“The Rule of Life is about sharing God’s life in everything we do. Individually and together, we are committing to loving, living and serving people in every aspect of our way of life.”
The Right Reverend Tim Dakin, the Bishop of Winchester, has invited people across the Diocese of Winchester to write and follow a Rule of Life. He is asking all Christians in the Diocese to join the community of people who have embraced the principles of a Rule of Life and are using it to shape their daily lives.
To help individuals discern how a Rule of Life can be put into action in their own lives, the Diocese is announcing a series of workshops during Advent at Wolvesey and around the Diocese during Lent.
A Rule of Life is a series of personal commitments we choose to make that direct the way we live our daily lives. It is a flexible framework which individuals can use to shape the guiding principles by which they intend to live, helping them to grow more like Christ. It offers a practical way of responding to the love of God by committing ourselves to a number of specific actions that will help us grow in our love of God, love of one another and of God’s world.
Calling people to create and follow their own versions of the Rule of Life, Bishop Tim said: “The Rule of Life is about sharing God’s life in everything we do. Individually and together, we are committing to loving, living and serving people in every aspect of our way of life.”
A version of the Benedictine way has shaped Christianity in Winchester Diocese since the 7th Century. This heritage is the inspiration for the Diocesan Rule of Life. It is designed to be used by everyone who wants to grow in faith through Christian practices which go back hundreds of years and are grounded in the teachings of Christ himself.
What is a Rule of Life?
The Winchester Rule of Life is founded upon three values of loving, living and serving. Every member of the community is asked to make their own response to this three-fold invitation to share God’s life, to be reviewed regularly with another disciple, and to be renewed annually.
Bishop Tim said: “I’ve been really encouraged by the response we’ve had to the Rule of Life as it’s a way of putting our relationship with God into practice, by sharing His life in every area of our own. It isn’t about ‘keeping the rules’, it is about discovering how we can grow as Christ’s disciples in the rhythms and relationships that make up our everyday lives.
“I have been praying about my own Rule of Life, and the commitments I have made will shape the way I approach my work and home life every day. I invite everyone to come along to one of the workshops to find out how their own rule of life could help them receive the Holy Spirit and revitalise their relationship with God.”
