Scott A Bessenecker, The New Friars: The Emerging Movement Serving the World’s Poor. IVP Books, 2006.
Sequel: Bessenecker, Living Mission: The Vision and Voices of the New Friars
Referenced in: Missional Lifestyle, Discipleship, Spirituality
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is an inspiring and convicting description of young Christians who are part of the New Friars movement that devotes itself to ministries of mercy and justice for the poor, similar to the historic tradition of the Franciscans, or the order of St. Francis of Assissi. The book develops the five core values of the movement as a continuance of this tradition (pp. 20-22):
1. Incarnational – They sought not only to bring the gospel to the lost and oppressed from the outside…but to be the gospel by becoming part of the communities of dispossessed they sought to serve. The incarnation of God in the man Jesus Christ served as the foundational missiology and modus operandi of the old orders.
Devotional – They vowed themselves to principles of holiness and purity that went beyond the common practices of the faith, then held each other to these ideals quite rigidly.
2. Communal – They lived together and shared many of those things that they held privately before joining the order. Given their commitment to incarnation, most of these communities were quite austere, going beyond the principle of the single-family dwelling. They moved into a community of mostly strangers and lived as a family. They committed themselves to one another out of love.
3. Missional – These were communities on the move, responsible for stretching the borders of the church into the dark corners of Europe. The New Friars are different than the New Monastics, households of Christian men and women planted in dying inner city communities within their home country, attempting to live the Christian ideal among their neighbors, drawing the lost, poor and broken to themselves. Instead, the New Friars, have something of the spirit of mission-driven monks and nuns in them, leaving their mother country and moving to those parts of the world where little is known about Jesus.
Marginal – They were on the fringe movement of the mainstream church, and they sought to plant themselves among people who existed on the edges of society.
From the Publisher
Vows—exclusive promises or commitments—are almost unheard of these days. They’re considered a quaint relic of times past when open options were not such highly regarded virtues. But many people in this commitment-averse culture are begging for someone to set the bar higher, to call them to higher levels of devotion.
Across the ages God has consistently attracted a few in every crowd who would make and keep vows, and called them to stick out, act out and speak out. In The New Friars Scott Bessenecker profiles young Christians who have voluntarily removed themselves from the status quo in order to seek justice and mercy with the poorest of the world’s poor. These new friars are carrying on the work of the monastic tradition, the spirit of Francis and Clare of Assisi, St. Patrick and St. Brigid, the Jesuits and Nestorians and Moravians. The New Friars will show you that with God all things—even uncommon acts of courageous faith—are possible.
About the Author
Each year Scott Bessenecker helps send over 2000 college students to nearly every continent on earth as the associate director of missions for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. To prepare for his work spreading vision and mobilizing resources, Scott got a degree in Business Administration and a masters in International Development from William Carey International University.
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