This article has been shaped by the church I served as lead pastor for 40 years – Resurrection Church, which became a hub of discipleship and revival driven by a robust corporate prayer ministry.

Urban Monasticism offers a prophetic alternative to the shallow, consumer-driven Christianity that has taken root in much of the Western Church. In an age of spiritual apathy, noise, and fragmentation, this movement calls us back to the radical heart of the gospel through prayer, simplicity, and solidarity with the poor — right in the heart of our cities.

This is not a withdrawal from the world but an intentional immersion into it. Urban monastics live among the broken, pray in the middle of chaos, and seek God in the very places others avoid. They embrace the ancient disciplines of the early Church — fixed-hour prayer, shared life, sacrificial generosity — and adapt them to modern urban contexts. Local churches today are being invited to recover this monastic DNA, not by becoming cloistered, but by becoming spiritually rooted and publicly present.

Below are 10 ways local churches can embody the Urban Monastic Movement in their own cities:

Cultivate a House of Prayer for All Nations

At the heart of monastic renewal is a return to the house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7; Mark 11:17). Jesus reclaims the temple for its original purpose — intercession for the nations. Every local church can build a culture of prayer, not just through a designated room, but through morning watch gatherings, prayer chains, and intercession for global and local issues. The Moravian prayer movement in Herrnhut, Germany — spanning 100 years — was the launchpad for missions. Today’s urban monasteries must birth revival the same way: on their knees.

Practice Intentional Community and Shared Life

Monasticism begins where Sunday service ends: in shared meals, discipleship, and mutual care. The early Church in Acts 2 was marked by daily fellowship, not weekly attendance. Urban monastic churches foster small households or intentional small groups where believers walk in deep accountability, confession, encouragement, and formation.

Share Resources Voluntarily, Not Mandated

Unlike socialism’s coercive redistribution, the early Church modeled Spirit-led generosity (Acts 4:32). Urban monastic communities freely give and share — housing, food, time, and skills — not as a mandate but as a manifestation of Kingdom love. Churches should encourage economic solidarity, where resources flow to meet needs out of compassion, not compulsion.

Build Rhythms of Corporate and Personal Spirituality

The strength of a monastic church lies in its dual rhythm: personal devotion and corporate worship. Urban life fragments people into isolated consumers; monastic rhythms form them into integrated disciples. A healthy church teaches both solitude and community, fasting and feasting, personal holiness, and public justice.

Recover the Daily Office of Prayer and Scripture

Ancient monastic communities thrived on the discipline of fixed-hour prayer. Morning, noon, and evening, they turned their hearts to God. Urban churches can reclaim this by publishing simple prayer guides, using common liturgies, or syncing calendars for shared reflection. Imagine a congregation that prays in unity at set hours, sanctifying the city’s rhythms with sacred presence.

Call the Church to Extended Prayer and All-Night Watches

Revival history is rooted in long, lingering prayer. Jesus prayed all night. The early Church tarried together. Urban monastic churches should normalize spiritual endurance: 24/7 prayer rooms, monthly watches, and fasting seasons. These aren’t performances; they are places where we wait until His Spirit falls for renewal, revival, and awakening.

Honor the Liturgical Calendar

The calendar of the world is built on consumerism. The calendar of the Church is built on Christ. Observing Advent, Lent, and Holy Week forms disciples in expectation, repentance, and resurrection hope. Genesis 1 points us to a cosmic temple where the luminaries (Genesis 1:14) mark sacred time leading to the seventh-day sabbath. Urban churches don’t need to be high-church, but they do need to be conscious of divine seasons — ordering their lives around Christ’s story, not a consumeristic religious faith.

Create Spaces for Silence, Stillness, and Solitude

The city is loud. The Spirit often whispers. Urban monastic churches create intentional spaces of stillness — through prayer retreats, Sabbath observance, or silent sanctuaries. Without silence, we cannot hear God. Without solitude, we cannot face ourselves. The monastic path teaches us that depth with God requires retreat — even if for only a few minutes a day.

Disciple People Toward Holistic Formation

Monastic discipleship is about formation, not information. It is not enough to know Scripture — we must become it. Churches must nurture souls, not just fill seats. This means building mentoring networks, soul-care practices, and spiritual formation cohorts. Our goal is nothing less than the remaking of the inner life into the image of Christ.

As Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis writes:

The life of contemplation is the boldest and most adventuresome of undertakings… What could be more radical than the willingness to be dismantled and created anew, day after day? God’s glory approaches not to obliterate but to house us.

We must help people surrender their fabricated selves to the Spirit’s purifying fire, becoming the people God intended them to be — holy, radiant, whole.

Engage the City Missionally through Presence, Not Just Programs

The monastic way is not event-driven. It’s presence-driven. Urban monastic churches don’t parachute into broken neighborhoods with quick fixes — they move in. They embody Christ through long-term relationships, economic solidarity, justice initiatives, and sacrificial love. They don’t just serve the city — they become part of it.

Mission is no longer a project — it’s a posture. It’s a healing balm in the wounds of the city. It’s light in the alleyways. It’s incarnational presence that transforms not by noise but by nearness.

The Urban Monastic Movement is a Spirit-breathed call to the Church in our time. It is not nostalgia for medieval habits — it is a prophetic reformation that reclaims the fire of the early Church, the wisdom of the desert fathers, and the Spirit-filled boldness of the Moravians.

Churches don’t need to be cloisters to live this out. But they must recapture the essence: a covenantal community of prayer, simplicity, spiritual formation, and public presence. When this happens, local congregations will become true houses of prayer for all nations — cities on a hill that cannot be hidden.

Dr. Joseph Mattera is an internationally known author, consultant, and theologian whose mission is to influence leaders who influence culture. He is the founding pastor of Resurrection Church, and leads several organizations, including The U.S. Coalition of Apostolic Leaders and Christ Covenant Coalition. He also is the author of 13 bestselling books, including his latest The Global Apostolic Movement and the Progress of the Gospel, and is renowned for applying Scripture to contemporary culture.