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Engagement and the Modern Monastery

engagement-and-the-modern-ministry

‘Monastery’ is probably not a word we expect people to have much use for in the 21st century. It conjures up images of men and women from a distant mediaeval age who lived in seclusion and forsook all worldly goods. Chastity vows, devotion to prayer and meditation, renunciation - these and more are the things we associate with monasticism.

On one level, one can’t help but admire the spirit of these early monastics. They made a faithful attempt to live out the biblical teaching of not conforming to this world (Rom 12:2). Yet historically there are many reasons why these institutions did not last. One such reason is that they simply didn’t work. Stuart Colton [1] writes: “Putting to death the sinful nature is not achieved by withdrawal from the world and people, but by the Spirit through the Word He inspired.”

But what if, upon deeper reflection, we realise that monasteries are not dead, but have merely manifested themselves in a modern form?

The modern monastery begins to exist when today’s Christians have only Christian friends, participate in only Christian fellowship, and busy themselves exclusively with all sorts of Christian activity (conferences, Bible studies, internal ministries, etc). When there is little to no interaction with those who are outside the church, we have created a monastery. The traits of separation and seclusion, though not erected consciously, are nonetheless present.

While it is sensible to be wise about the company we choose (Psalm 1:1, 1 Cor 15:33), and not to conform to the patterns of this world (Rom 12:2), the result of such a lifestyle is the loss of engagement with those outside. In being faithful to some of the Bible’s commands we end up losing track of heeding some others - “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” (Rom 10:14 - ESV).

The sad result of the loss of engagement is that instead of bearing fruit, the gospel terminates with us individually. At a Navigators conference I attended recently (monastic behaviour?), I was given a booklet titled Born To Reproduce written by Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators. Reflecting on God’s command to ‘be fruitful and multiply’, Trotman wrote, “each one who is born into God’s family should seek others to be born again”. We are born again to reproduce.

But that can happen only if we are willing to step outside the comforts of the monastery and engage. It is understandable that we are fearful of the persecution that comes with the decision to engage. As with many things, we can imitate the apostle Paul - “To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication ... that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Eph 6:18b-20 - ESV)

May this also be our prayer. And let us remember also: we are Christians because someone obeyed Christ and decided to engage with us.

Written by Tan Yee Kiat

 

Reference:

[1] Stuart Colton, Hitting the Holy Road: A guided tour of Christian history from the early church to the Reformation (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2011), p 105