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{Presbyterians for Renewal + The Fellowship of Presbyterians = Fellowship Community}

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Community

LEARN ABOUT OUR COMMUNITY

Community

Regardless of our age, gender, marital status, location, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, human beings need an authentic community—where we truly belong: where we can celebrate and where we can cry; where we can be challenged to be our very best and where we can be forgiven when we have been our very worst.

Community

We need a community where we can be welcomed and accepted, no matter who we are, where we’ve been, or what we’ve done, but where we can grow in our relationships with God and with one another.

We need a community where humility is genuine, radical life change is expected, spiritual growth and transformation is celebrated, and prayer and worship are central.

Community

We need to be part of a community that is not about us—except to spur us on to be at our best as we love, serve, and influence the world around us.

The Body of Christ—the Church—is intended to be this community, but for many of us, the contemporary “church” that we experience is tired, stressed, embattled, and afraid; a place of confusion, conflict, and fragmentation; a poor imitation of the world around it.

Community

That world is broken. Apart from God, human beings will continuously find new ways to isolate, manipulate, fragment, and abuse one another and the world God created. Those who follow Jesus Christ are commissioned and empowered to live differently – to be limitless in our generosity, outrageous in our compassion; faithful to Christ and accountable to one another in the use of our resources, and our influence; joyful, hopeful, and confident in our identity as God’s beloved children irrespective of our circumstances.

Community

The Fellowship Community is a movement of people who are committed to rebuilding the community human beings need within the Body of Christ. We are “apprentices of Jesus,” beginning in the PC(USA) and reaching out in every direction, irrespective of denominations and labels, to welcome, challenge, befriend, and embrace anyone who seeks to grow in joyful obedience to our Redeemer and in service to the world he is redeeming.

Community

The Fellowship Community is not a club, or an agency, or another association to join—it is not designed to rescue institutions or advocate ideologies. The goal of the Fellowship Community is to create and sustain a movement within the Church that will replicate itself in a thousand different locations and give contemporary disciples the community we so desperately need as we love and serve Jesus Christ and embrace the mission to which God has called us.

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Our Vision

LEARN ABOUT OUR VISION

Our Vision

Changes in our Western culture and in the culture of the Western church are happening with amazing speed. Some specific changes we can track through their more obvious symptoms—others we can only surmise. Leadership in this season calls for patience, historical/theological understanding, thoughtful experimentation, personal accountability, willingness to learn and change, and a good sense of humor!

Our Vision

Those who initially envisioned the Fellowship of Presbyterians were committed to a movement within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that could create a supportive biblical community to meet the challenges of the contemporary church. Now, as we begin the next chapter in this ministry, we are reclaiming those core commitments with fresh insights, more extensive resources, and new energy.

Our Vision

We are looking for ways to participate in God’s mission in the context of the 21st century mainline church. We know we will be a minority voice in our secular and denominational culture. Still, we are committed to follow God’s call with joy and anticipation into an emerging mission field as those who are equipped and eager to share the gospel with joy.

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Our CONTEXT

LEARN ABOUT OUR CONTEXT

Our CONTEXT

We are on a journey. We have never done ministry in this context before. There is much we can learn from our past and understand about our present to be of Kingdom benefit in our future.

Our CONTEXT

Our current denominational structures are becoming a thing of the past—and so are ministries designed to work with them. Yet the mission field of the former mainline church—including liturgy and holy mystery—is where many are turning in their search for answers to significant questions of life and faith. The gospel has those answers. We are committed to sharing gospel truth in love.

Our CONTEXT

The gospel, clearly and patiently presented and embodied, provides the big picture. Spiritual formation, individual and communal, nurtures the gospel story in the life of each believer.

Our CONTEXT

The need for networks of support, resources, and ministry aids has never been greater. Because the followers of Jesus no longer have a privileged voice in the secular culture, we get to “shine like stars in the universe…” (Philippians 2:15). We’re not surrendering, hiding, or fighting, but must live and thrive as a minority. This is a new opportunity and it has great missional potential. We need to learn how to embrace this calling with humility and confidence.

Our CONTEXT

Significant participation by people of many races and ethnicities is crucial to the formation of the Fellowship Community.

Our CONTEXT

Departure from the PC(USA) will not be getting easier. Even the process of discernment may cause more harm than good in many congregations. The Fellowship Community is not a waiting room for departure. It is a community for those God has called to prosper where they are (Jeremiah 29).

Our CONTEXT

Ministries beyond our “tribe” are succeeding in many important areas where we are failing. We need to learn from them.

