Simple Way/New Monasticism & Shane Claiborne

[Witsec1]

thesimpleway.org/

Has anyone heard of this group? Shane Claiborne is the most famous member. It's on the radical, Jim Wallis end of evangelicalism, it reminds me of Catholic Worker for Protestants.

1) Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire.

2) Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy among us.

3) Hospitality to the stranger

4) Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation.

5) Humble submission to Christ’s body, the church.

6) Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the community along the lines of the old novitiate.

7) Nurturing common life among members of intentional community.

8) Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples and their children.

9) Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of life.

10) Care for the plot of God’s earth given to us along with support of our local economies.

11) Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within communities along the lines of Matthew 18.

12) Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life.

Any thoughts?

[Witsec7]

Does sound like CWs a bit. I wonder if they accept tax exempt status?

[oscar]

I am curious what other people think about this group. Some of my husband's younger cousins are involved in their youth football league.

[Witsec7]

Those xtians who believe in works could perhaps find this movement attractive. I don't think those that depend on faith for salvation will be supporters of this movement.

[Witsec1]

i wonder if there is a bit of a cult of personality around Shane. He's written a few books, does speaking tours, etc. A bit like the evangelical star pastor in that way.

[Witsec7]

I noticed that Zondervan picked him up. He's got the big money behind him now. I wonder if he delivers all of his royalties to the community like Dorothy did?

[maybeizfundie]

Experience makes me leery of intentional community/communalism. Very leary.

And experience also tells me that leaning away from the right socially and politically doesn't guarantee avoidance of cultism. I'm interested to watch where this goes--but always from the outside, lol.

That said, there are some points that I don't disagree with in that list.

[Confused_by_religion]

From what I've read, I had the impression that they are very sincere young people honestly interested in justice and social reforms. shane Claiborne writes that those Christians who are uber-focused on sexual morality in the Bible miss that the biblical writers were very much focused on social justice. The Simple Way want to bring this to the attention of the public and fight for social justice in their own little corner of theworld, I think they're located in Philadelphia. This sounds sensible, if a little naive.

Shane Claiborne comes across as a little geeky, but I'd rather spend a day with him than with the vision forum intern clones.

[nuri]

I've listened to him on NPR's On Being. He does certainly come off as sincere, a little naive but good hearted and trying to do right in the world. I'm not sure what to make of them, to be honest. I don't think they are a destructive cult, but they seem being outgoing and insular. They want people to Follow Jesus and not always do exactly what they do. Which is good, because intentional living and living outside the norm really isn't for everyone.

They strike me a bit like Quakers, especially historical Quakers, but more evangelical. I would say like the Amana Colonies, except they are really involved in their city and in social work, which really wasn't at all like Amana.

[Burris]

Alas - most of it sounds good on paper, but human nature is such that this can never work without the appropriate checks and balances and an open line to the wider community.

Depravity is in human nature; even the best individuals will mess up sometimes and so there has to be an independent, neutral, third-party auditing process to identify trouble in the leadership, do justice to those wronged, and restore the perpetrator to his community.

These kinds of checks and balances are impossible in a community that is physically and socially isolated from the rest of society. At best, his idea will dissolve with time. At worst, it will become an abusive cult.

[Witsec7]

Sound familiar??

"What do you all do about health care?

We are challenged by our vision and Gospel mandate to “love our neighbors as ourselvesâ€, especially when millions of people in the US don’t have adequate healthcare (48 million to be exact), one of them was a five-year-old on our block that died of asthma a few years back. And while we are grateful for the tireless labor of folks working toward health care for all, we are not willing to wait for the government to do what the Church is meant to BE. We are excited by the creative initiatives to create structures of mutual care, ways of bearing each others burdens like the early Church…. One of those is called Christian Healthcare Ministries. Each month folks contribute money to a common fund of which over 90% goes directly to meet needs. Members receive newsletters that tell who is in the hospital and how to be praying for one another. CHM now has over 20,000 members who have collectively paid over 400 million dollars in medical bills over the past 20 years. Check them out: www.chministries.org. And this is not an ad for CHM, but more for the idea of CHM and so many others… see it as an invitation to join a Christian medical collective that is already out there, or to start one… 48 million folks are waiting."

.thesimpleway.org/about/faq/

[mirele]

Sound familiar??

"What do you all do about health care?

