Lutheran

“In my Lutheran tradition, living single in order to do mission work and be a part of a brotherhood is not unheard of, but neither is it common. The apostle Paul himself rejoiced in a call to live single and encouraged all to seriously consider it. But I could not do this without brothers alongside me encouraging me and being encouraged to respond to the call of the Gospel and make a difference for others. That is both the joy, but also the challenge of this way of life.”

Protestant

“Living as a brother in an ecumenical brotherhood for me means living with and serving alongside brothers who are from other church traditions and who share common core values despite some doctrinal differences that exist. In unity, we focus on what we share in common knowing at the same time that we can trust each brother despite those differences. What we hold in common far outweighs the things upon which we do not agree. This is what allows us to live in unity and it is one of the main blessings of our life together.”

Non-denominational

“As a non-denominational Christian, living in an ecumenical brotherhood opens up opportunities to learn from some of the historic Christian traditions. By experiencing the treasures which brothers share from their churches, and by learning from those who shaped those traditions, my own knowledge of God and relationship with him is more firmly rooted in what he has done throughout salvation history. Sometimes I feel misunderstood when people think that “non-denominational” is yet another denominational label and expect me to think as if belonging to a single historic denomination.”

Melkite Greek Catholic

“Living as a brother in an ecumenical brotherhood means that I am daily living and contributing to the call for Christian unity. The joys are that I get to learn more about my brothers’ different church traditions, and experience and live out what other traditions do in certain special seasons. As a Melkite Greek Catholic, the challenges are being able to fit all my church services schedule in special seasons with our household schedule, but my brothers have been kind enough to try and make most of them work. It can also be hard for me to find a local parish of my own church tradition if I am living outside of Lebanon.”

Roman Catholic

“I have had the privilege to witness frontline dialogues between Christians from different traditions; as of late between Anglicans and Catholics in Latin America. Our household has hosted Lord’s Day dinners with representatives from various churches. To our surprise and delight, we were asked to act as mediators between these churches to achieve greater unity. Though this has filled my heart with joy, I still experience the challenge to advocate in favor of Christian unity in some of my Catholic circles. Therefore, we pray daily that we may be one so that the world might believe.”