Becoming The Fellowship Community
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It is with great joy and anticipation that we celebrate the launch of a new movement as the Fellowship of Presbyterians and Presbyterians for Renewal (PFR) join together to nurture and connect gospel-centered PC(USA) congregations and expand relationships with our counterparts in other mainline traditions.
The Fellowship Community is not an “association” to join. We are building a new community around Christ-centered mission, accountability, theological integrity, and cultural engagement. We are following the Holy Spirit’s leading into a new season of mission and ministry, shaping an evangelical witness and actively participating in God’s mission in the context of our 21st century church and culture.
The new Fellowship Community will be ending our corporate connection with ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. We will, however, continue to nurture relationships through common values, the Essential Tenets – a way of articulating our confessional faith created by theologians in the PC(USA) and ECO, Mission Affinity Groups, and other relational opportunities.
To this new community, the Fellowship of Presbyterians brings its identity and founding vision; a movement within the PC(USA) nurturing leaders to meet the challenges of the contemporary church and creating a supportive biblical community. PFR brings financial and structural resources along with a deep commitment to smaller membership congregations, elders as spiritual leaders, evangelical seminary students and faculty, and the nurture of women in leadership.
The Fellowship and PFR (The Fellowship Community) will be working together at the 221st General Assembly in Detroit including joint sponsorship of a Wednesday morning breakfast with Dr. Mark Labberton, President of Fuller Theological Seminary, as our speaker.
By the time of the National Gathering, co-sponsored by the Fellowship Community and ECO August 18-20 in Dallas, a new Board of Directors will have been elected. At the Gathering, an ecumenical conversation group will be commissioned to explore the ways our new community can intersect with our counterparts in other denominations. We anticipate full merger of the organizations by January 1, 2015.
Christ-centered mission, personal accountability, theological integrity, and cultural engagement: if these values and others like them are important to you, the Fellowship Community may be for you.
Questions? Ideas? Email us or leave a comment below. We welcome your vision, your prayers, and your financial support.
Also, look for fresh insights in our new blog posts on our website starting next week.
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This vision has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of PFR and the Board of Directors of the Fellowship. We have been given an opportunity to move ahead of the curve into new and exciting areas of ministry. We cannot do this without you.