FAQ

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When did UNOH start

In 1992, an initial group including the Ash and Anji Barkers and Lisa Owen moved into Springvale, a multicultural neighbourhood in Melbourne. They had no real idea of how God would use them. They simply wanted to love God and their new neighbours in practical, life-giving ways. They set up some open homes and started planting churches from among the families of young people they had been working with in Youth For Christ youth clubs there. So many of those they sought to serve as neighbours at that time found real hope through Christ. In addition, serving the community there brought transformation into the lives of the workers. as they found a deeper way to live. Urban Neighbours Of Hope (UNOH) was officially formed in 1993 as other joined this calling, and it became part of the Churches of Christ in the Department of Mission, Education and Development. Although UNOH workers and supporters come from diverse Christian churches, UNOH chapters have MOU’s with the relevant state or national Church of Christ body to share in the life of Churches of Christ.

While UNOH started out as activist agency looking for the promised land of spiritual and physical liberation for and with the urban poor, it didn’t take long to realise that God wanted not just to shape the work in the area, but also to shape a missional community. There is a lot of Egyptian slavery that God wanted to dry out of us in the desert, so that we can they could his new people. Ways to identify and nurture the founding charism God had graced UNOH with needed to be found in the chaos.

In 1997, UNOH began to discover what it means to be a missional community for this emerging era by recovering precedents of this happening throughout history. Indeed we found waves of committed communities—often called orders—influencing the very way we live and share Christ today because they could find Christ in times of significant change. The founding of the early church, the Celtic movement, the Benedictines, the Franciscans and the Jesuits are just some of these waves of committed communities. With the demise of the last wave of institution-based communities, we believe God is again responding to a reshaped reality with a new breed of gospel orders. UNOH began to seek God about becoming a gospel order for this emerging age and made their first covenant together.

In May 2001, UNOH was commissioned as ‘a missional order among the poor’ by the Churches of Christ. This came after four years of prayer, refection and experimentation around being an order. The book, Collective Witness, by Ash Barker was written in 1999 to help clarify what UNOH means by being a missional order for this era.

In 2003, UNOH experimented with a common ‘rhythm of life’, which aimed to bring together our passions, resources and neighbourhood transformation focus in a more radical, sustainable and shared way of life. UNOH’s current covenant is in many ways the fruit of this experimentation.
Since 1993, UNOH workers have served in Melbourne. First, Springvale, then Noble Park and now also in Dandenong. This has included serving among Pacific Islanders, East Timorese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Burmese, Indigenous Australians and communities of people with mental illnesses and addictions. Ministries in these communities have focused on neighbourhood transformation, starting new churches, leadership development, community development and evangelising.

In March 2002, UNOH also began serving in the Klong Toey slum community in Bangkok, Thailand. This was pioneered by Ash and Anji Barker in partnership with the Church of Christ in Thailand. Rod Sheard joined them in 2004, and Jody and Chris McCartney soon followed.

In January 2007, UNOH Sydney was started by Jon and Lisa Owen in Bidwell, Mt Druitt. Lisa Paxton, Adam Booth and Kristen have recently joined them.

In 2008, there was a major refocusing of UNOH, with a fresh vision to reach out to the broader Asian-Pacific cities. We are asking God to raise up UNOH workers to live and serve Christ in 30 neighbourhoods for Christ in 10 Asian-Pacific cities by 2015. We would love you to join us as God unfolds his plan for us.
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How do I become a UNOH worker?

As Urban Neighbours Of Hope (UNOH) is a community of Christian workers living and serving Christ among the poor, involvement begins with a discernment process.

We focus this process around a two-day ‘Missio Dei’ discernment retreat that seeks to help you answer:

  • Where have I been?
  • Where am I going?
  • Who can I go with?

Answering these bed-rock questions helps you, and the existing UNOH community, discern :

  • Whether you should apply to join as a UNOH worker
  • Whether you should apply to join UNOH’s volunteer fellowship in your city
  • Whether there is another option that you may not have thought of.