Our CONTEXT

Smaller membership congregations (and medium-sized congregations who may be small churches soon!) are experiencing the full impact of these and other realities.

Our CONTEXT

Many of the ideas outlined here are not new. We don’t have an “idea” problem – we have a “doing” problem and it has persisted for decades. Now is the time when we need to embrace the importance of ordinary faithfulness as the foundation for extraordinary fruitfulness.

Our Plan

Staying In

THE FELLOWSHIP COMMUNITY WITHIN THE PC(USA)

LEARN ABOUT OUR PLAN

Staying In

Community

Our life together, centered in Jesus Christ, is of utmost importance. The Fellowship Community will intentionally build a culture that is community first and ministry next. If we fail to engage one another in an authentic and nurturing way, we will quickly become another “corporate” ministry. This culture begins with our leadership.

Staying In

Constituency

Our focus will be on evangelical pastors, leaders, and congregations remaining in the PC(USA), providing a spiritual/theological home – an environment of encouragement and joy that promotes gospel-centered discipleship and mission.

Staying In

Required for membership in the Fellowship Community:

Pastors – a defined and structured “order” with clear expectations and accountability for a rule of life, and participation in a Pastor Covenant Group that nurtures that order

Sessions – participation in a Mission Affinity Group with the same clear expectations

Congregations – substantial support through both prayer and financial resources

All participants – an understanding of the Fellowship’s Essential Tenets as a reliable guide to identifying and explaining the core teachings of our confessional heritage.

Staying In

Offered by the Fellowship Community:

Frequent gatherings and retreats to encourage this alternative approach to ministry and the community that supports it: prayer, worship, spiritual formation and missional living. These will be offered in a variety of formats and styles.

For elders – materials and resources for nurturing them as spiritual leaders

For individuals – a way of relating to a global Church that strengthens their life of faith and encourages them as missionaries within their own congregations, neighborhoods, and families.

All participants – use of technology that engages and connects the Fellowship Community in innovative and dynamic ways.

Our Plan

Reaching Out

THE FELLOWSHIP COMMUNITY AS AN ECUMENICAL EXPRESSION

LEARN ABOUT OUR PLAN

Reaching Out

Community – Replicate the Fellowship Community within the PC(USA) but with a multi-denominational focus.

Constituency – evangelical pastors, leaders, and congregations in many denominations.

Purpose – Many existing networks focus on the missional church, but diminish their emphasis on the spiritual formation and spiritual maturity needed to sustain that mission. The Fellowship Community will focus on gospel-centered ministry within the mainline world, inhabiting a unique space many non-denominational movements don’t seem to understand or embrace.

Gospel-focused, generously orthodox, mainline congregations appear to be a place of connection for those seeking to follow Jesus in the Millennial age group. The Fellowship Community will encourage a new generation of leaders who are equipped to engage the culture with the gospel.

Reaching Out

Imagine a disciple-making missional network whose roots are in the former mainline world. Imagine an organization totally unencumbered by the day-to-day details of denominations; either creating them, “renewing” them, or providing hospice care for them – connecting the great minds and hearts of pastors, theologians, spiritual directors, and missional leaders across traditions, building on their vision and dreams, addressing their needs, and helping bring their ideas to fruition. This is our vision for Phase Two of the Fellowship Community.

WE’RE UNDERWAY!

WE’RE UNDERWAY!

The Boards of both Presbyterians for Renewal (PFR) and the Fellowship of Presbyterians have unanimously endorsed this vision, as have many other leaders across the PC(USA).

WE’RE UNDERWAY!

This new movement blends the vision of the Fellowship of Presbyterians with the structure and resources of PFR, bringing the best of both organizations together to embrace the emerging possibilities for gospel-centered ministry in our changing context. The new Fellowship Community will be ending its corporate connection with ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, but will 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.

WE’RE UNDERWAY!

The Fellowship Community within the PC(USA) is already underway and will continue to be implemented throughout 2014. Initial conversations toward the ecumenical component will be launched in August.

JOIN US!

JOIN US

We are excited to bring the Fellowship Community to life. Over 200 congregations and nearly as many individuals have already caught the initial vision and joined the Fellowship of Presbyterians. Many more have participated in the ministries of PFR. As we bring the best of these two organizations together, we are designing an intentional community within the Body of Christ that will strengthen and equip “apprentices of Jesus” for 21st century ministry in new and exciting ways. We invite you to join us!

soli Deo gloria!