The Rule of St. Benedict, from the Benedictine Monastery, 6th Century.

“If any pilgrim monk come from distant parts with wish as a guest to dwell in our monastery and will be content with the customs which he finds in this place, and does not perchance by his lavishness disturb the monastery, but is simply content with what he finds, he shall be received for as long a time as he wishes. If indeed he find fault with anything or expose it reasonably and with humility and charity, the Abbot shall discuss it prudently, lest perchance God has sent him for this very purpose. But if he has been found gossipy or divisive in the time of his sojourn as the guest, not only ought he not be joined in the body of the monastery, but also it shall be said to him honestly that he must depart. If he does not go, let two stout monks, in the name of God, explain the matter to him.”

Benedict coined the term “stout monk” in reference to men able to guard and protect the community from enemies and intruders. He put them to work on tasks and mission requiring strength, courage and integrity (sure they loved beer too). When necessary, they would go and escort the intruder out. Yet they were called to act in pairs, not in isolation. They were together. The protected one another as well as their community.

Do you want or need to start a Stout Monk Society? We say we all need community, but are we practicing community? Now I would suggest that the kind of community you need, at this level, the Stout Monk level, will not be found in your own congregation. Some strongly disagree and believe that elders are elders and the local church ought to be the place where everyone can be real including the pastor. True. But, if one of your leaders opens up and reveals some black area of his life or raging doubts, he isn’t going to lose his paying job. Be careful to whom you give bullets to. Some day they might shoot you with them.

I suspect that because you know that instinctively, instead of looking for real brotherly community, you have bought the lie that it’s not for you…and you have remained a loner. Let’s change course now. I want to help you help others in the same predicament.

In forming a Stout Monk Society, Our objective is to halt the endless loss of great leaders.

Begin with Prayer. Ask God to show you who you would invite into your community. Wait for God to answer.

It works best with 6 men. A good ratio is to have older guys and a couple of younger guys. They should be guys who are ready to get real and quit the bull… admit they are pooped, pissed or whatever… admit their willingness to have others speak into their lives, and also listen to God through them. Willing to watch each other’s back. Find other pastors outside your city. Maybe look for ministry leaders, like guys who lead Young Life or a mission agency. Trust me, they are lonely leaders too! One of my chapters has a man who is a business entrepreneur par excellence and is a donor to Christian ministries. He said he never had anything like this in business.

Next you’ll need a house. Ask someone to donate it to you for a few days to keep cost down. No TV. No ESPN. It’s just for 3-4 days.

So what do you do for the three to four days?

Each one will be responsible to facilitate 3 prayer/ mentor sessions:

1. 75 minutes where you lead/ facilitate prayer on one important thing God has been teaching you in recent months- applying it to the rest and helping all pray this into each other’s lives.
2. 75 minutes facilitated prayer and counsel for your personal and family life. Let others know how things are going personally and have all gather round you to listen/ pray for you and your family
3. 75 minutes facilitated prayer for you/ your ministry. This is getting down to 1 or 2 key areas that you could use listening prayer and counsel from men of wisdom. Come with a few ideas written down for all to think about.
4. Lots and lots of free time and bocce ball etc.

Work in shifts for shopping, cooking and clean up. Plan on doing one night out at a nice eatery. Again, it’s not expensive to do this. And it’s not a boiler plate thing either. Let community take place. You can’t manufacture it anyway. All you are doing is providing a great venue for good things to happen…being intentional. God will show up! Let me hear how it goes. This blog will serve as a great venue to brag about what God is doing through community. “Give it a try. I think you’ll be glad you did!”

 Email This Post This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 11:40 am and is filed under Read, Tom Wood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.