Community opportunity for Winter 2020-21

Do you want to spend the next half year or longer living, praying and co-working with others in a large household?

Life in the Lunesdale Community is centred around the prayer, morning and evening, in a similar style to Taizé, with particular focus on silence. We share meals and practical work of running the community house together. Each having our own work to support our life in community, we seek to play an active role in the life of the local church in this village and city. We also make time to relax together and to enjoy the beautiful surrounding countryside.

Before the Covid-19 situation started this year, we were preparing the next stages in the Lunesdale Community. Plans have been on hold for a while now, but following further discussions and prayerful consideration we are now ready to move forward with a particular invitation for the current time.

From recent experience, we know that we can’t function at the moment in the way we have previously, with individual members going out to different workplaces every day. That has only led to repeated periods of self-isolation, awaiting test results (thankfully negative in each case). We now realise that if we are to have a resident community this winter it has to be on a more enclosed basis, with each of us pursuing our own work from a base within the community house. This would suit those who can do their current job from home, who are studying independently, or who are pursuing entrepreneurial projects. Fortunately we’re now particularly well equipped for this, having recently been connected with a gigabit fibre Internet connection through the Broadband for the Rural North (B4RN) community project in the village.

It looks like we are all going to be having a very different winter, with many countries now entering into another phase of lock-down. However, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t go through this together. We can’t receive guests at the moment, but we are open to new resident community members. We’ll have to follow lock-down measures, but can do that together as a large household.

The second hardship that we face in the UK at the moment is the end of the transition period of exiting the European Union, at the end of this year. Although this doubtless makes the UK a less attractive place to live, it highlights an even greater need to express unity in our diversity – a key tenet of the ecumenical vocation of the Lunesdale Community. We would ask you to consider accompanying us in this difficult and uncertain time, when we are facing isolation and national division. In practical terms, those from other European countries who settle here before the end of December are entitled to “pre-settled status”, leading to the right to reside in the UK in future. From the start of next year this will be much more difficult and will most likely depend upon receiving a large salary.

So this is an invitation, in far from ideal times, to make the best of what is possible in this present moment. Normally we have a process of discernment visits before moving into the community house. In these circumstances we’re proposing to move most of that process internally. We’ll meet initially online through video calls, but then the initial enquiry stage will take place here in the community house. There’s no obligation; you can stay for a couple weeks and then leave if it seems this is not your place. But for those who want to take this further, we can spend this winter together and then seek together our future direction in the spring.

Could you see yourself enjoying community life here for the next few months?

If so, please contact us at community@lunesdale.community