Dispersed New Monastic Communities: The Blackfriars Community & The Nazareth Community
Conversations with two CofE Reverends on the creation of dispersed new monastic communities in London
During my 48hrs in London, I was gifted with the time of Revd Richard Carter and Revd Ian Mobsby, two Church of England priests independently involved in the nurturing of the Nazareth Community and Blackfriars Community respectively. Both of these communities identify as dispersed new monastic communities; non-residential communities where people gather both in-person and online for (almost) daily rhythms of prayer and more.
There are various dispersed intentional Christian communities e.g. the Iona Community, the Northumbria Community and the Jesuits also have a one too (these three I believe mostly meet online). Residential communities have been my primary area of focus, but given my interest in church-linked communities, and how community and church can go hand-in-hand, I felt very blessed by Richard and Ian giving up their time to speak with me and share about the new monastic expressions of Church they have been involved in.
Below I share an outline of what they shared with me and links to my recorded conversation with them, before sharing more about a truly fascinating and unexpected encounter and conversation I had!
The Nazareth Community
The Nazareth Community is based out of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (on Trafalgar Square) having been steered by the Revd Richard Carter in his role as Associate Vicar for Mission (at St. Martin-in-the-fields). The community is 5 years old, but already 240 strong, with 140 online members (referred to as companions), and 100 in-person members who live in proximity to St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Members take annual vows, as marked by an annual commissioning, and promise to live by the communities rule of life based on the 7 ‘S’s. Richard has written a whole book on this/their contemporary rule of life (The City is my Monastery) but below I give an incredibly crude summary, whilst giving a flavour of how the Nazareth Community share in this rule of life together:
Silence: The community gathers on Monday and Wednesday mornings for 1hr of silence, as well as for walking meditations on Thursday and Saturday mornings, in recognition of contemplative prayer being a pillar of the spiritual life. People can also join from home, online.
Service: The church works closely with destitute asylum seekers, and members of the community are encouraged to participate in this, or other, works of service.
Scripture: The community gathers on Wednesday to share in the practice of Lectio Divina.
Sacrament: The community gathers for an informal Eucharist on Wednesday evenings. Beyond the church sacraments, the community seeks to live in sacramental ways at all times, mindful of their lives as a witness of God.
Sharing: Once a month the community gathers on a Saturday morning for shared silence, deep listening and breakfast as a time of connection. Occasionally the community participates in retreats together.
Sabbath: In recognition of the time needed to replenish in the midst of busy, stressful London life, and that rest isn’t a privilege or means to heighten productivity, but a necessity.
Staying With: Based on the Benedictine vow of stability, and finding stability in a spiritual rhythm woven into the fabric of day-to-day life.
The Nazareth Community’s rhythms are designed to be compatible with full-time work and accessible to all, with most things also being joinable online. Of course not everyone is able to attend everything but as Richard expresses so well, rules of life are about centering and setting free, not about guilt or discipline.
Members of the Nazareth community are diverse, with people belonging to other parishes, others not being church-goers, some members being housebound, others homeless, others struggling with mental health… the diversity of the community grounds it in humility.
I’ll leave it at that as a summary, but I highly recommend listening to this interview with Richard where he speaks so beautifully and articulately on the Nazareth Community, its rule of life and contemporary spirituality.
The Blackfriars Community
The Blackfriars Community isn’t all too dissimilar from the Nazareth Community but stems out of a much smaller context, with the emergence of the Blackfriars Community being a response to the struggles the parish was facing. 4 years in conversation and planning, and 2 years in the running, there are ~15 members, who make seasonal vows (annual) to the community and gather at Christchurch Blackfriars for near-daily rhythms of prayer.
Inspired by the monastics and mystics, the community has an emphasis on contemplative prayer, drawing from a range of spiritual traditions and practices (including Ignatian, Franciscan, Benedictine, the Common Book of Prayer and Taizé). The Blackfriars Community seeks to be a place of welcome for all, including the ‘un-churched’ and spiritual seekers, creating spaces of silence and fellowship for people to explore their spirituality and faith at their own (/God’s?) pace. From this place of contemplation and spiritual seeking, it hopes to nurture individuals to follow the path of contemplative action.
I assisted the Blackfriar Community’s Sunday evening contemplative service and I felt blessed by the community’s simplicity, humility and joyful fellowship (and three-part Taizé!). But there’s no way I can describe the significance of such a community, and its importance to both individuals and the church, as eloquently as Ian. So if you listen to one podcast, I would recommend this one, where Ian speaks so wonderfully about monasticism, the church, and the importance of new monasticism for the Church today (Ian’s somewhat of a pioneer and expert so he knows what he’s talking about!).
I was deeply inspired by my time with Richard and Ian, and it gives me hope for what can be achieved through parishes, and how church can be at the heart of community and places of deep spiritual seeking and growth. And to top it off, in the same day, I had the absolute delight of meeting a fellow ecumenical Catholic, lover of Taizé, and Christian community aficionado (thank you Demarius for your magical gift of connecting)!
As with Ian, her deeper journeying into faith (and associated passion for Christian community) started with her experience of Taizé, and I can say I experienced a similar thing thanks to the Lyn’s House community. It reminded me of this conversation with Melanie, where we named the phenomenon of people being drawn deeply into their faith and a certain ‘coming alive’ of their spiritual journey, after having experienced the power of Christian community. It reminds me of the importance of this work…
The evening shared was truly blessed; one of those late-night conversations alive with such fervent passion! Together we were able to explore such a wide range of community-related topics: communities of formation, their financing, and future; the difficulties of pioneering Christian community and getting the necessary people inspired about it to make it work; the financial and spiritual reality of where the church is at, and the difficulty this poses for the nurturing of Christian communities within the Church; the need for the diversification of trustee boards and making space for young voices; and the promisingly achievable goal of working towards a more connected intentional Christian community scene (e.g. via directories, conferences etc..)
I was so very blessed by this newly-made friend’s vast experience, her fire, and her deeply sharp and incisive mind. Thank you (!!!) and I trust our paths will cross again…
I’m going to call that a wrap for now! I can confirm I have safely made it to America and starting my course this Monday 😬!! If time allows, I hope to share a final summary post of my travels to bring Dwelling Place to a gentle close…
With blessings and thanks for your support,
Lakshmi 🌻😊