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Assessing Neo-monasticism’s Impact On The Church

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In search of a simple community life devoted to worship and social activism over program-driven church, some Christians today have chosen a “new monastic” lifestyle, taking a spiritual path that blends aspects of ancient monasticism with 21st-century church practices. “Traditionally we think of evangelism as a tornado that moves through town and gathers everyone into the vortex of our church,” says the Rev. Elaine Heath, McCreless Assistant Professor of Evangelism in Perkins School of theology and director of Perkins’ Center for the Advanced Study and Practice of Evangelism. “In the neo-monastic model, evangelism is the ‘reverse tornado’ described in Luke 10: Going out into the community, being invited into our neighbors’ lives and sharing the goodness of God.” The recipient of a Sam Taylor Fellowship from the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, Heath is writing two books about emerging neo-monastic communities in the United States. A Summer Research Fellowship from the Wabash Center will enable her to spend time at several neo-monastic communities, including Communality in Lexington, Kentucky, and Camden House in Camden, New Jersey.

“I’m very interested in how neo-monasticism relates to the rest of the church and how it will shape the church and the church will shape it,” she says. Although no statistics are available on the number of new monastic communities in the United States, she says the grassroots movement is growing. “The rest of the church can learn much from the new monasticism,” Heath says, including regaining “a sense of parish, of being the church for the neighborhood, and disciplined spiritual practices and a rule of life for ordinary Christians.” Variations on the monastic theme crop up throughout Christianity’s history, flowering “when people see the church losing its vitality,” Heath says. Men and women embracing neo-monasticism take socially conscious citizenship as seriously as they do their faith. Many opt to move into blighted urban areas and open their homes to those in need of food, shelter and spiritual support while spearheading such efforts as reclaiming abandoned buildings that improve the quality of life for neighborhoods.

Heath’s research explores such issues as “how we can apply that ethos to our regular, middle-class neighborhoods.” She identifies old-fashioned hospitality – “Christians opening their homes to neighbors for dinner and friendship” – and community spirit – “actually getting to know and understand the neighborhood and its needs” – as hallmarks of suburban neo-monasticism. An ordained United Methodist minister, Heath is the co-author, with Scott Kisker, of the forthcoming Longing for Spring: A New Vision for Wesleyan Community, which casts a vision for how to develop and lead new monastic communities in the United Methodist tradition. Heath arrived at SMU in 2005 from Ashland Theological Seminary in Ohio, where she was director of the Doctor of Ministry program and assistant professor of spiritual theology. The former pastor of several small United Methodist congregations in Ohio, Heath holds an M. Div. from Ashland theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Duquesne University.

For more information: smu.edu/theology/people/heath.html