Monks + Fish + Abbey = A Pretty Cool Church

Saw a neat article on a Seattle church over on Wade Hodges' blog. You can read it here.

I think this community and others like it can teach the church a lot about how it needs to foster deeper community and interact with and engage the post-Christian, post-modern culture around it.

Here are some tips for building generous "soul-care" communities. Tell me what you think:

Make the table your altar. Eat simple meals together regularly and enjoy the conversation. Anchor your celebration with a simple ritual of breaking bread or saying grace. Try having a "question of the night" to get conversations going.

Find a rhythm to live by. Follow the seasons as anchor points for celebration and reflection. Make an annual practice of celebrating spiritually oriented holidays.

Dance in the overlap. Emphasize the places where your belief systems and faith practices coincide, and celebrate those.

Embrace experimentation. Try different practices, celebrations and rituals, and then lean into the ones that feed you best.

Practice dialogue instead of debate. Learn to listen to each other's beliefs and practices. Create a culture that doesn't require people to be on the same page religiously. Be open to learning from belief systems other than your own.

Sink into story. Know your family's holy stories and find culturally current ways to celebrate age-old tales.

Pretty neat, huh?