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In an earlier blog I mentioned that we were going to purchase a house in Northumberland, when literally at the eleventh hour the Lord stepped in to close the door. I didn’t explain the reason for this, and why it was so important in respect of the journey we eventually made to Scotland, so let me do that now.
As we were about to sign on the dotted line our solicitor told us that the Duke of Buccleugh had placed covenants on the property which prohibited more than one family from living there. Since we and our friends intended to live together as one household to comply with the Covid regulations in force at the time, the purchase was no longer viable. However, that wasn’t the only reason for wanting to live together; for each one of us living in community was already part of our DNA!
Let me explain. The church we’d left in Romford that I had led, had its roots in Christian community and the house church movement of the late 60s. At one time around 60 percent of the houses in one particular road were owned by members of our church! Back then, we’d been called to pioneer, to leave behind the security of traditional forms of Christianity and to embrace a riskier, and for us, untried lifestyle.
And so, we met from house to house, sharing lives, working and praying together, pooling resources and worshiping Jesus. Our main inspiration was the early church we read about in the Acts of the Apostles. We were attracted to the notion of 24/7 fellowship. Holding things in common, sharing possessions (cars, lawn mowers, ladders, tools, etc) was a hallmark of our way of life. Some couples bought houses and shared mortgages together; single people tended to live in extended families. We leaned heavily on the Lord for wisdom and grace as we built community and developed deep, enduring and meaningful relationships.
Making our lives accountable to leadership and to each other wasn’t always easy and it soon exposed our weaknesses. Above all, it challenged our self-centredness! Any romantic notions we may have had about community life were soon dispelled; bucket loads of humility, openness, honesty, trust and respect were needed.
We were by no means unique, however. Since the beginning of the church era, when Christian community was the Spirit-led lifestyle, right down to the present time, there have always been pilgrims of a common life (see Trevor Saxby’s book entitled ‘Pilgrims of a Common Life’).
More recently, we’ve come across the work of the late Art Katz and his community – Ben Israel in Minnesota, USA. His experience of community, combining the enjoyment and appreciation of 24/7 Christian fellowship with the failures and inconveniences we all have to bear, brought him to the conviction that it’s the best environment in which to truly live out the Christian life (see Katz’s book entitled ‘True Fellowship’).
Whilst living in Romford Julie and I owned a sizable house and as well as accommodating ourselves and our children we still had space for many young adults who came to live with us as an extended family. Some of them were married and had their first children whilst under our roof. It was a great privilege!
Community and mentoring - the kind rooted in the nitty-gritty of everyday life as modelled by Jesus - goes hand in hand, and some of these young people have since gone on to become church leaders in their own right or leaders in the workplace and others to serve on the mission field.
And so here we are living in Canonbie and once again enjoying community life with the friends who moved in with us. Sharing things in common including vision, values, living expenses and the innumerable tasks that constantly present themselves, we’re able to serve the Lord and one another for the common good.
We like to think that we’re living in the opposite spirit to that of the Reivers, who left a legacy of fractured communities in this area, and that hopefully in some small way we’re echoing the community life of the canons who lived in the Augustinian priory located here in the Middle Ages.
Why not come and visit us – we’d love to welcome you.