Joining UNOH as a worker means taking on UNOH’s ethos, covenant, practices and policies. A graduated entry is therefore required. After an initial discernment period, a community formation process begins. This is a testing out by lived experience if your calling is compatible with UNOH’s calling as a community. Therefore, after Mission Deo, you apply to do a Sub-merge orientation course for five months and then a five-month apprenticeship in an existing chapter. Having completed this first formation year, you then commit to a two-year novitiate program before full UNOH membership.

To join as a UNOH worker thus includes participation in:

  • Mission Exposure (recommended, but optional) – 10-day live-in experience in a UNOH chapter
  • Missio Deo – a two-day discernment retreat
  • Sub-merge A – first five months community orientation course
  • Interview to become an apprentice
  • Sub-merge B – second five months as an apprentice in a current UNOH chapter
  • Noviciate for two years
  • UNOH membership first for three years. Members can start new UNOH chapters.
  • Sabbatical for three months
  • UNOH membership for six years
  • Sabbatical for three months

Joining as a volunteer is another way to serve the poor for those who are not gifted/called to live in open homes and go through the order’s formation process. This is worked out in different ways with each UNOH chapter.
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What are the characteristics of effective UNOH workers?

While all Christians should serve the poor, we recognise that not every Christian has a full-time vocation to serve the poor with UNOH. What we have consistently found is that there are basic characteristics that UNOH workers need to have before they join us. We interview prospective workers on the basis of these characteristics and evaluate how they have demonstrated these in the past in different settings and contexts. Past behaviour has been the best indicator of future behaviour. These characteristics are:
Growing walk with the Lord

  • Demonstration of devotional disciplines and intimacy with Jesus
  • Ability to hear from God and doing God’s will no matter what the personal cost

Intrinsic motivation

  • Fulfils commitments even if they are difficult or inconvenient
  • Works long and hard without close supervision

Team player

  • Synergises with others in working toward a worthwhile goal
  • Helps others grow and keeping them accountable

Relating with compassion

  • Forms caring and influential relationships with disadvantaged people
  • Shares Christ in word, deed and sign with non-Christians
  • Disciples and empowering others

Identification

  • Comes alongside people and enters their worlds without compromising their integrity and faith in a non-church context
  • Adapts and takes advantage of any sudden, abrupt changes and uncertainty

Resilience

  • Overcomes setbacks
  • Failures are not taken personally
  • Rebounds from disappointments

Faith

  • Has a sense of God’s call to serve among those facing poverty
  • Joining UNOH is a natural progression in their life journey
  • Knows God will provide what is needed to fulfil this call

Dating healthily/healthily married (if applicable)

  • Communication/conflict resolution is healthy and modelled appropriately to others
  • Couple can laugh together and at themselves
  • Relates well with both male and female people on team
  • Relates well with both male and female people in the community
  • Maintains appropriate and healthy physical boundaries
  • Relationship doesn’t interfere with team responsibilities
  • Relationship clarifies individual’s and couple’s commitment to UNOH ethos
  • Open and vulnerable about relationship with team, supervisor, community

Being healthily single (if applicable)

  • Relates well with both male and female people on team
  • Relates well with both male and female people in the community
  • Uses healthy strategies to meet emotional needs
  • Maintains clear and healthy boundaries with other people
  • Develops healthy relationships that do not depend on physical contact
  • Implements healthy responses to irrational thoughts about being single

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Why take community formation seriously? Why invest in building foundations for your life’s vocation?

We have found that Christians need space to have a ‘lived experience’ of UNOH and to decide whether it is compatible with their own calling. If we understand by being committed, then formation is about a graduated and measured commitment and responsibility level. We call this space apprenticeship and novitiate and this whole first three years ‘formation’.

There is also a sense that because UNOH changes shape a little with every new worker that joins, all UNOH workers are always in community formation, at least informally. We need to be diligent in bonding and connecting with the UNOH ethos and workers afresh each year and helping to multiply ourselves.

