What The Monks Taught Me

A Journey Into the Past Yields Surprising Insights for 21st-Century Community

A FEW YEARS AGO, wanting to learn more about spiritual disciplines, I started reading the early monastic writers. I expected to find some great lessons about being with God in silence and solitude, but I was surprised to discover that monks were also really good at doing life together. In fact, the quality of community they experienced is enviable. We all long to experience authentic, meaningful community in our churches and small groups. And at times, we do. But I suspect that Larry Crabb, in The Safest Place on Earth , describes the experience of many small groups: “We arrange our bodies in a circle, but our souls are sitting in straight-backed chairs facing away from the others.” The New Testament makes it clear that cultivating authentic relationships with other believers is vital to living out the Christian faith. Early monastic communities took these