Last week about the same time that that He was drawing me back to the mystic side of Christian, I saw a Facebook post by Jared Boyd about the launch a Vineyard monastic community.

Yes, you read that right – Jared is starting a Vineyard monastery.

Based on a 300-arce farm in eastern Ohio, The Order of Sustainable Faith will be centered around “silence & solitude, simplicity, bodily labor, and the practice of hospitality.” It is a place where people can go to dial back from the crazy fast lives of our culture – a place where church planters, pastors, lay people can go and live for a year to five years, seeking God and growing deep in the well of Living Water.

It may sound strange to our Protestant minds, but throughout history the Lord has used monastic communities to shape His people and spread the message of the Kingdom to the world.  Moses, Jesus and many, many other heroes of the faith spend time alone in the desert learning how to hear and obey the gentle voice of the Spirit before they were launched into their public ministries. The Order of Sustainable Faith is being built upon that same vibe, the knowledge that when people leave behind everything to seek God something powerful happens.

The Order of Sustainable Faith also goes beyond the farm in Ohio. There is a non-residential arm of the community that seeks to live out the rules of the community in the towns, cities and villages where God has placed them. This too is a classic expression of monastic values as groups like the Franciscans and Jesuits were originally established as outward missional groups focused supporting the monks who traveling together across the land. As someone with a missional heart, I love this part of The Order of Sustainable Faith as it means that The Order is dedicated to taking the message of the Kingdom into every nook and cranny of the world.

If any of this has sparked something in your heart, please check out The Order’s website, SustainableFaith.com, to find out more. You can also do what I have done, buy The Order’s “Invitations and Commitments: A Rule of Life” book as it outlines everything you could every want to know about The Order of Sustainable Faith. (I just received my copy today…so stay tuned for more thoughts on The Order as I read through it.)

I don’t know what the Wild Goose of the Spirit is doing…but I’m willing to follow wherever He may go.