Shane Claiborne Models The Simple Way in Philadelphia

Shane Claiborne Models The Simple Way in Inner-City Philadelphia

By Troy Anderson | February 17, 2011 at 5:14 pm

Photo from thesimpleway.org

As co-founder of The Simple Way – a “new monastic” community in inner-city Philadelphia – Shane Claiborne, 35, has become something of a revolutionary role model for young and old believers disillusioned with today’s materialistic, “pop Christianity.”

“There is an inertia right now toward the margins and the pain of the world,” said Claiborne, the bestselling author of The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical and other books. “I see that in the older and younger generations – this sense that our faith in the God of heaven has to affect the way we live in this world. That is a very different faith than one where your faith is just a ticket to heaven. Everybody from (Los Angeles’ Union Rescue Mission President) Andy Bales (@abales) to a new crop of evangelicals are all signs of that inertia to move close to the pain of the world rather than further from it.”

A prominent activist and sought-after-speaker, Claiborne has helped inspire the creation of dozens of “intentional communities” throughout the nation.

The idea to form The Simple Way grew out of a protest Claiborne and other Eastern University students held in 1995 when they fought the eviction of homeless women and children from an abandoned Kensington neighborhood church.

“We ended up mobilizing a real movement on our campus to come alongside those families and resist that eviction with them,” Claiborne said. “Even the president at the time donated the beds from her house. We had faculty, staff and nearly a tenth of the campus involved in that struggle. That was a real catalytic event for us. When we talk about the birth of The Simple Way, it really came out of that.”

Founded in 1998, The Simple Way’s “web of subversive friends” now live in a half dozen houses on Potter Street, share economic resources, help the needy, provide hospitality to strangers and lead disciplined, contemplative lives. Community members gather daily for prayer, invites friends and neighbors to their Friday night family dinners and publish Conspire magazine. They are also in partnership with the Timoteo Football League, a flag football league and mentoring program for inner-city youth.

“We are still doing the same things as 10 years ago as far as welcoming kids who are homeless, having snowball fights and sharing food with people who are hungry,” said Claiborne.

Claiborne, who worked in India alongside Mother Teresa and spent time in Iraq with the Christian Peacemaker Teams during the “shock and awe” campaign in Iraq, also entertains youth with the fire-breathing, stilt-walking and other skills he learned as a circus performer in high school with Barnum & Bailey.