The scriptorium is the place where learning is passed on. Traditionally, within a monastery, this is a library collection, with desks for study (and at one time, for copying manuscripts). But in fact the principle applies to a wider sense of passing on knowledge and skills, within and for the wider community. It may be possible to establish links with local schools: senior citizens going into classes or assemblies to share stories of how the community was when they were young, and has changed since; or to hear children read; or setting up a homework club; or coaching a sporting activity. It may be more appropriate to offer some form of adult education, passing-on skills in computing, or cookery, or gardening, or parenting. Or to take a role in informing the wider community about justice issues, such as human trafficking. The scriptorium is a ‘space’ or activity belonging to the missional community as a whole, not the pet project of an individual. Given other demands on people’s lives – and of course the need to keep the different sacred spaces in balance – a ‘scriptorium’ should be chosen which is not overly ambitious, not unsustainable (and here I would include the observation that there should be one scriptorium, not several). But to lack any scriptorium is to be both inward-looking and short-sighted.
What experiences do you have of the scriptorium within missional community?
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