Registered Charity No. 1117867 The Order's Rule         1. Introduction 11. Vestments 2. Work 12. Continued formation 3. Being part of the One Church 13. Holy Orders 4. Working in the community 14. Membership of the Order 5. Liturgy 15. Overseas Provinces 6. Prayer 16. Resignation from the Order 7. The Bible 17. 8. The place of ‘the traditions of the church’. 18. 9. Language usage 19. 10. Authority within the Order 20. Return to home page The Rule of Simplicity   A religious order can be defined as a group of Christians called by vocation to a shared task, the sharing of a common vision and the following of ‘a rule’, an expression of belief and practice which is makes the order distinct in its ministry and service. A religious order is a part of the church (in this case the worldwide church, the body of Christ, as defined in 1 Corinthians 12), but is not a church in itself and cannot exist in isolation. What follows is an attempt to put into words the spirit of our own Order’s rule, ‘the Rule of Simplicity’, something which is more to do with attitude and spirituality rather than a restrictive code of behaviour. It must always be remembered that any religious order’s rule (our own included) is of lesser importance than obedience to the will of God. A good ‘rule’ should be both practical and help focus the mind of both the individual and the common mind of the Order in this task and be of benefit to this obedience. The rules, laws and regulations made by human kind, whether civil or religious, must not hinder the work of the Holy Spirit in any way and this is what is hopefully embodied in this document. The rule should be read in conjunction with the Principles and Guidelines governing both the Order and the Province and Jurisdiction for On Call Ministry for this was the first formal attempt to define what the vision of the Order was in terms of individual and corporate practice.     copyright (c) 2004-2008 The Province and Jurisdiction for On Call Ministry and its member groups unless otherwise stated.