We are challenged by our vision and Gospel mandate to “love our neighbors as ourselvesâ€, especially when millions of people in the US don’t have adequate healthcare (48 million to be exact), one of them was a five-year-old on our block that died of asthma a few years back. And while we are grateful for the tireless labor of folks working toward health care for all, we are not willing to wait for the government to do what the Church is meant to BE. We are excited by the creative initiatives to create structures of mutual care, ways of bearing each others burdens like the early Church…. One of those is called Christian Healthcare Ministries. Each month folks contribute money to a common fund of which over 90% goes directly to meet needs. Members receive newsletters that tell who is in the hospital and how to be praying for one another. CHM now has over 20,000 members who have collectively paid over 400 million dollars in medical bills over the past 20 years. Check them out: http://www.chministries.org. And this is not an ad for CHM, but more for the idea of CHM and so many others… see it as an invitation to join a Christian medical collective that is already out there, or to start one… 48 million folks are waiting."

.thesimpleway.org/about/faq/

Yeah. Not interested. I don't think insurance and medical care should be divided up by religion. And I think the religions have had the opportunity to show us a better way for health care--and have failed in so many ways.

[treemom]

Oh great another scamaritan ministries but just with a liberal bent.

Btw it was a no go for me with the submitting to the church. The church is people and people are fallible...that worries me.

[maybeizfundie]

Wow. What Burris said about community/cult. Perfectly expressed.

[JesusFightClub]

Fascinating! Had not heard of this. I will look into it.

As I have said now and again I live semicommunally (is this a word?) and the biggest problem I see with what you describe is the List o' Rules. If you have a lot of people in one place then you have to simplify. Ours (unspoken) go:

1. Don't be an arsehole

2. Be somewhere on the Left

3. Pay your rent, and if you can't, let someone know

If you have 10 plus rules it becomes really difficult to keep them all. Also, human nature. A maliciously minded character could accuse an innocent person of a breach of a strict rule, and they would have to prove their innocence.

Our "don't be an arsehole" idea doesn't mean "don't be yourself". It means "don't hurt others". For example I am super messy but try to keep my messiness to my own room. Other people do not necessarily like me or each other but don't have public confrontations.

The setup you describe looks ripe for disaster..

[nuri]

Yeah, I don't think they mean to do this on a large scale. They mention that they have maybe 6-8 more or less permanent people at their intentional living home, and drop ins for the rest. Even just tying themselves to the concept of monasticism shows that they don't expect this to be the way for everyone, but the way for a specific group of like-minded people.

I really like that they don't have their own church, rather going to ones in the community. I'd be interested to know which ones are frequented most. I think that would say a lot about if they are worrisome or not.

And since they are actually physically in the community, and socially out in it, I hope they get enough of the 3rd party influence to keep them in check. But, like most groups like these, they will eventually fade out, even if they inspire others in the future.

I admit, I'm biased, I'd really like to live in a JesusFightClub type of place. Would keep me social enough. My husband and I live with roommates right now, and while it started a lot more communally, the roommates have tended to isolate themselves. Husband has said no more to roommates, which makes me worried because I kinda like it.

[gilora]

1) Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire.

What is that, exactly? Honestly, I'm curious.

With a couple of exceptions, sounds kind of Amish to me.

[Rosa]

The measure of cultishness isn't how many rules they have (I've known lots of Dorothy Day House folks, and people who lived in other intentional community/coop houses, and they vary a LOT on rules/process) but how open they are to people leaving if they want.

[nuri]

1) Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire.

What is that, exactly? Honestly, I'm curious.

With a couple of exceptions, sounds kind of Amish to me.

From the fact that they live in a major city, I'm thinking they mean it as a metaphor. Not going out and living apart, but going into places that are "left behind", so the areas and populations that are economically/socially disadvantated.

[titus2_4u]

I have some connections to the group. While Shane has a big personality/public persona and can be accused of being too idealistic, there are no accusations of abuse of any sort or mismanagement of funds.

I think it helps that the Simple Way is not a church itself, and that there's a clear separation between the communal house and the nonprofit. You can research the nonprofit's finances on guidestar.org, but as far as I know, there is nothing at play. The group is very egalitarian, and works hard against heirarchies: the complete opposite of a lot of the fundie groups we talk about that impose heirarchies in churches and in homes.

