In our day New Monasticism (and other movements of the Spirit) are inspiring many young people to make an experiment of their lives, planting new intentional Christian communities in “abandoned places of empire.” Our experience shows that such activist communities often flounder unless accompanied by more experienced communal groups. The Nurturing Communities Project (NCP) was launched to address this need in a unique collaboration with Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove (School for Conversion), Shane Claiborne (The Simple Way) and Reba Place Fellowship--America’s oldest lay urban intentional community. On behalf of Reba and the NCP, I (David Janzen) have visited twenty communities in a dozen states this year, often accompanied by younger community leaders who partner with me in the research and learning. September 3-6, a dozen such leaders are getting together to seek a wide-angle view of “What God is up to” in this new intentional community movement. We plan to collaborate on a book of stories, analyses, theological reflections and other resources for new communities. The NCP is requesting a grant of $15,000 to pay for 60% of my time from, March through August of 2011, to write a book, tentatively titled, “So You Want to Start a Christian Intentional Community?”