• Ward Davis

     

     

    Helping to Build Resilient Faith-Communities that Can Weather the Years Ahead

    And Turn the Cultural Tide.

  • Why I Wrote Building the Benedict Option

  • What They Are Saying..

     

    Who would have guessed our model of doing life together as the Church entering the 21st century would be found in the ancient Irish Monastic settlements of the seventh century? With a clear eye toward the ancient past, Ward Davis paints a vivid picture of what Christian community might look like in the future as we face an increasingly secular culture. In doing so, Ward takes us on a wild journey that includes both church and commercial building architectural design, neighborhood and urban planning, even new ways of parking our cars and planting our trees, all for the purpose of giving us a new vision of physical hospitality fit for an engaged Church.

     

    -David Horn, Director of the Ockenga Institute, Gordon Conwell Seminary

     

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    Building the Benedict Option: Architecture, Urban Planning, and Placemaking in a Post-Christian Culture

    In his book, The Benedict Option, Rod Dreher issued a timely warning to the church. In an attempt to engage the broader culture with the Gospel it had failed to create a distinct Christian culture and instead been coopted by American consumer culture. The result was an anemic church ill-prepared to face a quickly darkening cultural landscape and civilizational decline. In response, Dreher argued, it was time for the church to develop new ways of “doing” church. It was time to create new institutions and strategies to help it better form disciples, minister to the broader culture, and survive the years ahead. It was time for a “Benedict Option.” This is my attempt to provide the leaders in a local church a blueprint for developing their own Benedict Option community.

     

    Building the Benedict Option focuses on the early Irish Monastic movement's strategy of building "monastic towns" that helped urbanize a rural Ireland, and re-civilize and evangelize a Roman Empire (in the West) that was devolving into barbarism. In the process it provides an introduction to Architecture, Urban Planning, placemaking, and real estate development, and explains why these disciplines are necessary for creating a healthy, effective faith community today.

     

    A strategy for the Chuch in dark times.

     

     

  • Various and Sundry

    BenOp Communities, the Built Environment, Re-enchantment, Church Leadership, Catechesis, Wholistic Ministry, etc.

    June 1, 2024 · Benedict Option,Cultural Change,The Built Environment
      Today I wanted to discuss the importance of networks for cultural change, the rise of BenOp...
    May 1, 2024 · Organizational Development,Church Leadership
    In 1997 I graduated from Gordon-Conwell Seminary with an MDiv., thrilled to be going back to my...
    March 1, 2024 · Re-enchantment,Cultural Change
    A number of years ago, I officiated at a friend's wedding. At the dinner afterwards, I sat across...
    January 1, 2024 · Karl Barth,Re-enchantment,Spiritual Awakenings
      Poltergeists, and Folk Magic In 1838, 33 year old Johann Christoph Blumhardt and his young...
  • Ward Davis

    Ward has served in a variety of pastoral positions over the years, as well as working as a management analyst for Fairfax County, Virginia. In addition, he's also served as a researcher in the area of nonprofit management at the Hudson Institute and Clemson University’s Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life. He has also served as a consultant with various churches over the years.

     

    Ward has an MDiv. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a certificate in Non-profit Management from Georgetown University, and a certificate in Project Management from Villanova University. He is currently working on a DMin. degree through Gordon-Conwell with a focus on Architecture, Urban Planning and Placemaking.

     

    While at the Hudson Institute, Ward helped establish the Faith and Service Technical Education Network (FASTEN), a $6 million dollar Pew-funded initiative in collaboration with Harvard, Baylor and the National Crime Prevention Council. He also participated in a $2 million dollar Kellogg-funded study of earned-income ventures among faith-based nonprofits and conducted research on the Hispanic church nationwide.

     

    He can be reached at: edwarddavis68@gmail.com