We assemble as the Church in three ways: as Soul Friends, Celtic Community-Builders and Forerunners.
Our convergence with the three historic streams of the Church through Communio Christiana authorizes us to assemble as forerunners of the Kingdom who proclaim justice to all peoples.
We assemble as the Church in three ways.
- As Soul Friends who love and help others to belong in order to believe.
- As Celtic Community-Builders who cultivate colonies of heaven on earth.
- As Forerunners who in our governing roles create thin places between heaven and earth.
We follow Christ as our lead Soul Friend (priest), Celtic Community-Builder (prophet) and Forerunner (king). Christ is both our model and the source of our empowerment in these practices of assembling.
Belong in Order to Believe
Basileians assemble as the Church as Soul Friends in our priestly practice of helping others to belong in order to believe.
As Soul Friends, we serve as personal guides and mentors to one or more people in our Basileian way of life. We are Soul Friends for guests of our communities who so desire it, people in the process of becoming Communicant Members, for existing members that they may grow and mature in Christ, and for those in the process of becoming Governing Members. We love one another as Christ loves us, helping each other to discover and release our unique individual gifts and callings by creating an interdependent, safe, friendly, relaxed, pleasant and supportive family environment where healing, forgiveness and empowerment are normal. Thus, we don’t first require people to believe in order to belong. To belong first, to be healed first, to be restored in our humanity first is the order of things. Believing comes quite naturally on the heels of that.
Soul Friends mentor all who belong in order to believe to empower them in turn to build and cultivate colonies of heaven on earth.
Cultivate Colonies of Heaven on Earth
Basileians assemble as the Church as Celtic Community-Builders in our prophetic practice of cultivating colonies of heaven on earth.
As Celtic Community-Builders, we do not just “plant churches” where people “go to church” on Sunday. While in one sense it might appear that this is one of the things we do, in fact, what we actually do is imagine, cultivate and launch kingdomcultural initiatives and communities where we “go from Church.” Our Fellowships and their Chapters advance the Kingdom in all areas of thought and life as a City on a hill, even as our logo reminds us. We embody a new kind of Celtic mysticism and monasticism marked by beauty, peace and joy, committed to the stewardship of creation and shaped by a Johannian spirituality relevant to and even ahead of our time.
An immediate goal of cultivating colonies of heaven on earth is to create thin places.
Create Thin Places
Basileians assemble as the Church as Forerunners in our kingly practice of creating thin places where the saints assemble to sit on thrones with Christ.
As Forerunners, we create thin places where we, as rulers on the earth below, meet in council with the powers of heaven above. Thin places are meeting places where kingdom business is conducted by those (Forerunners) authorized to conduct it. All Basileians are Forerunners in the sense that we all – baptized laypersons, ordained deacons and presbyters and those presbyters also appointed or consecrated as Abbots – take our seats in the heavenly council where we each have equal authority but different functions. It is as Forerunners in this council that we fulfill our call to imagine, cultivate and launch kingdomcultural initiatives and communities. All that will eventually be done on earth in and through Basileia is first conceived in this council. We therefore create these thin places by taking our seat in the assembly in response to Jesus, who says, “And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Lk. 22:29-30).
Our practice of creating thin places where each person takes their seat in the heavenly council is a compelling vision we keep before us as we mentor people to belong in order to believe and cultivate colonies of heaven on earth.
Together, these three practices by which we assemble constitute us as Basileians in a way that properly enables us to listen to the Word.
