The Fringe
Collective

The Fringe Collective is a group of faithful disciples of Jesus who gather around basic rhythms that fit into our lives and bring good news to bear upon the many arenas of the world with which we interact. By following these simple rhythms, we participate as the body of Christ and help to manifest God's presence online and tangibly within our communities. The unique rhythms of The Fringe feature personal spiritual formation practices, regular gatherings around meals, and corporate evangelism that makes a difference in our communities.

Too many church expressions have made the Christian experience into a spectator event. However, this was never meant to be the case. Instead, we as followers of Jesus are called into a rhythmic life of connection with God and his people. Therefore, the rhythms that we present here are designed to bring you into full participation with God and his mission.

When we faithfully pursue the meaning of the Scriptures together in relation to our local communities, we are better equipped to live the Christ-shaped life and provide access for others to come drink from Jesus' well-spring of life.

The Fringe: In the scriptures, the remnant refers to God's faithful people displaced by worldly powers as exiles in the world (Isaiah 28:5; Romans 11:1-6). In our contemporary settings, many followers of Jesus have found themselves displaced from the current rhythms of church, whether by societal constraints, illness, pandemic concerns, or lack of connection – they find themselves living at the fringe somewhere between the church and real life. Our goal is to gather people from the fringe into gospel communities – communal expressions of God's faithful people through life around the table rather than through the attraction of good music and messages.

Hybrid: Our online rhythms of spiritual formation practices are designed for personal use for attending to God's Spirit daily and participating in a weekly liturgy from the Scriptures. These practices are coupled with cooperative engagement around the table and on mission in gospel-centered communities. When our connections are not centered around the event of a worship service (and a building), we can better find liberating hope for Christian living within our 21st-century context. As a collection of gospel communities centered around following Jesus, our rhythms are designed to promote connection to Christ and his mission, personal and corporate spiritual formation, regular gatherings around meals, and opportunities to serve and resource others within our local communities. This digital space merely becomes the beginning focal point and the means to enter into a life devoted to following Jesus.

Collective: A collective is a network for cooperative groups to find expression in one central place and under a common theme. The early Christian church was formed within a chaotic world in such a way. With each new outpost that sprang up along Paul's missionary journeys, new believers found themselves living as called-out followers of Jesus within enclaves surviving together against the forces of their society. In this way, the early church was a nexus of gathered Christ followers from different cities and regions that gave a collective expression to Christ's kingdom breaking into the world.

In our world today, we must realize that Christ's disciples are not meant to live the Christian life in isolation – the church must exist as a gathered and connected series of communities. Because the inherited traditional model of church can allow followers to easily get distracted by consumeristic appeals and living the good life, new vibrant expressions of living the faith need to produce disciples that revolve around a core identity that is focused on following Jesus and staying in step with the Spirit.

So what if church can be more beautiful, rhythmic, transformative, expressive and natural?* As The Fringe Collective places Jesus at the center, we journey together by seeking to live out these truths – not by providing easy answers to complex issues, but rather by asking careful and sensible questions and discerning our answers together so that we can journey together and provide hope to everyone we meet.

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Welcome to a new way to live out your faith!

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* - "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly” (Matthew 11:28-30, MSG).