Ecumenical Order of Charity | For the Sake of the Kindgom

We are grateful you are here! No matter what path led you here, welcome.

We are a Christian religious order, intentionally unaffiliated with any individual denomination. By remaining unaffiliated, we commit ourselves to the broad spectrum of Christianity, in all its interpretations. We welcome Christians of all denominations, or none, who wish to journey together the Way of the Christ.

Through living out the principles embodied in our rule of life, The Founding Document, and through the profession of our five unique vows, we dedicate ourselves to be more faithful to God’s presence and welcome in today’s world. We commit to loving as Jesus loved – without conditions, without question, without judgment, and without restriction.

We invite you to explore our website and get to know us a bit. Perhaps consider if we might be the community for which you’ve been searching.

A Gift of Self

by Brother Charles | February 26, 2024 | Community, Home Page | 2 Comments

Some years ago, I was dashing through the halls of St. John's School. I was so focused on my next thing that I failed to recognize the children in the hallways. I know that this must seem difficult to do, but somehow, I managed. Before I knew it, I had gone past...

George MacDonald’s Vision

by Brother Andrew Aelred | October 1, 2023 | Community, Home Page | 2 Comments

Chapter 11 We are now venturing into the next phase of exploring community. The first ten chapters of our journey were exploring the call to community, but now we must delve into the formation of community, the honing of what exactly Christian community aspires to be...

Chapter 8: A visible reality.

by Jesse Stinnett | September 11, 2023 | Community, Home Page | 2 Comments

This chapter starts out strong, bringing our intention to Christ's humanity, in which we are called to his example, but also the example of those who originally followed him. We see throughout Acts the life the apostles lived with one another; as the book points out,...

Chapter Six: Pentacost

by Brother Guadalupe | August 27, 2023 | Community, Home Page | 5 Comments

This chapter is drawn from the book, ¨The Community of the Spirit¨ by C. Norman Kraus. He was an observant lifelong Mennonite who served as a missionary, an author, a pastor, and a professor emeritus of Goshen College Indiana. He passed in 2018, and his books cover...

Chapter 5: Brothers, Sisters

by Brother George | August 24, 2023 | Community, Home Page | 2 Comments

This was both an interesting chapter and at times difficult. There were points in reading it I felt real anger which I will address below. The chapter juxtaposes two metaphors commonly used in the New Testament to describe the Church. The first is that used by St Paul...

Chapter 4 “Embodiment”

by Sister Kristine Nahara | August 14, 2023 | Community, Home Page | 4 Comments

Chapter 4 is written by Gerhard Lohfink who is a German Catholic priest and theologian. Lohfink was born in 1934. He has written numerous books in both German and English. What does it mean to be the Body of Christ in the modern world? After all, unlike the past,...

Dostoyevsky’s Razor

by Brother Andrew Aelred | August 13, 2023 | Community, Home Page | 1 Comment

Based on Chapter One: The Great Idea by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in Called to Community It comes as a surprise that a book on community begins with Dostoyevsky. Known for his neurotic, pathological characters set in some of the bleakest conditions, Dostoyevsky would seem...

Chapter 3: Getting Back to the Basics

by Brother Jeremiah | August 13, 2023 | Community, Home Page | 1 Comment

Chapter 3 reminds me of words found in Acts 4:32-35: “The community of believers was of ONE heart and mind and NO ONE claimed that any of his / hers possessions was their own, but they held EVERYTHING in common. With GREAT POWER the apostles bore witness to the...

Chapter 3: Cheap Grace, Cheap Community

by Brother Aidan Daniel | August 9, 2023 | Community, Home Page | 5 Comments

When I read Chapter 3, I started thinking about Dietrich Bonhoffer’s concept of “cheap grace.” From my perspective, cheap grace is essentially exactly how it sounds; it is grace that is cheap. It is cheap in the way that it does not cost people anything. I see it as...

Chapter 2: Called to Community

by Brother Aidan Daniel | August 2, 2023 | Community, Home Page | 7 Comments

I could not help but be aware of last week’s General Assembly when considering the title of this chapter, “Beloved Community,” and much of what Jones said about the church community in this chapter, I had seen and experienced in the past week during our time together...