Similar to historic monasticism, we feel called to live out our singleness for the sake of the kingdom in a monastery to provide stability to our lives and sustenance to our ministry. Monasticism is an effective way for those called to vocational singleness to find family because it offers a way to live communally according to the same commitments, under the same community agreement, participating in the same Christian rhythms, to accomplish the same common mission.
Brothers make one-year, three-year, and eventually lifetime commitments to vocational singleness, family, simplicity, and obedience to our Community Covenant. Our family rhythms include daily morning or evening prayer, multiple shared meals a week, weekly confession and accountability, monthly worship nights, holidays, and vacations. Individually, we will leverage our availability from not raising children to seek out jobs that more directly build up the kingdom but may be too emotionally, physically, or financially burdensome for parents. Collectively, we will serve our community by offering discipleship in our local churches. Brothers will model vocational singleness in their local churches, teach in their churches what the Bible has to say about Christian marriage and vocational singleness, and help all teens and young adults in their churches discern between marriage and vocational singleness.
We are different from some historical expressions of monasticism in two ways: First, our monastery is not our church. Each brother is required to commit to the community and mission of their local church. Each brother’s local church remains their primary place of authority and discipleship. Second, our monastery is not our place of work. Brothers will seek employment outside of the Nashville Family of Brothers. Plus, the doors of our home will always be open to extended friends and family, and we hope our monastery serves as a seed for a wider intentional Christian community of vocationally single and married people in Nashville.
The Nashville Family of Brothers is governed by a Community Covenant and overseen by a Pastoral Advisory Board of Nashville pastors. We are ecumenically Christian with brothers and Pastoral Advisory Board members from a variety of denominations sharing a common confession of the Nicene Creed.
