Shane Claiborne, activist and author, delivered a talk at Radford University on Tuesday, inviting guests who braved the winter weather to “Another Way of Doing Life.” Claiborne is co-founder of The Simple Way, an intentional community in Philadelphia that’s a part of the movement in Christianity called New Monasticism. While he didn’t explicitly mention the 12 Marks of New Monasticism, much of the talk was based on these tenets, including hospitality, peacemaking, sharing economic resources, and caring for the earth.

Claiborne admitted the ideas aren’t new—there’s a historical cycle of renewal in the church—but they’re still perceived as radical by mainstream churches. Citing a book called UnChristian, he said according to a survey of perceptions about Christians, outsiders see them as “anti-gay, judgmental, and hypocritical.” By contrast, the Bible chronicles what he called a “holy counterculture” of people who shared everything they had, visited the prisoners, clothed the poor, and cared for the ill.

Christianity, he said, is “not a call to safety, but to suffering,” and he urged people to consider how their “gifts can intersect with the brokenness of the world.” For example, he spoke of a group of doctors who started a mobile clinic, a robotics engineer whose work will automate the deactivation of landmines, and teachers who take jobs in the inner city when they could teach in more affluent suburban schools.

He encouraged people to “be more creative with [their] economics,” and spoke of a “relational tithe,” where a community commits 10% of their income to meet the needs of neighbors, and a collective of uninsured people who pool money to pay medical bills for each other. Criticized in the past for sounding like a communist or socialist, he denied those claims and said he supports an “economy rooted in love.”

During the Q&A a student asked how she should choose which issues to fight when there are so many, to which Claiborne replied that instead of jumping into issues, people should “grow into relationships with those who are suffering.” He said you can start where you are, and shared how one group of girls decided regularly to go to a local nursing home and play games and give manicures to elderly women. He explained that when he was first outraged by clothing produced by sweatshops, he asked his mother to teach him to sew.  When asked for other practical suggestions, he mentioned the Two Futures Project, an organization working for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and then invited his friend Chris Lahr to talk about a program he directs called Mission Year, which even offers academic credit for a year spent serving in urban neighborhoods.

This event was sponsored by three Radford University campus ministries: Crossroads Presbyterian Fellowship, Canterbury Episcopal Fellowship, and the Wesley Foundation. Rev. Catherine McCullough of Crossroads ended the evening by saying she hopes to reconvene members of the audience at a later date to discuss ideas for future collaborations and service projects.

Taryn Chase is a fan of Shane Claiborne’s contributions to the Sojourners God’s Politics column and likes the sound of “scandalous grace and inclusion.” Can she get an Amen?