Christ brought his disciples through an initiation process of ‘calling’, ‘chaos’ and experiences of the ‘Paschal mystery’ before they would have a lasting commission. Their formation was in the midst of Jesus’ ministry of proclaiming and living the Reign of God. More than ever in an individualistic world today, we need this same formation process to join a community so that this sense of belonging is life-giving.

Since cutting our first community covenant together in 1998, and taking formation seriously, only one UNOH member has left the UNOH community (and that person is still serving with a like-minded group). Given the nature of our lifestyle, personalities and context in mission, we feel like this is quite a miracle! Certainly the sense of belonging we so often have has been worth the hard yards in formation.

What we have especially found is that those who want to be formed on the basis of the Gospels and UNOH’s particular charism, need:

  • A free and deliberate choice to pursue UNOH’s way of life
  • A willingness to take primary responsibility for their own formation
  • A willingness to commit to the process of liberation by which, under skilled guides, the person frees himself/herself from constraints of
  • a personal order (sin, pride, ignorance of Christ as the centre of life, ignorance of academic/pastoral skills necessary to be part of Christ’ mission today)
  • a social or cultural order (undue cultural pressures, prejudices)’ 1
  • A demonstration of the ‘common characteristics of effective UNOH workers’ 2
  • A clear formation process based solidly in the Gospels as well as having UNOH’s stories and personnel to guide
  • A graduated entry into membership. To give space to discern whether people are really called, challenged and equipped by God to be a part of UNOH. We have found having an apprenticeship and then novitiate time to be important ’spaces’ for formation

1Gerald Arbuckle, From Chaos to Mission (Homebush, St. Pauls Pub., 1996), p.102
2These include a demonstrated experience of: a growing walk with the Lord, resilience, team-building, compassion, healthy marriage/singleness, able to share Jesus in word, deed and sign.
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How do open homes work?

We have found that open homes helps in providing hospitality, just stewardship and servanthood. The willingness of our members to make homes in poor neighbourhoods and to invite people to come and share our lives and homes has been, for many of us, the most difficult but rewarding quality of our lives together. Since the Gospel can never be privatised, neither can lives that seek to follow the Gospel.

For most Westerners, however, who try to separate sacred and secular, ministry and private life, it takes time to allow Jesus space in our home. Yet the risks and the shifts are worth it. In open homes, Jesus’ priorities are constantly put to us, and not just left to some far off time when we can get around to it. Open homes provide a tangible centre for living out the Gospel with all the problems that authenticity of lifestyle brings.

Indeed, Jesus is encountered among those seeking accommodation, invited to dinner, needing clothes and visits, just as he says he is in Matthew 25:31ff. While we may not always entertain angels unaware, there are always miracles in these connections. One possible miracle possible is that those who stay with us are transformed. Their lives become beacons of hope, not just for themselves but for others also. Another kind of miracle is just as important, however. For it is also miraculous when God transforms us to cope with others not changing. True compassion is ’suffering with’ and such experiences shine a light on the areas we need to grow to be more Christ-like. We can never predict which miracle God will do, but we hope and pray for both.

The following are aspects of open homes that need to be cultivated:

  • A positive neighbourhood presence. The open home should aim to be a beacon of hope in the midst of the neighbourhood so that it becomes known as a home that offers hospitality, servanthood and just stewardship.
  • When a person is in need of accommodation we must first ask, ‘Do we have genuine, Christ-like reasons for this person not to stay with us?’ If Jesus is going to be denied a bed, we had better have a good answer for him. Indeed, we may miss out on a special encounter.
  • Create clear boundaries and expectations. Responsibilities in the home should be clearly stated and fulfilled. Open homes need to be places where people can be safe and not be destroyed. Good routines are important, but we aim to have an open home that is a warm and enjoyable place to live. An open home is not an ‘institution for the homeless’.
  • UNOH workers are primarily responsible for the open home. The home must really be our home. As guests come and go, the UNOH worker must be the stable presence aware of what is required for a positive open home. Primarily, an open home is a place for us to live and offer hospitality and not a place for us to be ‘employed’.
  • Regular house meetings should happen so that all can be heard, affirmed and any problems sorted out before they become big problems.
  • Where possible the open home should connect with the UNOH worker’s focus community.
  • When an open home includes UNOH workers who are single, their gender determines whether that home will be open to accommodating men, or women and/or kids. Couples can accommodate men or women, and also accommodate couples. Each household decides whether they want to focus on a particular group (e.g. asylum seekers, people struggling with mental health issues, or those recovering from drug addiction). While we do not normally foster children or young people from outside our communities, where needed and possible we will house and support children we already have a relationship with. The needs and vulnerabilities of those sharing our homes will often determine who else it is appropriate to bring into the household.
  • The workers in each home also decide their own house rules and expectations, based on certain guidelines. No board is expected from anyone who stays with us for the first week. After this, only enough to cover their costs is expected. This helps to communicate to newcomers that they are sharing our home, conditional on their respect for the guidelines we have established. We do not allow drugs, alcohol, or injecting equipment in any of our homes. Members of the opposite gender may not stay overnight, and should only visit when a second housemate (UNOH worker/volunteer) is home and has agreed.
  • It is the normal expectation that all UNOH workers will willingly share their home with people facing issues of poverty, and that single workers will share their rooms. Exceptions for limited periods of time to protect the health of workers can be negotiated with their chapter.

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What does UNOH mean by poverty?

We read the bible’s understanding of poverty to be more about lack of power than mere cash. Poverty therefore includes destitution, but also includes marginalisation, exploitation and oppression. Therefore when we talk about responding to poverty we are talking about seeking to transform a sense of being marginalised to a sense of belonging; from exploitation to empowerment; from oppression to freedom in Christ to make choices.

We do not find it helpful to compare people’s misery. Saying things like ‘these people are not poor enough to deserve my help’ is not only judgmental, but it undermines the basic command of Jesus to love our neighbours as ourselves. Further, those who we may consider to be undeserving of help have a habit of being Jesus in disguise. Lepers in Jesus day were considered to have deserved their lot because of their choices.

Where UNOH chapters need to make choices about which neighbourhoods to move into, we compare and contrast the following:

  • Are there higher than average numbers of indicators of poverty? These include: unemployment or under-employment; domestic and other violence, drug abuse, illegal activities, disabilities, truancy among school kids, scared elderly, refugees?
  • Are there neighbours we know who are ‘gate-keepers’, willing to invite us in, and help us to orientate, settle and make our contributions in the neighbourhood?
  • Do we have UNOH workers who can connect with these neighbours and have passion/skills for these neighbours and the issues they face?

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When and how does UNOH start new chapters?

When we look at how to best grow and develop UNOH’s ministry we see we have a better chance of doing this organically by focusing primarily on neighbourhood transformation. This is because each unit can reproduce itself. That is, discipling relationships can reproduce discipling relationships, villages centred on Christ can reproduce villages centred on Christ, tribes can reproduce tribes, and UNOH chapters can reproduce UNOH chapters. The challenge then is identify when the right people should go to the right places.

  • The right people are those who have had a lived experience of what they are trying to reproduce.
  • The right places are starting with a neighbourhood that is facing poverty and has an openness to becoming a village centred on Christ
  • The right time is when the ‘right people’ can hand their current ministry over to other ‘right people’ and have some new ‘right people’ lined up to go to the new ‘right place’ that is open to them!

When it comes to new chapters, we have found so far that staggering the deployment of UNOH workers with a smaller number to start and then increasing the numbers is the way to go. This helps chapter leaders become orientated first before having to lead, sets up the basic infrastructure the chapter needs and ensures a whole chapter is not going through culture shock.
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What income do UNOH workers receive?