While Shane's public speeches might come across as too do-good, you have to keep in mind where they're coming from and the target audience. This is a group of people living in one of the poorest blocks in Philadelphia's poorest neighborhood. Every day they encounter people whose basic needs--healthcare, food, shelter-- are not being met and do what they can to meet these needs. However, Shane's book is published by a popular Christian publishing company and he gets sent out to speak at upper-middle class youth groups, Christian colleges, etc. Going from extreme poverty to Christians with tons of unexamined privilege. The message makes more sense in this context, I think.

Before you make any accusations of abuse or mismanagement of funds, do some research. They don't promote heirarchies or situations that promote abuse, there have been no allegations of abuse, their financial statements are there to see. According to his letter to the IRS published in the Huffington Post, Shane Claiborne made less than $10,000 last year. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shane-cla ... 37785.html

Their version of Christianity might be a little extreme for some, but don't bash them based on that. Let's keep in mind what the real enemies here are: inequality, abuse, deception, greed.

[titus2_4u]

"1) Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire.

What is that, exactly? Honestly, I'm curious.

With a couple of exceptions, sounds kind of Amish to me."

A lot of their theology compares the current American Empire to the Roman Empire of Jesus' day. They look for similarities: great disparity between the rich and the poor, globalization, Empirialism, etc. "Abandoned places of the empire" are places that the leaders of America ignore because it's not in their best interest.

Shane Claiborne studied with Mother Theresa briefly, and her advice to him was: "find your own Calcutta." As a college kid in the Philadelphia suburbs, he found it in a block of Philadelphia's poorest neighborhood: Kensington. The place fits all of the modern urban decay cliches: abandoned homes, homes without electricity or water, crime, trash, graffiti, drugs, prostitution, etc. A Philadelphia newspaper recently listed the ten worst drug corners in the city, and all ten were in this neighborhood. A serial killer killed several prostitutes last winter. In addition to all of these problems, the district is incredibly gerrymandered so that no single member of city council has to take responsibility for the neighborhood's blight. People in other neighborhoods dump their trash there. Businesses up and leave, leaving behind large, decaying buildings that become havens for criminals and drug dealers. It truly is an "abandoned place in the empire," and there are plenty of other places like this in the country.

[Witsec1]

I don't think anyone was making any financial allegations about the Simple Way, rather speculating about Christian Healthcare Ministries, about which I know even less than the Simple Way.

I spent some time hanging out with Catholic Work folks in the early '90's, and with a group of graduates of St. Louis Univ. (Catholic Univ) + one Quaker who lived in a sort of co-housing community in an inner-city neighborhood. Somewhat like the Simple Way group, but very informal. So I am basically in sympathy with what Shane is trying to do. I just wondered how it works with him being a Zondervan author, etc. and consorting so closely with mainstream evangelicals. In my experience, American evangelicalism has the ability to suck the life of out anything. See Christian "rock" music.

[titus2_4u]

He's spoken to the conflict of using Zondervan before: http://www.redletterchristians.org/shan ... le-moguls/ It is a dilemma.

I'm not a huge Simple Way apologist, and I think a lot of critiques of the group are valid. I was just trying to dispel any misinformation. I'd hate to see them lumped in with a lot of the other groups we discuss here.

[Witsec7]

I don't think anyone was making any financial allegations about the Simple Way, rather speculating about Christian Healthcare Ministries, about which I know even less than the Simple Way.

I spent some time hanging out with Catholic Work folks in the early '90's, and with a group of graduates of St. Louis Univ. (Catholic Univ) + one Quaker who lived in a sort of co-housing community in an inner-city neighborhood. Somewhat like the Simple Way group, but very informal. So I am basically in sympathy with what Shane is trying to do. I just wondered how it works with him being a Zondervan author, etc. and consorting so closely with mainstream evangelicals. In my experience, American evangelicalism has the ability to suck the life of out anything. See Christian "rock" music.

My feeling exactly Flora, I've had close associations and affinity with the CW for most of my adult life and have a relationship with a local CW group. The Zondervan ties concern me since they are all about the money.

[MamaJunebug]

:| Mmm.... except for the part about moving to a rough neighborhood, this is the way I've observed a lot of people living. Some are within the same congregation, some are unaffiliated. They try to live in simplicity and peacefulness, looking out for each other and those in need, before themselves. Is "Sojourners" magazine still published/online? When I was in my 20s (30+ years ago), they did what SW is doing in an organized way.

Bless 'em, I say.