A New Monastic Covenant
Our Rule of Life
WHAT IS A RULE OF LIFE?
For centuries, monastic communities have lived by a ‘Rule’ not as a restriction, but a shared pattern of practices that shapes daily life toward God and one another.
As a New Monastic community, we draw on that ancient wisdom and live it outside the cloister. In gardens, kitchens, and around shared tables in our own neighborhood. A Rule of Life is a rhythm we return to, the way a trellis gives a vine something to grow along.
It names how we want to live: attentive to God, present to our neighbors, and faithful in small, repeated practices. This is something our Fellows choose, a commitment to be formed alongside one another, not a test anyone must pass to be welcome.
We want our common life to be inspired and led by the Holy Spirit rooted in solidarity and hospitality.
The five rhythms
Prayer
Members commit to practicing daily reflection & meditation and contemplative prayer in addition to the Daily Office - the structured prayer that anchors our work and relationships in the presence of God. We also make time for communal prayer, honoring the need of one another when prayer is requested.
Work
We believe that tending the earth and serving alongside others is holy work. Members commit to active participation in the Good News Garden and in volunteer service with partner organizations in High Point - as neighbors showing up for one another.
Table
The table is at the center of who we are. Members commit to gathering regularly at Dinner Church and Community Meals, and to supporting our partners as they host their own tables. We believe that no one should be excluded from the feast.
Neighbor
We commit to knowing and being known by the people around us. This means cultivating relationships across differences - confronting our own privilege, listening before acting, and building the kind of trust that can only come through presence over time.
Rest
We commit to observing a weekly Sabbath - a full, intentional rest from work and striving. In a culture of constant productivity, rest is an act of faith and resistance. We trust that God provides, and we practice ceasing as a community.
We hold these values in Common
Hospitality - Solidarity - Vulnerability - Wisdom - Simplicity - Commitment
The Covenant
"I dedicate myself to this Rule of Life, on this journey of expansion, community, and understanding."
The voices that inspire us
We’re apart of a wider movement .
Our way of life draws on the New Monastic and contemplative traditions that light the path ahead of us. Here is a list of like-minded communities, both local and abroad, that we admire; and teachers that give us the words to deepen our curiosity.
Communities we look to
Spring Forest
Dr. Elaine Heath · Hillsborough, NC
A Christian monastic farm community near Durham, co-founded by theologian Dr. Elaine Heath, that joins prayer, land, and table
St. Lydia's
Dinner Church · Brooklyn, NY
A church where life is lived out around the table, gathering to share a sacred meal as the first followers of Jesus did - scripture, song, and prayer in the midst of a home-cooked dinner.
The Northumbria Community
Dispersed community · England
A dispersed, worldwide network committed to a new way for living, drawing on Celtic Christian roots and a shared Rule of Life centered on availability and vulnerability.
Rutba House
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove · Durham, NC
A New Monastic community in Durham, NC co-founded by writer Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, who helped name the movement is a witness to ordinary life shared in faith and hospitality.
The Simple Way
Shane Claiborne · Philadelphia
An intentional community founded by author and activist Shane Claiborne, modeling faith lived among neighbors. Hospitality, simplicity, and justice woven into the everyday.
The Iona Community
Iona Abbey · Scotland
An ecumenical community gathered around the ancient abbey on the Isle of Iona, whose rhythms of worship, hospitality, and justice have inspired Christian communities like ours the world over.
Teachers
Richard Rohr
Center for Action & Contemplation
A Franciscan friar and contemplative teacher whose writing on action and contemplation shapes how we hold together the inner life and the work of justice.
Thomas Keating
Centering Prayer · Trappist monk
A Trappist monk and a founder of the modern Centering Prayer movement, whose teaching on silence and contemplative practice shapes the rhythm of prayer at the heart of our life.
Pádraig Ó Tuama
Poet & theologian · Ireland
An Irish poet and theologian, former leader of the Corrymeela reconciliation community, whose work on language, prayer, and belonging gives words to the life we hope to share.
Kendall Vanderslice
Edible Theology · baker & writer
A baker, writer, and founder of Edible Theology, who explores how bread and shared meals form the body of Christ.
Kate Bowler
Author & historian · Durham, NC
A Duke Divinity historian and writer whose honest reflections on suffering, grace, and the limits of self-reliance remind us to hold one another with tenderness and truth.
Kinward
Resource & community center · Greensboro, NC
A nearby resource and community center in Greensboro, just up the road in the Triad, whose work and resources support communities like ours seeking to live faithfully together.
School for Conversion
New Monastic network · Durham, NC
A Durham-based ministry that forms and connects New Monastic communities, helping people learn the practices of life together. Born from the same circles that named the movement's marks, it's a teacher and companion to communities like ours.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Life Together · pastor & theologian
A pastor and theologian whose Life Together remains a touchstone for any community sharing a common life - its wisdom on prayer, the table, and bearing with one another shapes how we live ours.
Henri Nouwen
Contemplative writer · L'Arche
A priest and writer whose tender reflections on hospitality, belonging, and the wounded healer - born from his life with the L'Arche community - teach us to receive one another as gift.
San Luis Rey Fraternity
Secular Franciscan Order (OFS) · Oceanside, CA
A lay Franciscan community living the way of St. Francis in the world. Their shared Agape and Eucharist liturgies are the source from which our own Dinner Church worship is adapted.
Other Resources
Common Prayer
A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
A book of daily prayers and liturgies by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro. We draw on it for our shared prayer and for the Eucharistic liturgy at our table.
The Book of Common Prayer
The Episcopal Church · 1979
The treasury of prayer that anchors Anglican and Episcopal worship. Its Daily Office shapes our rhythms of prayer, and its Holy Eucharist, Rite II, grounds the liturgy at our table.
Every Moment Holy
The Rabbit Room · Douglas McKelvey
An index of liturgies for ordinary moments, from sharing a meal to lamenting to working the soil written by Douglas McKelvey and The Rabbit Room. It helps us find the sacred in the everyday, and shapes the prayers we pray around our table.
Drawn to this way of life?
Our Fellowship is a path to take to live these rhythms for a year, in community.