One of our lifestyle commitments is to share our lives and resources in solidarity with those facing poverty. One of the ways we have sought to do this is to peg our living allowance to an objective marker. We have chosen the Henderson Poverty-line because it is calculated differently according to the size of family and current economic conditions. It is up-dated quarterly by Melbourne University. By voluntary limiting our income we do not really become poor, but we do find some solidarity and sustainability in our lifestyle among the poor.
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Why do UNOH workers live on faith support?

Money has a seductive power that can destroy our vocation in mission. Don’t worry about swearing, for finances are the really destructive ‘F-word’ in our lives. Almost more than any other factor, how we respond to the power of money will determine our longevity in mission or premature withdrawal. Daryl Gardiner used to remind us that ‘Money brings out the worst in us; No-body ever has enough; Some-body else always has more than me!’ To help tackle this influence in our lives and to free us for our Kingdom calling we make a community commitment to ’share our lives and resources in solidarity with those living in poverty’. Part of this commitment is to intentionally raise up a team of people and churches who can stand with us and support us through all the ups and downs in our vocation over the years. Few parts of our ministry are as humbling or as important as our connections with those who know us, trust and believe in us enough to become regular supporters. Here are some reasons why.

A) How was Jesus’ ministry financed?
Luke 8 ‘Not long afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby cities and villages to announce the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, 2 along with some women he had healed and from whom he had cast out evil spirits. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.’
Jesus could have got his needs met in many ways, why did Jesus choose this option of raising his support from people who knew him, trusted him and believed in what he was doing? We argue that a key was to be free to do God’s will and be connected with others on the journey. If Jesus did this why shouldn’t we consider this option above others too?

B) Henri Nouwen on fund-raising
‘Fund-raising is proclaiming what we believe in such a way that we offer other people an opportunity to participate with us in our vision and mission. Fund-raising is precisely the opposite of begging. When we seek to raise funds we are not saying, ‘Please, could you help us out because lately it’s been hard.’ Rather, we are declaring, ‘We have a vision that is amazing and exciting. We are inviting you to invest yourself through the resources that God has given you-your energy, your prayers, and your money-in this work to which God has called us.’ Our invitation is clear and confident because we trust that our vision and mission are like ‘trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither’ (Ps. 1:3).
Henri Nouwen Spirituality of fund-raising
We can have many fears support-raising, but what does Henri Nouwen teach us? This is God’s work and we should not be ashamed to do this to further the Kingdom of God.

C. Golden Assumptions in raising a support team
Those most likely to regularly support us are those who know us, trust us and believe in what we do.

When these people become regular partners with us through prayer and finances it is a sacred gift for us, them and the Kingdom of God.

These two assumptions guide us in how we go about raising faith support. Most of us find that the supporters who go on the journey with us are some the biggest encouragements and joys in our lives. We can’t do this vocation alone and not all are called to move into a neighbourhood facing urban poverty, so this is a win-win for all involved.
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How much flexibility do I have in the common devotionals?

Each year UNOH takes a Gospel as a focus for our common devotional readings. There are passages of Scripture designated for each day that we pray over personally and in our common communion times. There is opportunity to feed back insights into the chapter each week.

We do recognise the following:

  • That each UNOH worker is responsible for finding an approach to their daily devotional life that works for them.
  • That a lack of daily quality space with God affects everyone on team and neighbours, not just the person being slack.
  • That a practice we have stumbled upon, that works for diverse personalities, intentionally creating the space for solitude, scripture and spiritual guides is the ancient art of Lectio Divina or ’sacred reading’. Made known by the Benedictines, the practice uses the process of:
  1. Having a quiet space to centre ourselves, being conscious of God’s loving gaze on us
  2. Reading or lectio – Slowly read the text, repeat words or phrases that speak to your heart
  3. Meditation or meditatio – ‘Mulling over’ a phrase or word to ‘yield its flavour’, asking, ‘What do the words mean for me now?’ or ‘putting ourselves back into the situation’
  4. Prayer or oratio – offering ourselves and the ‘word’ to God, entering into a dialogue with God; identifying responses, What will I change from this experience?
  5. Contemplation or contemplatio – resting silently in the presence of the Lord, communing with the One who inspired the Scriptures.
  • That different personalities will naturally find they concentrate more and less in the different phases of Lectio Divina. The challenge is to recognise our biases and enjoy them, but also to work on our shadow sides when we have good energy for it.
  • That this kind of devotional practice goes against the grain of the instant consuming of most spiritualities today and our ‘monkey mind’ that would want us thinking of anything but God and his word. Learning the art of Lectio Divina therefore requires some consistent work with God and a spiritual director’s help.

