A New Priory on St Leonards Street

Monasticism and Bromley by Bow?

The Bromley by Bow Centre would appear to have been accidentally building a monastery over the last 30 years! This is not without irony given the threads that take this small patch of land to the west of the river Lea back to Chaucers Prioress of St Leonards Priory and the now lost monastic buildings only yards from todays Bromley by Bow Centre. Amidst the hustle and bustle of one of the UKs most dynamic and innovative community en terprise hubs there would appear to be many of the key elements of monastic life. The Centre already incarnates 1 six of the seven classic sacred monastic spaces identified by George Lings of The Sheffield Centre . These are all spaces which are central to the rule of life of early monastic orders, both physically and in terms of being lived out. They can also be found in various sorts of contemporary faith communities, and the key thing is how these intentions can be lived out and offered in the public space. So, for example, the Bromley by Bow Centre: has a small private prayer space upstairs which acts as a cell has a church that serves as the chapel for corporate worship sustaining the whole includes a cloister near the entrance which creates a secure reflective interactive space has rooms where all the key decisions are made that act as the Chapter House has developed a beautiful garden...a wasteland that has been reclaimed and turned into a productive three-acre park and beautiful gardens where flowers and vegetables are grown has Pie in the Sky community caf acting as a refectory serving good value and nutritious food in a welcoming environment where everyone mixes

Currently there is no scriptorium, but that study dimension is waiting to be born - and you will see how we propose to do that as you read on. In addition there is a bell tower often another feature of monastic communities marking the rhythm of the hours allotted for prayer and work and rest. The health centre equates to the infirmary, the arts workshops stained glass, pottery and stone carving are again features present in some monastic communities, with their implicit understanding of the core relationship between beauty and the sacred. The other services and enterprises of the Centre are very organically connected to the whole and offered in a spirit of service to the wider community. The attention to detail and to beauty is present and to a scale of building which feels relational and human, rather than institutional.

An opportunity has appeared

The Bromley by Bow Church has had only two ministers in the last thirty years; the founding ministry of Andrew Mawson, followed by Helen Matthews. Last year Helen left to lead three churches in south London and so a new opportunity has appeared to identify a priest who can provide spiritual leadership in Bromley by Bow. It feels like a moment for renewal and fresh perspectives. Over recent months we have embarked on the search for a priest and in this process have been encouraged and supported by the Bishop of Stepney and the Moderator of the North Thames Province of the United Reformed Church. This search has borne fruit as the Revd Rosy Fairhurst has begun to engage with the team at Bromley by Bow since June and a common sense of calling and mission has emerged. Rosy is an Anglican priest who has served in parishes in north and east London and, most recently, been part of the team at St Martin-in-the-Fields. She is an author and for six years was on the professional staff of the Grubb Institute; consulting, researching and directing leadership programmes as an organisational analyst. She has also been Director of Mission and Ministry at Ripon College

George Lings, Encounters on the Edge 43: Seven sacred spaces Expressing community life in Christ

Cuddesdon and is a founding director of Sophia Hubs, supporting social enterprise incubation in faith communities with a model which builds on existing community engagement and works with faith resources. The Bromley by Bow Church would like to appoint Rosy as the next minister of the church.

