Step into the Life
of an Urban Monastic
We are so glad that you are here. Urban Monastics exists for all Christians. You can take your first step today! Maybe you’re just curious, or you might be ready to embrace our way of life. We are an ecumenical community. That means that we are open to and support all Christian denominations. Our focus is on how we live.
You are welcome here! We look forward to meeting you.
Step 1: Get Connected
Before you do anything else, we want you to get connected! Get yourself a regular drip of encouragement and prompts. We invite you to engage in monastic rhythms, practices, and way of life. The most important thing is that you get our emails. After that, you can follow us on your preferred social media platforms.
Join our Newsletter
Subscribing to our newsletter will guarantee that we stay connected. Every week, you will get our newsletter. It is full of encouragement and ways you can engage. This is the official way we communicate important information.
Simple Email form
People wanting to connect with us – only email address and single name field
Connect on Social Media
You can follow along on social media. It is the simplest way to get supported and encouraged. Social media allows us to share, interact, and encourage one another. You can connect with us on the platforms that you prefer.
Step 2: Explore and Learn
There is a monastic paradox. It is this:
You can learn everything it takes to be a monastic in a day.
Yet, it takes a lifetime to experience, embody, and live.
Below are several invitations to learn and begin exploring. A monastic life is guided by their Way of Life. Prayer is central to the life of a monastic. Discover some of the many ways we pray through our spiritual practices. Our main place of community is our monthly gatherings. We hope that you can join us soon.
Urban Monastic Way of Life
The points of our way of life are the soil that we choose to plant ourselves in. This is not an expression of what it means to be Christian. Rather, it is a way of living within the diversity and breadth of Christianity.
Spiritual Practices
These spiritual practices are some of the ways that we pray. Many of these ways to pray can be done individually. May you find encouragement to be with our Lord.
Join a Monthly Gathering
We gather for one hour each month. These gatherings of Urban Monastics have three parts. We pray Vespers, partake in the Eucharist, and share a conversation. You are most welcome to join us, and we look forward to having you.
A Glimpse of Life
This can be a lot of information. Lets help you imagine your life as an Urban Monastic. This glimpse lays out the active parts of living this way. The love and grace of God are the foundations for our living, breathing, and doing.
Step 3: Begin Living our Way of Life
You are invited to step into the Urban Monastic Way of Life. It is inspired by the Rule of Saint Benedict. It has been adapted for our uncloistered context. There will be parts of our way of life that come more naturally to you. It is likely you are already living out many parts of our rule. We want to encourage you to cycle through this rule with reflection and intentionality. There is always more that God is willing to reveal to us about ourselves. To reveal about our relationships. Relationships that we have with ourselves, with others, with creation, and with God. To live into a balanced life and a life of presence.
Take time to read through our monastic rule. Read some of the other rules out there. There is wisdom within the invitations and calls for how we live. Different parts of these commitments are lived out in different ways. Many of them are passive invitations. They call us to make decisions about how we live. Other parts of the rule are active. These portions require regular intentionality and the formation of habits. The final part is more organizational. These rules lay out how the community works, who is allowed, and any restrictions that may be put in place.
Step 4: Be a Monastic Candidate
This is an expression of your desire to be an Urban Monastic. A candidate is any Christian who wants to live our way of life. They want to go through our long period of practice, reflection, and discernment.
Anyone can become a candidate. Every candidate is treated as a monastic. When a cohort is available for the candidate to join, they start the formal period of discernment. Only at the successful conclusion of this process does one move from being a candidate to a monastic.
Ways you can be Involved
Being a Monastic
You can become an Urban Monastic. You will join a cohort with other candidates. Then, over an extended period, you will journey together. A journey of living and reflecting on our way of life. This will include one-on-one and group conversations. It will conclude with a period of mutual discernment and your welcome as a monastic.
We are currently preparing for our first cohort.
Fall 2024 is the earliest this process may begin.
Being a Sojourner
The majority of our community are Sojourners with Urban Monastics. They are completely welcomed and included in our community life. Unlike the monastics, they are free to be as involved as they wish and attend whenever they want to.
A sojourner picks parts of our way of life to follow. There are also no expectations for what their practices and rhythms look like.
Being a Patron
You can be a part of helping Urban Monasticism become all it can be. This project began on the side for the founders. As we have felt led by the Lord to take on bigger projects, we realize we need more financial resources. Financial gifts allow us to have a small, dedicated team focused on our community. Equipping, gathering, and expanding this community.
Are you interested in being a Patron?
Reach out below on behalf of yourself, an organization, or a foundation.
Being a Contributor
Do you want to use your skills to help Urban Monastics? Let’s connect! It would be a blessing to have your support as a contributor.
Examples of how to Contribute
- Musicians to help create music for our prayers
- Artists to create visuals to go with our practices and prayers
- Software Engineers to help us develop our infrastructure, tools, and apps.
- Scholars who are willing to help translate texts for us from Greek, Hebrew, and Latin.
Lets Connect!
You are always welcome to reach out to us. We want to encourage you, invite you, and help you with any questions you may have.
Let us know if and how you want to get more involved.
Monastic Involvement Form
Form for people to fill out to join with what we are doing