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How do mentoring clusters work?

Since discipling is such a focus in UNOH, we seek to be mentors for others and receive mentoring from others. We see that this needs to be in all directions to be healthy and sustainable. That is, we need mentors who are:

  • Mentors supervising us
  • Peer mentors inside UNOH
  • Peer mentors outside of UNOH
  • People we are mentoring

The following should be noted about mentors and mentoring:

  • No single mentor can provide everything, so having each of these mentoring relationships provides different perspectives.
  • To not have one of the four mentoring directions would, in the long term, be unhealthy for the individual.
  • Mentors can be identified with the help of experienced UNOH workers.
  • Once established, these mentoring relationships need to be nurtured and negotiated over time.
  • While mentors can provide perspective, good mentors ask probing questions and push the mentoree to make decisions prayerfully for themselves and where appropriate with those who are affected by the decisions.
  • Mentoring is different from organisational authority and responsibilities. Just because a mentor thinks you should do something, doesn’t mean those responsible for that area agree. You do have the power to raise issues with the people responsible, but you do not necessarily have the authority to make the decision.

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What makes an order different from other organisations?

In general there are two kinds of church structures:

  • local churches
  • specialist structures.

We contend that there have emerged at least three different kinds of specialist structures:

  • para-church organisations
  • mission agencies
  • orders.

All these Christian groups are important for extending the kingdom and all are part of the church.

Apostolic orders
Apostolic orders like ours fulfill all parts of our ‘apostolic order’ definition. An order for this generation is a ’specialist community – connected to the broader body of Christ – that finds a common way of living out the gospel by nurturing, embodying and evoking a common charism’.

Local churches
Local churches are Christian communities without ’specialisation. They may have a focus, but they are inclusive for any Christian person who wants to join or any person wanting to become a Christian. For a local church to deny someone access to their community because they don’t want to reach ‘that’ kind of person would be absurd.
Orders, however, are specialist communities with a particular charism. The order must seriously discern whether a person has the giftedness to go through the formation process and join the order. While all Christians are called to belong to a local Christian community, not all Christians are gifted to belong to an order.

Para-churches
Para-churches are specialist organisations without ‘connection’ to the broader formal church structures. While part of the broader body of Christ, these independent ministries are sometimes called para-church agencies. Since para means ‘alongside’ they should more accurately be called ‘para-local church’ organisations. They are specialist ministries and missions that are not part of broader, formal church structures. While independent, this does not mean that they are outside the church universal. Rather they are that part of the church that does a specialised work alongside local churches. All kinds of outreach, welfare, consulting, training and educational organisations would fit into the para-local-church model.

Orders are different from para-churches in that they are connected in specific ways to the broader Body of Christ. Their specialisation is mandated by a broader local churches’ group or organisation to which they are accountable. The local churches that missional orders start and support can also be part of the same broader local church movement. There can be a symbiotic relationship between the order and the broader church movement in that there is a mutual sharing of expertise, resources and personnel.

Mission agencies
Mission agencies are specialist church agencies without a ‘common way to live out the gospel’. Denominational mission agencies and societies can sometimes look like orders. Indeed, while some would not consider themselves orders they would fit the definition. What makes a denominational missional agency different to a missional order is what their workers have in common. Do they have a ‘common way of living the gospel that nurtures, embodies and evokes a common charism’? Mission agencies do not have mandatory commitments to community building among their workers. Agencies facilitate the specialised ministry of their workers on behalf of the broader church. Agency workers are staff, more than members who have been through a formation process and belong to a community with a particular charism.

