Imagination and the Social Nature of Discipleship

This is a reflection I wrote up for our newsletter, highlighting some of the reason why we believe Iona House is vital.

We are deeply social creatures. We overlook this in discussions of Christian formation to our peril. Perhaps the greatest hindrance to real, in-depth Christian formation is simply the inability for individuals to imagine a life ALL-IN with Christ in EVERY area of their life. Imagination is a much more communal thing than we usually acknowledge. What we can imagine is shaped most powerfully by what we have seen in the life of someone else... and even more powerfully by what we see transpiring in an entire community of people.

We often set our internal "benchmarks" for Christian life by simply looking around to see what seems "normal" for most other Christians we know. This is an unconscious experience for most people and often produces less-than-desirable results. The reason is that, sadly, the degree of maturity and depth in much N. American Christianity is simply too weak and shallow to provide anything other than a Christian veneer over the top of mostly mainstream American values and ideals. What is actually forming N. American Christianity is mainstream culture absorbed socially in the lives of those around us and reinforced through media, entertainment, technology, etc.

The most potent form of deep Christian discipleship (the only form powerful enough to counter mainstream "norms") comes in being immersed in a community of people who are all-in for Jesus and drawing their common life from something other than mainstream norms. Put a person in the midst of an intensive communal experience where the culture of the group is grounded in deep, historic discipleship, and faithfulness to Christ and something happens that can never be produced by simply reading a great book or by doing individual practices. I've seen glimpses of it happen with retreats, mission trips, and other immersive social experiences in the context of our ministry in San Francisco over the course of nearly 14 years. It's a powerful thing to see!

We shouldn't be surprised by any of this; a social model is exactly the method that Jesus used to shape disciples. He gathered 12 men and formed a distinctive community that did life together in reference to Himself and His teaching over an extended period of time. Note: He did not give them a stack of books and send them off; He did not merely give them some spiritual disciplines to try on their own. No, He forged an immersive life together. Beyond these 12 men (apostles), there were others - a number of women and those who spent only a season around Jesus, and those who provided hospitality to Him (i.e. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus). What is clear is that the basis for Jesus's formation "curriculum" was the formation of a social group embodying a distinctive culture - one centered around Him, His way of life, and His teaching. This is the pattern that the Church relied on to form people in the first three centuries in the Catechumenate of the early church. It continued in the Desert Fathers and Mothers and has been ongoing in the monastic streams of the Church. It is the same pattern that emerges whenever there is renewal in local churches across the world. It all comes back to a socially reinforced identity shaped by a practicing community, consciously living in an alternative pattern to the world around them. 

So, here's the question: Where can an individual or small group go to experience a deeply immersive experience of this kind of all-in Christianity in a thick, immersive social setting living according to an alternative pattern from the world? Or, said differently, where can an individual or small group of people go to have their imagination captured by a life of deep discipleship rooted in the entire history of the Church? 

This is the question that has shaped the vision of Iona House. When we picture Iona House, we see it as a place of deep, immersive, communal formation that offers an alternative to mainstream cultural norms. We imagine it as a place that is spiritually potent and relationally thick enough to give people a new imagination for what a new normal life in Christ could look like. Iona House is a place to experience a holistic, social formation that touches all aspects of who we are: body, mind, spirit. But it's not simply a location or a clever curriculum or some new spiritual practices; it's a communal experience rooted in the Great Tradition of the Church that transpires in an intentional ecosystem designed at every level to be holistically transformative (from the beauty, silence, solitude, animals, agriculture, structured times of prayer, communal eating, emphasis on the Church calendar, art + architecture, music, and more). 

Where does this currently exist in Northern California? It doesn't. This is the reason for Iona House.

To put it bluntly: We believe Iona House is desperately needed, right now. We're living in a time when the Church needs individuals and, more importantly, entire groups of people to discover a new imagination for what faithfulness looks like. We need a thicker, more rooted, and more robust version of life in Christ to become normal across an entire region. To imagine this, people must experience a taste of it. Thus, Iona House. This is something that has the power to bring renewal to the Church and unleash a new era of mission. We believe, Lord willing, this could be the legacy of Iona House.

If you resonate with this reflection, join us in prayer and financial partnership to see it happen. Come Lord Jesus!