A new kind of ministry

The vision is to embark on a new journey that explores the links between faith, life and enterprise in east London. The purpose is to provide a refreshed ministry in a community that remains one of the most deprived in the UK, yet is surrounded by the new realities of the Olympic Park and Canary Wharf on its doorstep. But it's also an opportunity for study and reflection; not least opening up fresh perspectives on how the story of east London - spiritually, historically, systemically, individually - can inform the next steps of life together. There are four elements to the ministry: 1. Pastoring and growing the church The church in Bromley by Bow has existed for 150 years and the Bromley by Bow Centre grew out of that spiritual community. It currently has a faithful and longstanding, but very small, congregation. The challenge is now to grow the church in its own right, as well as to enhance its support for the Centre. There is inspiration in the words of the Benedictine, Joan Chittister, who said, We must regularly seek to find God in one time and space t hat enables us to recognise God more easily in every other one. In 1935 Dietrich Bonhoeffer said ...the restoration of the church will surely come only from a new type of monasticism which has nothing in common with the old but a complete lack of compromise in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ. I think it is time to gather people together to do this... New monasticism appreciates the value of a small committed intentional community which can make a real difference in its neighbourhood, partly because of the strength of those relationships. This could be supported by taking advantage of schemes which make affordable housing available in the area which allows those with vision for such intentional community living to do so here. Chaplaincy to the Bromley by Bow Centre The Bromley by Bow Centre has become a large organisation. It employs 145 staff and has spawned the growth of a GP Partnership that employs 80 staff and serves over 30,000 patients. A significant part of the role would be to offer chaplaincy to the Centre, working with staff, volunteers and users. Faith has underpinned the work and ethos of the Centre and it has always taken a holistic approach to human flourishing, so it makes sense to work explicitly with the relationship between spirituality and other aspects of the organisation's mission. Theological Reflection The deep spiritual roots of Bromley by Bow are very clear and theological reflection and incarnational liturgy has been at the heart of the modern life of the Church since its revival thirty years ago. There are numerous stories of people in the life of the Centre which embody the gospel. There are rich tacit spiritualities different expressions of Christian faith, other faiths and from those with no explicit faith which need to be articulated and begin to engage with each other. There is now an opportunity to review what has happened in this unique Church and project which combines the arts and the creation of a holistic range of primary health and wellbeing provision in a way which gathers people into community. We have a chance to explore the potential of new and old monasticism to help understand how life and community can be lived in a committed way in a place of ancient significance. There is the potential for further renewal and regeneration which ripples out to the wider community. There is also an opportunity to find a stronger theological voice rooted in the life of the Bromley by Bow community that speaks into its wider context in east London and beyond. All of these are essentially ways of bringing to life the sacred space of the scriptorium in our common life.

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Enterprising communities and churches The Bromley by Bow Centre is founded on strong social business principles and Andrew Mawson is recognised as one of the UK's leading social entrepreneurs. In recent years the Centre has incubated over 40 new social businesses in east London, creating more than 250 jobs in a deprived community. Rosy's work with Sophia Hubs seeks to replicate this approach of building on the existing community development and resources of faith communities and enabling small communities to do so by networking them and creating economies of scale. There are significant opportunities to experiment further and explore how sustainable models of church in community can be offered to other contexts; particularly in how these approaches echo what has been happening in monastic communities from their earliest days.

A new St Leonards Priory?

As a community organisation the Bromley by Bow Centre is not unique in having monastic features, but it is unusual in its scale and in having such primary services as health, housing and employment integrated into its community and connected with these other kinds of space. It is also unusual in having developed a set of buildings which actually look monastic in a traditional way, almost unconsciously. It is interesting too that it has emerged almost on the medieval site of St Leonards Priory. Generally a monastic community new or old has a rule of life and this too would be a clarifying exercise working out what the rule of the whole community might be, and what different orders within the community might look like. It could be that there is a rule for those belonging to the Church which might be different, but related, to that for the Centre. It could embody a common rule of life in terms of practice, values and commitment which could be accepted by those of different faiths and none. The exploration of how Bromley by Bows seven sacred spaces related to the sacred spaces in the local community, including those dear to other traditions, could be a very creative way of taking this interfaith dimension forward. Bonhoeffers references to religionless Christianity spoke to the importance of unconditional commitment to the common good with those of other faiths and none, a concern for the marginalised, and the rediscovery of a way of non-violence. Another deeply significant part of the history of this place is the presence of Kingsley Hall next door, where Gandhi made his home in 1931. The Anglican Church has just introduced, in the light of the growth of new monastic communities, a way of affiliating as a recognised new monastic community. This role as it is being conceived at the moment could include within it an element of facing outward and working with other local faith communities in the development both of missional intentional community, the hubs and the wider model. When understood with the new monastic frame the role is slightly different from minister, chaplain and theologian it is a sort of new monastic abbot or prior. This is not meant with any grandiosity and in some ways the Chief Executive is the abbot in terms of the practical responsibility for oversight of the community in the centre. One of the issues would be to reframe and negotiate the relationship between the two in the light of the conversation about the relationship between church and centre. Our sense is that we no longer want to work on a model of chaplaincy which seems to have been largely developed in recent years in relation to secular institutions or a model of church minister which generally seems to have been split off from the communitys work. It is clearly different from old monastic practice, with the absence of traditional vows and enclosure and in its focus of reaching out more deeply to the local community to draw those people into the life of the centre into its enclosure as a way of recreating a place of real community in a deeply fragmented and isolated society.

Calling our friends

We have a vision for a new ministry in Bromley by Bow. But we need friends who can support us to turn the vision into a reality. If you are inspired by this vision and think you can help then please talk to us. Lord Andrew Mawson House of Lords London SW1A 0PW andrew@amawsonpartnerships.com Rob Trimble Chief Executive, Bromley by Bow Centre St Leonards Street, London E3 3BT rob.trimble@bbbc.org.uk