Missional orders are different from mission agencies in that they have a common way of life. They seek to be a collective witness according to the community’s founding charism. Therefore, members are not ‘hired’, but join a community through an invitation to be apprenticed through a formation process. This personal investment is honoured by way of a common covenant and/or common commitments that relate to all members of the missional order.
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Are orders legalistic?

By naming common commitments it is often assumed that orders are legalistic. It is often asked of us, ‘Where is the grace’? By definition, as a specialist community, a missional order does need greater focus than a more generalist community. Lifestyle disciplines then become ‘means of grace’ for the community in living its charism. They become common practices that help to provide several things:

  • Benchmarks of expectations - Communities need to name their expectations. If a sense of community is a by-product of common commitments, then it would seem important to name exactly what those commitments are. Specific lifestyle commitments then free members from guessing whether they are ‘in’ or ‘out’ since the commitments are clear and up-front. The outworking of these expectations do change as contexts change, but there is a reference point. It is in doing these practices together with others – rather than being based on ideology or personality – that security and belonging are provided for the community member. Of course there are times when members are unable to fulfill the agreed commitments in action or spirit. This does not mean the commitments were wrong to make, but it does provide a barometer of belonging. The commitments were freely made because they were agreed as the bare minimum of requirements if the poor and lost were to be reached in a long-term way. What has changed? Having stated agreements helps to name when we are not being faithful to what God has called us to be, rather than letting us drift into deceiving ourselves in the dark times of life. This then provides some objective measurements of where we are at spiritually and with the rest of the community. This helps to name the grace we need to seek if we are to be faithful to what we believe God is calling us to be. Grace is not a cover-all for our wrong-doings, but a gift to be the person or community God has called us to be.
  • Commitment mechanisms – For an apostolic community to make a difference over a long period of time it has to be worth the personal investment of its members. A loose network without common expectations or protection of members cannot provide this. Indeed, those who invest the most are often those who have the least say in loose networks. Orders, in contrast, provide encouragement to people to invest in a community by having clear boundaries and power based on personal investment, not personality. This happens through graduated entry processes so that personal investment can be measured along the way and celebrated with greater expectations and responsibilities.
  • Benchmarks for ’sodalities’ - Unlike local churches, apostolic communities have a specialisation. Orders provide benchmarks (their Rule of Life) to support this specialisation. Without such benchmarks, communities can quickly lose their reason for being and drift to become softer and less focused.
  • Public trust from public vows - In days of public trust being at an all-time low, orders provide the public naming of what they do and why. They also have accountability and a mandate beyond themselves. They are not self-validating organisations, but part of the life of a broader community, recognised and commissioned for a purpose they are held accountable to fulfil.

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Aren’t missional orders elitist?

We are often asked: ‘We want to be more inclusive, why develop orders when they are exclusive?’ Orders are not exclusive in the sense that they actually help provide access to the broader church movement, especially for the poor. It is a myth to say that without such specialisation of groups like orders, the poor will find their way into predominantly middle-class churches. Orders help the church go to the poor. Specialisation helps inclusion by naming what community they are trying to reach and how they connect with the broader church in reaching others.

To say one community is reaching everyone is naive. This is especially true in a postmodern world where even neighbours often cannot speak the same language or understand each other’s frame of reference. Different tribes require different approaches and ethos to be reached. One community cannot do this for everyone no matter how well meaning they might be. Orders name who they are trying to reach and can therefore focus on this without guilt or fear, and do this as part of a wider church trying to reach other groups.

Orders are specialist communities and are therefore focused, needing people compatible with the focus of the order. Since orders are part of the broader church movement with a special role to play, only those called and gifted by God for that focus would want to be part of it. Just because people do not have a particular gift mix compatible with one community does not make them inferior. Rather, they have gifts that need a different community to bring these gifts out. Individuals and communities have limitations and need others if all peoples are to be reached.

