Community. Alone in God we will find ourselves together and know the gift of Community. |
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| COMMUNITY RULE - AVAILABILITY and VULNERABILITY. We are not a Community under one roof but a network of Christians, a geographically dispersed Community, joined in heart and sharing a common way of life expressed in a number of different contexts. |
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| What binds us together is
the common awareness of being ‘internal emigres’ and the
common way for living that we have embraced that finds expression in
our Community Rule - Availability and Vulnerability
- A Way for living.
In the introduction to the Rule it states: 'Community is about
sharing our lives with each other. It speaks of a common way of living
in which
certain priorities may be reckoned as important or foundational. It does
not necessarily involve living together on a day to day basis. A Rule
of Community describes and outlines a way for living adhered to by its
Companions.' |
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| Our Rule is a Way for Living in the current cultural climate, a framework that enables us to live the questions as ‘internal emigres’. It says in effect, here is a way for living to help you on your inner journey’. It involves Availability to God and to others expressed in a commitment to being alone with God in the cell of our own heart; it involves not only solitude but hospitality, intercession and mission. Then as it is an ongoing exploration of ‘How then shall we live?’ it also involves an intentional Vulnerability expressed through being teachable in the discipline of prayer; the wisdom of the Scriptures and mutual accountability in the advocacy of soul friends. Also the vulnerability of embracing the heretical imperative by challenging assumed truth; being receptive to constructive criticism; affirming that relationship matters more than reputation and living openly among people as Church without walls. The Rule is simply a Way for Living that we embrace as our vocation in God. It is a framework that in effect says ‘If you are part of this Community, this is what we believe, this is where we belong, this is how we seek to live'. It is a check and balance on our lives, an aid to faith and a guardian of Trinitarian orthodoxy. | |||
| VISION The Northumbria Community was established to provide companionship on the journey and propose a way of living and daily prayer that had already proved beneficial to those who had gone before. Although the Community had its origins in relationships begun in the late 1970's, and early 80’s when much of the foundations were laid, it was only at the beginning of the 1990’s that a formally recognised Community came into being, with the appointment of Trustees, eventual charitable status and the opening of the Mother House at Hetton Hall in 1992. |
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| The Northumbria Community is not an alternative church but a ‘new monastic community’ that is part of, and committed to the Church. Monasticism at its best is a prophetic challenge within the Church, calling for a return to its roots. It is a call to repentance; to an embracing of the gospel that finds expression in the love of God and neighbour. | |||
| The vision of the Community which has
emerged out of our history and formation, together with the prophetic
words that we have been
given over many years, is to respond to the call of God to seek Him in
and through the embracing, exploring and expressing of a new monastic spirituality
outlined in our Rule of Life of Availability and Vulnerability as a different
way of living in, relating to and engaging with, today’s world as
it is. To live this alone and together.
This is our heart, our reason to be, the constant theme of Psalm 27. ‘One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.’ It is the daily renewal of our vows encapsulated in our morning office ‘Who is it that you seek?’ It is expressed in our call to 'rebuild the broken walls, repair the broken altars and restore the ancient paths,' (see Isaiah 58). To light fires to be beacons for the kingdom in the dark places. To see Northumbria ablaze with the light of Christ and to carry the torch of the gospel wherever the Father leads us. This has meant for many in our Community a desire to revisit those ancient places and to literally walk again the sacred paths where the missionary expansion of the early Irish church took Celtic spirituality into much of Europe. In particular the significance of Ireland, France and Turkey and the major part they played in our Christian history is important to us. |
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| We have a five fold objective in relation to this particular
aspect of our vision: 1 PEOPLE – To make and maintain relationships with those people God brings us into contact with, and to always put relationships before projects. 2 PLACES – To visit those places associated with the people. Places that already exist so it does not involve us in owning land, property and buildings. 3 PILGRIMAGES – To make regular pilgrimages to those places. To be there. 4 PRAYER – To pray in and for those places we believe are significant to us. 5 PEREGRINATE – To wander for the love of Christ wherever the Father leads. |
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| MISSION We are called to a way of discipleship for our current generation and culture. We believe with Helmut Theilicke that ‘The gospel must always be being forwarded to a new address because its recipients are always moving.’ We are therefore actively engaged in mission and carry the torch of the gospel to both church and 'secular' cultures; with Community Companions and ministry teams involved in music, dance, drama, storytelling, preaching, teaching, research and travelling. |
