| The Sheldon Community is the heartbeat at the centre of the life of Sheldon. The life and ministry of the Community has been evolving slowly and steadily for many years. |
| The Community came into its present form when the Society of Mary and Martha bought Sheldon in 1991, although many of us have lived and worked at Sheldon for much longer. |
| Our embryonic Rule of Life centres around 3 major themes: |
- stability
- servanthood
- stewardship
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Members of the Community all live at Sheldon, making it our home.
We share a simple pattern of life together that forms a thread of stability for ourselves and for all those who stay here:
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- prayers said in chapel twice a day
- a Community meal on Saturday evenings
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| Much of our working life centres around care for guests at Sheldon. We try to live the charism of servanthood in all our dealings, an approach that includes ~ but also goes beyond ~ "being of service". For many of us, the roles we fulfil at Sheldon are very different from those we had in previous employment. |
| We have been entrusted with the care of a beautiful place, and it is thanks to the generosity of many people that we are enabled to support ourselves and run Sheldon. We endeavour to live good stewardship of the skills, time, money, and other resources for which we are responsible. |
| After a probationary period, Community members make a commitment for renewable periods of three, five or seven years. After 10 years of service there is the opportunity to become a life member of the Community. From time to time we also have people who live alongside Community for shorter periods of a few months or a year. |
| Our Community is made up of lay men and women. We are each provided with living accommodation and food, plus a personal allowance of £85 per week. Many other living expenses are also covered, such as reasonable use of telephone and car. Class A National Insurance contributions are made, and a small contribution to a stakeholder pension. |
| We recommend that anyone considering applying to join the Community should read our recent book "The Fat Pigeon Flies" for background information. |
