The Christian community at Scargill lives and works together for the benefit of others. We try to model a life of self-giving, love, prayer, service and hospitality.
It is, after all, the sort of life Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and in the ‘greatest commandment’: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… [and] love your neighbour as yourself.”
The Scargill Pathway
Many of those who visit and live in the Yorkshire Dales are very familiar with thousands of pathways criss-crossing this part of the world.
Some are testing and dangerous, others involve gentle, meandering strolls across level ground. Some walks include both extremes and everything in between. They provide a vivid metaphor for the Scargill Pathway of Life, usually known as the Pathway which are embodied within our pathway promises.
When people first arrive in the Community, they take their first stage promises at the start of a three month probationary period. The second stage promises are generally taken when commiting to join Community behond this period.
We also have a set of pathway promises for Companions, supporters of Scargill who have agreed to follow the Scargill Pathway.
You can find all our pathway promises here:
Why live in community?
In sharing our lives like this, we hope to be transformed and help our guests be transformed. We believe this way of life reflects the heart of the Holy Trinity of God.
Community is where humility and glory touch. However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own.
Henri Nouwen
What’s it like to live in community?
Community life is as messy as it is rewarding. We call it ‘chaordic’; where chaos meets order. It can be intimate but also difficult; it involves laughter and tears.
It’s a place of warmth and acceptance, but also where people who have nothing in common must learn to rub along together. Every day is a lesson in grace.
Members work hard to seek the fulfilment, peace, happiness of every other member within the Community at Scargill, as well as of our guests. Together we learn to be forgiven and to forgive, to celebrate life, to share our troubles and joys, and to live as Jesus asked us to.
What’s a typical day in community like?
Our day begins with prayers at 8am, followed by breakfast. We start work around the house or the estate at around 9am with a coffee break at 11am shared with our guests. Lunch is at 1pm, followed by prayer at 1:45pm and more work until 4pm when we have afternoon tea with our guests. At 4:30pm we pray our evening prayer and return to work until 5:30pm. We serve and share dinner with our guests at 6:30pm.
The kitchen team follows our rhythm of prayer but operates a shift rota to allow for meal preparation and clean up.
We also participate in evening entertainment laid on for our guests, and there is a commitment that we will spend at least two of our evenings joining in with our guests.