New Monastacism, Faith Communities, and Social Justice in Nashville

You may remember my friend Daniel and his wife, the faith-based dumpster divers that were featured on Oprah last year. He and some like-minded church friends are working on forming a community based on Christian social justice and the principles of New Monasticism: Here is the genesis of the project:

To that end, we learned that Jason and his co-conspirators have been meeting for a long time trying to nail down a proposal called the “Oikos Project.” In the word “oikos,” evidently, there are roots in the words ecology, economy and eccumenism. So this project would work in the neighborhood to bring an alternative economy where affordable housing was built, local jobs were created, and people live together and share economic resources, working together against suburban individualism and urban gentrification; it would be eccumenical in joining people from different faith backgrounds in common service of the kingdom, promoting unity of believers; and it would attempt to be ecologically sustainable by using local building materials, growing much of its own food in urban, community gardens, and sharing common space in “designed for community” housing. All of this would be done through a non-profit organization that would allow people and organizations to donate their time and money to keep it going. That’s all in my own words, so I’m sure that it could be said a lot better and that I’ll learn more about what they want to do in the neighborhood as we go along. So, even though Jason and friends have already been meeting with neighborhood organizations, city planning officials, and others who all are extremely excited so far about their ideas, it will take some time. Like, years maybe.

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