Dear Fremont Family:

Last fall, our Dream Team began a 9-month immersion experience with the Parish Collective. The Parish Collective is a network of Christian communities that promote the ministry of local churches discovering God’s dream for themselves in their neighborhoods. The immersion experience has included three in-person sessions. The first one was last October, the second one was in January of this year, and the third and final session is next week! We have hosted all three immersion experiences at Fremont.

We have been led by two extraordinary individuals with a passion for neighborhood ministry. José Humphreys (pictured above) is the pastor of Metro Hope Covenant Church, a multiethnic and multicultural church in East Harlem, New York City. His love for his people and his place have been infectious. He is both prophetic and pastoral, and he has helped us see the power of “telling the story of place.” Our other leader is Christiana Rice. Christiana is an on-the ground practitioner and visionary voice in the missional movement. She leads a neighborhood faith community in San Diego. These two beautiful humans will once again be with us in Portland, and guide us deeper into our call at Fremont.

Sometimes it’s hard to track all that is happening in our midst, and sometimes it’s hard to explain how the spirit is moving. For the few of us at Fremont who have been involved in the Parish Collective (Jan Plummer, Wiki Smith, Diane Rheos, Kris Forzley, Charlie Collier), the experience is always inspiring and provocative. I hope that when the immersion experience is complete, the Dream Team and myself can share just a little of the “fruit” (outcomes) of the time that we have spent committing to this process.

In the meantime, I wanted you to know that this beautiful collaboration of diverse Christians is happening here, and, as always, we would benefit from your prayers.

Grace and peace,

Erin