‘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.’
‘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
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Northumbria Community is a dispersed network of people from different backgrounds, streams and edges of the Christian faith.
As Companions in Community, we are united in our desire to embrace and express an ongoing exploration into a new way for living, through a new monasticism, as Christians that offers hope in our changed and changing culture. We are A Way to express The Way and acknowledge there are many other valid expressions of the desire to follow Jesus Christ in today’s world.
We are united by a Rule of Life, which we call our Way for Living and which can be summed up in two words: Availability and Vulnerability. Each of us has to learn how to live out this Availability and Vulnerability, to God and to others, within our own unique combination of circumstances, roles, responsibilities and relationships. Since these are constantly shifting, so application of our Way for Living can never be fixed or finalised. We find ourselves living with questions rather than answers. This is why Northumbria Community is always in draft form and never a finished product. It remains a dynamic, ongoing work in progress, aware that ‘constant change is here to stay’.
Availability
Firstly to be available to God in the cell of our own heart when we can be turned towards Him, and seek His face;
then to be available to others in a call to exercise hospitality, recognising that in welcoming others we honour and welcome the Christ Himself;
then to be available to others through participation in His care and concern for them, by praying and interceding for their situations in the power of the Holy Spirit; then to be available for participation in mission of various kinds according to the calling and initiatives of the Spirit.
Vulnerability
We embrace the vulnerability of being teachable expressed in: a discipline of prayer; exposure to Scripture; and a willingness to be accountable to others in ordering our ways and our heart in order to effect change.
We embrace the responsibility of taking the heretical imperative: by speaking out when necessary or asking awkward questions that will often upset the status quo; by making relationships the priority, and not reputation.
We embrace the challenge to live as church without walls, living openly amongst unbelievers and other believers in a way that the life of God in ours can be seen, challenged or questioned. This will involve us building friendships outside our Christian ghettos or club-mentality, not with ulterior evangelistic motives, but because we genuinely care.