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The Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC is a network of nine independent, ecumenical Christian faith communities and over 40 ministries[1] that have grown out of the original Church of the Saviour community founded in the mid 1940s [2] The current ministries and faith communities are the result of an alternative approach to “church” and church structures which is the hallmark of the Church of the Saviour. This approach and these structures were formed in an effort to improve Christian discipleship and “recover... something of the vitality and life, vigor and power of the early Christian community"[3]. In that effort the church's approach emphasizes integrity of membership, the ministry of the laity, and communal intimacy and accountability[4]. This desire for intimacy and accountability among members of the church is what led the community to break into smaller congregations rather than try to grow larger as a single church[5]. It has also led to the formation of small groups called “mission groups”, made up of 2 to 15 members gathered around a shared sense of vocation or God's calling[6]. These groups became the fundamental unit of community and accountability in the church, and the various groups, each following their own sense of call, gave rise to most of the ministries associated with the church[7]. As a structure, the mission groups have been continued in one form or another in the church's offspring faith communities. Through the writings of longtime church member Elizabeth O'Connor (1928-1998) and others, Church of the Savior has become influential among Christian religious groups throughout the country[8][9] and has informed such contemporary movements as the missional church movement[10], the Emergent Church movement[11], and the New Monasticism movement[12].

References

  1. ^ Church of the Saviour. (2007). Friendship Directory. Washington, DC.
  2. ^ O'Connor, E. (1963). Call to Commitment: The story of the Church of the Saviour, pp 14-20. New York: Harper and Row.
  3. ^ Call to Commitment, p. 23.
  4. ^ Call to Commitment pp. 23-54
  5. ^ O'Connor, E. (1991). Servant Leaders, Servant Structures, pp. 47-61. Washington, DC: The Servant Leadership School.
  6. ^ Call to Commitment, p. 49.
  7. ^ Call to Commitment, pp. 20-45.
  8. ^ Labaton, A. (Producer). (Oct. 31, 1997) Washington's Church of the Savior, Religion and Ethics Newsweekly. New York: PBS. [1]
  9. ^ Boorstein, M. (2009, january 6). Activist D.C. Church Embraces Transitiion in Name of Its Mission. The Washington Post, p. A01. [2]
  10. ^ Guder, D.L. (1998). Missional Church: A vision for the sending of the Church in North America. p. 279. Grand Rapids: Eerdman's.
  11. ^ McLaren, B. (2005). Becoming Convergent [3]
  12. ^ Claiborne, S. (2006). The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an ordinary radical, p. 360. Grand Rapids: Zondervan

== Church of the Saviour ==

The Church of the Saviour, an ecumenical Christian church envisioned by Gordon and Mary Cosby in the early 1940’s, was incorporated in 1947 in Washington, D.C., when they and seven others became its first members. From the beginning, church members sought to embody Christ in intentional and sacrificial ways, welcoming radical diversity and calling all to be ministers through the generous sacrifice of time, energy and resources.

Interpreting the call to discipleship as the integration of two journeys—an inward journey to grow in love of God, self and others and an outward journey to help mend some part of creation—the church became the catalyst for numerous helping ministries primarily in Adams Morgan, a neighborhood two miles north of the White House.

Beginning in the 1970's and through the 1990's, The Church of the Saviour became a “scattered community” of 8 small faith communities (today there are 10:
  • Covenant Community
  • Dayspring Church
  • Friends of Jesus Church
  • Eighth Day Faith Community
  • Festival Church
  • Jubilee Church
  • Lazarus Church
  • New Community Church
  • Potter's House Church
  • Seekers Church


    • Each of these churches is independently incorporated and seeks to embody its own unique vision, missions and structures, while striving to maintain an “integrity of membership” in the spirit of the founding church. The churches share a membership commitment as well as similar formation processes, which often include participating in a mission group and taking classes in the church’s School of Christian Living, as well as joining the community in its ongoing life of worship and celebration. Formation for an intern member might last as long as one to three years. Annually, after a period of intentional discernment, all members renew—or withdraw—their covenantal membership.

    “Integrity of membership” helps members to really choose whether or not they still are called to the challenges and joys of this way of journeying with Jesus and Jesus’ friends. At the heart of the church’s model is Call—each one, together with others, discovering unique ways to carry part of God’s dream. In small mission groups, members gather around a shared vision for embodying healing and hope—the outward journey—and the group then becomes accountable to one another for the inward journey, including ordered practices in the areas of prayer, study, money, health, work life and so on. In this way the mission group members, and all with whom they are in relationship on the outward journey, help each other find fullness of life.

    Today, 60 years later, Gordon and Mary Cosby and others continue to engage with new ways of becoming the authentic Church. What might happen in our hurting and distrustful world if people started coming together in small groups deliberately organized around perceived differences—of race, economic class, gender, age, sexual orientation, political affiliation, etc.—and from that point of diversity vulnerably opened their lives, told their stories, unmasked their shared addiction to a socio-political system that has kept them alienated, and then together began to take steps toward healing and justice? Presently six groups are exploring such a model.

    Being with others on a deepening inward and outward journey, listening for Spirited callings and creating structures to support and enable the dreams that are given, are at the heart of The Church of the Saviour “tradition.” More than particular programs or methods, it is an organic model for being Church, seeking always to embody more deeply the essence and nature of Jesus Christ, who brings good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed—proclaiming an era of Jubilee for all God’s family.







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