The gifts of the Spirit are not just for individuals, but for communities. Not everyone is called to be an elder of a church, likewise not everyone is called to join a particular order. Not everyone is called to the same vocation and expressions of their discipleship. Orders have a particular charism and way of living the gospel that is not for everyone. However, by each person finding a way to live out the gifts God has given them, the whole Church and broader society benefits. Orders help broaden the menu for this living out of gifts.

Saying people cannot join together to live out a collective charism is limiting in the extreme. Selectivity is not the same as elitism as Jesus demonstrated by choosing 12 to be apostles. If the lost and poor are to be reached there is the need for highly focused and committed groups. Generalists will not be enough. We believe highly focused groups are what it takes to reach the many millions of tribes today. By banning such focused communities, the poor and lost would be left out, not included.

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What does UNOH think about marriage and celibacy?

Many people’s images of orders are of the recent institutional orders. These orders are mostly celibate. However, we believe the current era needs to model itself primarily on the early apostolic community. Many of these were married. We know that Peter was married, for example, for Jesus healed his mother-in-law. We also recognise that the founders of UNOH are married. Orders do take their focus from their founding and therefore if God raised us up and he chose a married couple, then who are we to argue? What is required today is identification and modelling within a host community. Therefore, single people, married people and families all have a role to play because communities need modeling as well as advice.

To be a part of the UNOH order and be married requires both partners to be with UNOH. This is because UNOH is a way of life and not just a job. If one partner makes vows to live a certain way and the other doesn’t, it soon becomes unfair to both, especially when we are talking about ‘open homes’. The last thing we want is for spouses to resent each other (or UNOH leaders) because of commitments they have or haven’t made!

Dating, therefore, in UNOH is not as straightforward as in regular life. What we ask is that if a single person is interested in a particular person, they talk with a UNOH mentor before pursuing the relationship. This is because we believe the decision about who to marry is the second biggest decision in a person’s life (after committing to Christ) and that such decisions affect the whole UNOH community. Good mentors will help singles ask questions about compatibility in vocation, help in discerning, before a single gives their hearts away and finds it almost impossible to make an objective decision. UNOH does respect the decisions singles make in regard to relationships, but we do like to ensure all parties know the consequences of their relational decisions before entering into them. Staying open with the UNOH community then, gives individuals every chance to make good relationship decisions.

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What are some good foundational readings for UNOH workers?

We know some people are stimulated to better love God and their neighbours through reading. We offer the following books as recommendations for these people:

UNOH Books
Ash Barker, Making Connections
Ash Barker, Collective Witness: A theology and praxis for a missionary order
Ash Barker and John Hayes, Sub-merge: Living deep in a shallow world
Ash Barker, Finding Life: Reflections from a Bangkok slum
Ash Barker, Surrender All: A call to sub-merge with Christ
Ash Barker, Make Poverty Personal: The bibles call to end oppression

Spirituality
Mick Duncan, Who Stand Fast?
Mick Duncan, Wild Ones
Jon Sobrino, A Spirituality of Liberation
Mary Nolan, Temperament and Prayer
Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out

Mission
E Stanley Jones, Christ of the Indian Road
John Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World
Raymond Floyd, The Isaiah Agenda
Scott Morton, Funding your Ministry

Christian Community Development
Dave Andrews, Can You Hear the Heartbeat?
Mick Duncan, Costly Mission
Nial O’Brian, Revolution from the Heart

Community Building
Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
Loughlan Sofield, Rosine Hammet and Carroll Juliano, Christian Community Building: Christian, caring, vital
John Vanier, Community and Growth

Personal Development and Leadership
Steven Covey, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Robert Bolton, People Skills
Robert Clinton, The Making of a Leader

Personality Profiles
Myers Briggs Type Inventory or Life Types
Designer-Developer-Stabiliser spectrum
DISC
Don Riso and Richard Hudson, The Wisdom of the Enneagram

Gospels
Ched Myers, Binding the Strongman
Athol Gill, Life on the Road

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