Simple Harmony. Larry Duggins

      Missional Wisdom Library

      Resources for Christian Community

      The Missional Wisdom Foundation experiments with and teaches about alternative forms of Christian community. The definition of what constitutes a Christian community is shifting as many seek spiritual growth outside of the traditional confines of church. Christians are experimenting with forming communities around gardens, recreational activities, coworking spaces, and hundreds of other focal points, connecting with their neighbors while being aware of the presence of God in their midst. The Missional Wisdom Library series includes resources that address these kinds of communities and their cultural, theological, and organizational implications.

      Series Editor: Larry Duggins

      vol. 1: Missional. Monastic. Mainline.: A Guide to Starting Missional Micro-Communities in Historically Mainline Traditions by Elaine A. Heath and Larry Duggins

      vol. 3: Together: Community as a Means of Grace by Larry Duggins

      vol. 4: What Kind of God? Reading the Bible with a Missional Church by Bret Wells

      vol. 5: Credulous: A Journey through Life, Faith, and the Bulletin by Andrea Lingle

      forthcoming titles:

      The Julian Way: Towards a Theology of Fulness for All of God’s People, by Justin Hancock

      Virtuous Friendship: The New Testament, Grego-Roman Friendship Language, and Contemporary Community, by Douglas A. Hume

      Acknowledgments

      I am grateful to many people who have helped me think through the Simple Harmony model and everything that sits behind it:

      the pastors and staff of White’s Chapel UMC;

      my friend and mentor Dr. Elaine Heath;

      my seminary friends who have been and continue to be my community—Blair, Vance, Shellie, Amy, Mary Beth, Brittany, Autumn, and many, many others;

      the 2011–12 class of the Academy for Missional Wisdom, who worked through an early draft of this book and made many wise observations;

      and especially my family—Jay, Katie, Travis, Chris, and now Alex.

      I am blessed by you all!

      Larry Duggins

      Southlake, Texas

      2012

      Foreword

      We were sitting in the airport in Dallas, waiting to board the plane for our inaugural Perkins School of Theology international immersion class in Celtic Christian spiritual traditions. The group buzzed with excitement as we chatted about going to the ancient monastic sites of Iona, Lindisfarne, and the new monastic Northumbria Community. The trip would be a pilgrimage, I reminded them. Journaling, a daily office, and other formational experiences would be at the center of our journey together. Upon our return to the U.S. they would write academic papers in which they would reflect upon some aspect of Celtic spirituality that could enliven contemporary practices of worship or evangelism in their own churches.

      Looking around at the dozen or so students, I recognized all but one—a fifty-something, white-haired man whose theological education, I surmised, was probably not in readiness for his first career. I introduced myself, asking what he hoped to do upon graduation. Larry said he wanted to develop young adult ministries in nontraditional spaces, especially to provide community, mission, and worship opportunities for people who don’t fit well in established churches.

Having just written two books on emerging and new monastic forms of ministry,1 and having begun two experimental new monastic, missional communities just a year earlier,2 I snapped to attention. We talked on, our voices growing increasingly animated as we shared ideas, dreams, and current situations. Little did we know that this conversation would spark the beginning of a shared pilgrimage that would go far beyond that initial journey to Iona.

      Over the next few days while we worshipped, lived, and learned in the “thin space” of Celtic monastic communities, God clarified Larry’s call to the work of what has now become the Missional Wisdom Foundation. Once a brilliant entrepreneur in the world of finance and business, Larry is now an elder in the United Methodist Church and has become a beloved mentor to many who are learning to serve in missional, spiritually disciplined leadership roles in the church. Today Larry is the director of the Missional Wisdom Foundation and codirector of the Epworth Project, a network of new monastic houses in the Dallas–Ft. Worth metroplex. He also teaches in the Academy for Missional Wisdom, a training program that equips people to start and lead missional micro-communities. The fruitfulness of Larry’s life is a result of his own practice of what he thinks of as “simple harmony.”

      Simple Harmony is the first of what I expect will be many books written by my friend and colleague Larry Duggins. This little volume captures so beautifully the ancient rhythms of “filling up and pouring out,” or the balance between contemplation and action. Using the Celtic cross as a visual aid, Larry describes the four quadrants of the balanced life, and the unity of a life lived in harmony with the triune God. The way of life described in this book is one that is deeply evangelistic, for it is a life