Hodos Fellowship

Welcome to the Hodos Fellowship.

This is not a church in the way that we have come to think of church. It’s not a building, not an institution, not even a gathering. I have no aspirations of planting anything or ever showing results. The Hodos Fellowship is about encouraging those who are intent on moving forward on the path toward Christlikeness.

Hodos is the greek word for “The Way”. This is what the early believers called themselves before they became a movement distinct from Judaism. The name suggests both goal and pursuit,  something that would have been very physically familiar to disciples who had actually followed in Jesus’ footsteps. The Way is about continual movement in a Christ-ward direction.

The Hodos Fellowship is not a church but it’s not opposed to forms of church either. I love the church and I love churches. I have great respect for the people who are tirelessly serving these communities to pursue the Kingdom of God here “on earth as it is in heaven.”

But together with some of my friends, I’ve grown frustrated with the way in which settled Christianity struggles to be simultaneously worshipful, communal, and missional. It seems like the more we try to make a movement of our movement – our following of Christ – the greater the temptation to pick only one or two of these aspects of our calling to the neglect of what remains.

Is it possible to pursue all three? I think it is. I’m not sure exactly how, but my sense is that it has to do with committing to what the monastics call a rule of life, a commitment to living these things out as we pursue Christ together. My vision for the Hodos Fellowship is that we commit to support one another as we each pursue a life of worship, community, and mission in everything we do. Geography and busy schedules may keep us from doing this in person, except of occasion. For the times in between real gatherings, maybe this can be a space to develop “best practice”.

This web-community can form a hub for helping us encourage one another as we pursue this goal together. But it is only a tool. The fellowship is in the living.

So welcome to The Hodos Fellowship. If you are here, you are a member. Just start walking it out and let us know what you find along the way.