A blog by Kevin Wright on the emerging minister’s valuing community triggered my thinking this week. Many emergents want to “do life together” at church. They do not want “punch in worship” that wraps up a person’s Christian duty in 60 minutes, but yearn for a church something that sounds a lot like a 1960’s commune or medieval monastery life. That blog got me thinking more about my own childhood and I’ve never shared that online so here goes…

I was raised in a monastery

I’ve never shared this online but I was raised in a monastery. Really! I spent my childhood and teen years in a Christian community that had little contact with the world. I know all about “community” and “doing life together.” What most of the emerging ministers want I had when I was a kid. Just let me describe my childhood and teen years and show you how much time we spent in the Christian community “doing life together”

Sunday morning

Pretty much all day Sunday was given to “doing life together” with other Christians. I woke up every Sunday morning to the sound of organ music played from 33 RPM LP “Hi Fidelity” records. I went to Sunday school by 9:30 am and then to worship at 11AM and even when the service “let out” we stayed around visiting and chatting with people until 12:30—three full hours of life together Sunday morning at my childhood monastery.

Sunday afternoons

Most Sunday afternoons the monastery parents traded kids—my best friends came to my house for the afternoon or I went home with them. Activities were pretty limited in those days since we did not watch TV or even have video games. We ate big meals, fed the dogs, took walks, and sat around the rest of the afternoon reading “Sunday school papers” which were packed with “narratives”—stories of life that weren’t explicitly didactic (and some had cartoons too-like the