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The fruit of our vocation and vision, under God, will be to offer a tiny contribution to the reconstruction of society, as culture moves from the old, modernist, mechanistic world view map to the new map of chaos, creativity and uncertainty. As the new age dawns and culture faces its paradigm shifts we have continued to ask the question from the time of our origins, 'How then shall we live?' and have seen that, for us, the response lies in being Available and Vulnerable in the ordinariness of our different roles, relationships and responsibilities. We believe that any notions and longing for revival will not involve a return to the old map but rather a preparation to live on the new map. The mission of the Community which is borne out of our life experience is to explore a new language for Christianity in a way that society can hear but not dismiss as irrelevant. The mission of the Community is expressed in the question: 'Who is it that you seek? as Alone/Together we discover with others ‘How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange and weary land?’ |
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| MONASTERY Considerable time and resources are being put into informing and training people in this new monastic way for living. A full programme of Retreats, Mission activities, Regional Gatherings, Teaching materials, and other resources are available for all Companions and Friends of the Northumbria Community to serve this formation emphasis. The whole purpose of the Nether Springs was to have a place, a residential centre, rooted in the spirituality of Northumbria, where we could explore and research this call of God, where we could be ourselves, no pretence or having to behave, while seeking God for Himself and getting to know our own hearts and at the same time, provide a facility for others to join us in their individual search for God. A monastic school of life, living what we teach, teaching what we live while exploring with all who came to us ‘a new monasticism’ as a way for living in today’s changed and changing world. As we have said, this expression of a new monasticism, a monasticism of the heart, is our vocational calling - the call to live ‘the mixed life’ – contemplation in a world of action. Not a grey uniformity but a colourful diversity united not only in a Rule, but in a rhythm of life that seeks to incorporate 'a faith that is active and contagious and a prayer that is quiet and contemplative.' This ebb and flow of ‘the mixed life’ of both the contemplative and active, monastery and mission, withdrawal and engagement, solitude and community, together makes the Northumbria Community ethos. We need places of retreat, reflection and refuge that allow people to think these things through and to provide for them a way of discovering for themselves a new way for living. Nether Springs is such a place, ‘a school of the Lord’s service’ in that it offers time, opportunity, space, understanding for those working out these things even when they can’t always articulate it. A safe place of dialogue where people of all streams and traditions can freely share their concern about what is happening in our society and how all these changes will affect the future. Often it is a heart thing; something that can’t always be articulated but an awareness that something has shifted, something has changed. A safe place to be, in an atmosphere of prayer, where the Christian tradition is upheld. A safe place to doubt; to think heretical thoughts; to challenge the status quo. |
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| To provide a Heart – at the centre is seeking
God for Himself To provide a Home – an ethos, a spirituality for unsettled people To provide Hospitality – a stable instability, a certain uncertainty To provide Hope – a story to live by of outrageous, irresponsible grace |
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| All of this is to serve the Lord and his Church. To touch individual lives so that they in turn can touch the lives of others. In this we are all moving in and out of both the Nether Springs and the Upper Springs aspects of Monastery and Mission. A going out and a returning. A sending out and a welcoming home. ‘May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you… may he bring you home rejoicing… | |||
| TRADING In 1994 the Northumbria Community Trading Company was established. Now operating as Cloisters, our vision is to see it as an outlet for much of the creativity that exists within the Community. Many of our own publications, recommended books, a wide selection of cards and crafts, along with our own music on CD and cassette are available from the office at the Nether Springs. Cloisters seeks to follow the ‘basket making’ principle of desert monasticism, whereby any profits are used to generate support for the work and mission of the wider Community. See the Cloisters pages here. |
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| JOURNEYING WITH US With considerable challenges and opportunities opening before us it is important to know who is with us on the journey, who will stand with us in prayer and giving and who will have the courage, faith and humility to accept the responsibilities that inevitably come with being part of a what is still a pioneering movement. Out of the pain and pressure, cost and commitment has been born a Community which is well aware of its own fallibility and weakness but which is nevertheless seeking to say ‘Yes' to God's call. |
