The Rule of the Iona Community
Our five-fold Rule calls us to:
1. Daily Prayer and Bible-reading
2. Sharing and accounting for the use of our money
3. Planning and accounting for the use of our time
4. Action for Justice and Peace in society
5. Meeting with and accounting to each other.
1. Daily Prayer And Bible Reading We are asked to pray for each other, for our common concerns, and for the wider work of the church, on a daily basis. We are also asked to read the Bible on a regular and frequent basis. Together with prayer requests and topics in the Members booklet, the use is commended of This is The Day, Gathered and Scattered or Growing Hope (collections of daily readings and meditations from the Iona Community, available from Wild Goose Publications).
2. Sharing and Accounting For The Use Of Our Money
a. We are asked, first, to account to each other for the use of our income.
b. We are then asked, in Family Groups, to agree our individual baseline commitments and special circumstances and expenses: thus arriving at a personal disposable income figure from which the amount to be given (a tithe - 10% in most cases) can be deducted.
c. The amount to be given should be divided up as follows:
i. To the wider work of the Church, and to bodies concerned with promoting justice and peace, world development, etc - 60%
ii. to the work of the Iona Community - 20%
iii. to purposes decided by the Family Group - 10%
iv. to purposes decided by the Common Fund Trustees on behalf of the Community - 5%
v. to the Travel Pool - 5%
The accounting year for each of these amounts is from 1st April to 31st March.
3. Planning and Accounting For The Use Of Our Time
This discipline seems to have its origins in the early days of the Community, when craftsmen doubted the ability of ministers to work an eight-hour 'shift'! Through it, we are all asked to plan our time, in such a way that proper 'weighting' is given, not simply to work, but equally to leisure, to time for family, to developing skills or acquiring new ones, to worship and devotion, to voluntary work - and to sleep!
4. Action for Justice And Peace In Society
Our act of commitment on justice and peace is, as was also said of the earlier Act of Commitment on Peace, 'a point of departure'. It will remain no more than a pious hope (and a false witness) unless we seek, separately and together, to put it into practice.
Justice and Peace Commitment
We believe:
1. that the Gospel commands us to seek peace founded on justice and that costly reconciliation is at the heart of the Gospel;
2. that work for justice, peace and an equitable society is a matter of extreme urgency;
3. that God has given us partnership as stewards of creation and that we have a responsibility to live in a right relationship with the whole of God's creation;
4. that, handled with integrity, creation can provide for the needs of all, but not for the greed which leads to injustice and inequality, and endangers life on earth;
5. that everyone should have the quality and dignity of a full life that requires adequate physical, social and political opportunity, without the oppression of poverty, injustice and fear;
6. that social and political action leading to justice for all people and encouraged by prayer and discussion, is a vital work of the Church at all levels;
7. that the use or threatened use of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction is theologically and morally indefensible and that opposition to their existence is an imperative of the Christian faith.
As Members and Family Groups we will:
8. engage in forms of political witness and action, prayerfully and thoughtfully, to promote just and peaceful social, political and economic structures;
9. work for a British policy of renunciation of all weapons of mass destruction and for the encouragement of other nations, individually or collectively, to do the same;
10. celebrate human diversity and actively work to combat discrimination on grounds of age, colour, disability, mental wellbeing, differing ability, gender, colour, race, ethnic and cultural background, sexual orientation or religion;
11. work for the establishment of the United Nations Organisation as the principal organ of international reconciliation and security, in place of military alliances;
12. support and promote research and education into non-violent ways of achieving justice, peace and a sustainable global society;
13. work for reconciliation within and among nations by international sharing and exchange of experience and people, with particular concern for politically and economically oppressed nations.
5. Meeting with and Accounting to Each Other
We are asked to do this
a) In Family Groups
b) In Plenaries
We are also asked to give a written undertaking at the beginning of May each year (through the 'With-us' card) that we are 'with the Community' in commitment to the Rule. One reminder is sent by the Family Group to anyone not returning the 'With-us' card by 9th May. If no reply is received by the time of the AGM, the Member will be deemed to have conveyed his or her intention of resigning from Membership.
