New Monasticism & the local church: Where do we go from here?

This year’s Monos Conference will be exploring and reflecting upon a particular strain of Secular Monasticism called ‘New Monasticism,’ as practiced within the world-wide Christian Church.
New Monasticism has many different expressions. Some New Monastic communities are responding to the late German theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer’s call for a new form of monasticism that will help to renew the Church. Other communities are seeing a new type of monasticism as a subversive force within our post-Christianity, helping Christian’s negotiate environmental, financial and social justice issues in our western world. Yet other communities and individuals are living a new monastic life as an intentional vocational choice within their given set of circumstances and traditional Christian background.
All this makes for diverse Christian phenomenon, and over the weekend we will be discussing these expressions and asking the question as to how useful they are in helping and aiding the Church in the 21st century.