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| NORTHUMBRIA COMMUNITY COMPANION Although we are not a religious order as such, we do take our vows of Availability and Vulnerability very seriously. We seek as a dispersed Community to follow a lifestyle of Alone/Together that mutually blesses and encourages one another on the journey. This is what we mean when we use the term Companion as the principal description of one who is walking the journey with us. A Companion is a person who associates with another, who shares the lifestyle of, and travels with another. The root meaning of the word is from the Latin, which literally means ‘one who eats bread with another.’ Our travel emphasises a willingness to explore the inner journey, the landscape of the heart as well as the outer journey, the landscape of the land, which we all traverse in life as it is. In this we find that most are more alone than together but find inner companionship with those who have embraced the same Way for Living. So for us, it is not so much being a member of a Community organisation but rather being a Companion with others in a conscious embracing of a shared life and lifestyle. All on the same journey of faith with the Rule of Availability and Vulnerability uniting our hearts so that we are Alone in our uniqueness but Together in our commitment to persevere as Companions in Community on the journey. It is this sense of ownership and belonging which marks out a Companion who is committed to the vision and vocation of the Community. |
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| We are pilgrims on a journey, and companions on the road. We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load. |
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| THE PROCESS OF BECOMING A COMPANION If you wish to begin an exploration of the process of becoming a Companion in the Northumbria Community you must make the initial request through writing to the Community Office at Nether Springs, outlining why you feel this is God‘s way for you. Why this Community at this time? How do you feel your story merges with the story of the Community? You will then be asked to begin a flexible period of time which can be likened to that of a postulant (a candidate for admission into a religious order). Although (as we have said) we are not a formal religious order, our vows of Availability and Vulnerability are taken very seriously and therefore a period of thinking and praying through the implications of such a step, coupled with background reading is very important and indeed, essential. One such book that will lay a good foundation is ‘Reaching Out’ by Henri Nouwen published by Harper Collins. Other books are on our recommended reading booklist available from the Community office. During this important time of praying, waiting and discerning you will
be encouraged to: If after this process
you still feel the call to be a Companion in Community with us then you
will be welcomed as such and therefore encouraged
to: |
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| FINANCE Yet another very important aspect of being a Companion is a recognition that as part of the Community family you will be asked to contribute to the family purse with the suggested minimum donation of £20 per month preferably by Direct Debit and if appropriate through Gift Aid. For most this suggested donation will be affordable. Indeed, we are very thankful that many can (and do) give much more. Others may not be able to afford even that amount. This is where any concept of subscription is misleading because no-one must feel that they can not be a Companion simply because they can not afford the contribution to the family purse. |
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| We ask that you simply pay what you can because all of us can afford something that says, ‘I’m part of this, I belong, I want to contribute.’ Any such situation will be kept strictly confidential. | |||
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We believe that our dependency upon God and our willingness to give and serve must be evidenced throughout the whole Community. The contributions of Community Companions only represent a small percentage of the income required to fund the growing work of the Community. Expression of commitment to the vocation and vision has to be reflected in the giving to the Community if we are to fulfil our responsibilities and commitments to serving God's purposes and seeing the realisation of the vocation and vision He has laid on our hearts. |
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| ANNUAL RETREAT Another important aspect of becoming a Companion is to seek to attend an annual individually directed private retreat at the Nether Springs. This first retreat (to be taken within twelve months of becoming a Companion) is essential and part of the process. This will be to continue the exploration into how our Rule of Availability and Vulnerability can be specifically translated to the situation and circumstances of your life. A commitment to taking an annual retreat is something we would strongly recommend as a spiritual discipline. So all who have fulfilled the requirements of the process are Companions on the journey with us, having said ‘Yes’ to our Way for Living. This is true whatever stage of the journey they are on. In this we recognise that in the ‘new monasticism’ we are all novices for life. This is in keeping with the simple invitation of Jesus to would be disciples to ‘Follow me’ and to ‘Come and see.’ It is an attitude of heart that matters, a willingness to embrace the Rule as an exterior framework for our inward journey. To say, ‘Yes, I’m on the journey with you.’ |
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| NORTHUMBRIA COMMUNITY FRIEND The other category is being a Friend of the Community. This means any associate or acquaintance that thinks positively about us and supports the work we seek to do. These are people who want to keep in touch, pray for us and with us and be on our mailing list but who as yet have not been drawn to a commitment to the Rule. To be a Friend of the Northumbria Community is by simple application to the Community Office. |
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