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An Imperfect Framework for Imperfect Christians
Proximity Fellowship is an imperfect Framework for imperfect Christians, through which members of His Body, the Church, may draw nearer to Him and to one another in fellowship.
It does not claim to have found the one pattern for Christian fellowship. It is offered with the recognition that every human framework is limited, and that those who develop, steward, host, or participate in it are themselves imperfect.
That is not a weakness to conceal. It is simply what honesty requires of anything shaped by human hands.
Initiated by Michael Lin, an imperfect Christian. (For personal thoughts on the heart behind this framework, read the Initiator’s Reflection.)
A Fellowship, Not Another Institution
Proximity Fellowship is not a denomination, a theological school, or a centralized church authority.
It is a Framework through which Christians may practice fellowship together, nothing more ambitious than that, and nothing less.
The Framework is offered in the service of Christ and His people. It does not ask Christians to gather around Proximity Fellowship, adopt a new Christian identity, or transfer their allegiance from an existing church, tradition, or Christian community.
The fellowship is the purpose. The Framework is the means. Christ remains the Head.
Alongside Existing Christian Communities
Some who participate may remain deeply rooted in their existing congregations while also meeting with Christians through Proximity Fellowship.
Others, for reasons particular to their own circumstances, may find such fellowship taking a fuller place in their present Christian life.
Both are welcome.
The invitation is never:
Leave there and join us.
It is simply:
Come and meet with us in Christ.
Participation does not require a person to leave an existing church, denomination, tradition, or fellowship. Neither does the Framework assume that every Participant stands in the same circumstances.
A Fellowship, and for Some, Perhaps a Church
The Framework does not require those who gather through it to call themselves a church. Nor does it forbid them from recognizing that, according to their understanding of Scripture, their shared life may in substance constitute one.
Christians may hold different convictions about what constitutes a church and how the life of the Church should be ordered. The Framework does not presume to settle that question for every gathering.
Some may understand their gathering simply as Christian fellowship. Others may recognize in their shared life what they understand to be a genuine expression of the Church.
Where such convictions extend beyond the common floor, they should be held honestly, examined under Scripture, and not imposed as a condition of fellowship where the Charter leaves the matter open.
The purpose is not to require one ecclesiological conclusion. It is to make faithful fellowship possible as Christians draw nearer to Christ and to one another.
What Holds Us Together
Proximity Fellowship does not attempt to settle every theological question or construct a complete theological system of its own.
It establishes a common Christian foundation upon which fellowship may become possible:
- There is one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- Jesus Christ is truly God and truly human. He died for our sins, was raised bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, reigns as Lord, and will come again.
- Salvation is God’s gracious work in Christ and is received through faith in Him.
- Scripture is the authoritative written norm for Christian faith and life.
- The Church belongs to Christ.
This is a floor, not a ceiling.
It is not a complete theology, nor is it an attempt to erase the convictions Christians bring from their own traditions.
The Charter also establishes a small number of Constitutional Requirements that protect the identity, integrity, safety, and public meaning of the Framework. Beyond those boundaries, where the Charter leaves a matter open, Christians remain free to hold their convictions honestly and to discern together with Scripture, prayer, conscience, wisdom, humility, and love.
The Framework’s Theological Location
Within this common Christian foundation, the Proximity Fellowship Framework is anchored in the historic Protestant Christian tradition, including the Protestant canon of Scripture received by the Framework.
This identifies the theological and canonical location of the Framework. It does not require every Participant to become Protestant or to leave another Christian tradition.
Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and other Christians may participate in good faith where they can affirm the common Christian foundation and respect the Charter’s constitutional boundaries. Proximity therefore seeks ecumenical hospitality without pretending that the traditions from which Christians come are identical.
Foundational Conviction
Proximity Fellowship begins with the conviction that the unity of Christ’s people is not something a human Framework can create. It is grounded in Christ Himself and sustained by His Spirit. Christians are therefore called not merely to confess this unity, but to learn how to live faithfully within it.
Real differences in tradition, interpretation, practice, and Christian experience need not always prevent real fellowship. Where the Charter leaves room for faithful difference, Christians may gather without pretending those differences are unimportant and without requiring one another to become alike where such uniformity is unnecessary.
Proximity Fellowship does not begin by resolving every disagreement. It begins with what Christians can already, faithfully, share. The purpose is not to manufacture uniformity before fellowship becomes possible, but to make room for Christians to pray, read Scripture, encourage one another, serve one another, and walk together in Christ.
Gathering faithfully across real differences can itself become a school of Christian maturity and unity. As we receive one another as living members of the Body of Christ, patience, humility, self-control, forgiveness, grace, and love become more than virtues we admire. They become virtues we are called to practice among actual people whose convictions, backgrounds, and ways of Christian life may differ from our own.
Through such fellowship, we learn to depend more directly and deeply upon Christ Himself as our Head and to grow together in Christlikeness. We need not fear the natural messiness of growing together, because God’s grace is sufficient for imperfect Christians. As we abide in Christ and walk in mutual love, His Spirit can produce among us a peace and unity that no human structure could ever manufacture. In this way, grace and faith are not merely confessed, but lived.
For this reason, a fellowship need not be institutionally large or elaborate in order to become spiritually meaningful. Christ alone is the ground of our salvation, received through faith in Him, and Scripture remains the authoritative written norm for Christian faith and life. Where believers gather sincerely under the headship of Christ, around Scripture, prayer, love, and mutual care, even a simple and imperfect fellowship may become a meaningful place of grace, formation, and life together in Him.
Fellowship and Witness
Such fellowship is not meant to turn inward upon itself. As believers grow together in Christ, they are also called to bear witness to Him in the world through their words, their lives, their love, and their service.
Proximity Fellowship therefore encourages Participants to remain attentive to opportunities to share the hope of the Gospel and to help others encounter Jesus Christ. This need not become a program, a performance, or a measure of spiritual worth. Faithful witness may sometimes be deliberate and visible, and at other times quiet and personal. What matters is that fellowship with Christ and with one another remains open toward the people Christ calls us to love.
Stewardship, Not Ownership
Proximity Fellowship does not belong to its initiator, to those who host gatherings, to those who help develop the Framework, or to any ministry, personality, denomination, or other human authority.
Those who serve it are stewards, not owners.
Beginning a gathering does not make a person its permanent authority. Teaching does not create ownership. Experience does not make anyone indispensable.
A healthy fellowship should be able to continue when a respected person leaves. A healthy Framework should be able to mature beyond those who first gave it words.
Every human structure carries a quiet temptation. Protection can become authority. Authority can become control. Control can eventually become an identity people feel bound to defend.
The Framework therefore seeks to build against those tendencies deliberately. Leadership and responsibility may be necessary. They should remain forms of service rather than possession.
Held Humbly
Proximity Fellowship is offered freely, held humbly, and remains open to careful correction.
Good intentions can become unhealthy structures. A useful practice can become an unwritten law. A recommendation can become a test of belonging. A trusted leader can become difficult to question.
These are not dangers that happen only somewhere else.
For that reason, the Framework seeks not only to establish principles, but also to guard against the ways those principles themselves may be distorted. At the same time, correction should be careful rather than restless. Not every weakness requires another rule, and development should not automatically mean more institutional weight.
The Framework should remain comprehensive in what it must address, restrained in what it must prescribe, clear enough to guide, and simple enough to live.
It is an imperfect Framework for imperfect Christians.
And if, over time, those who first initiated or stewarded it become less necessary because Christians are drawing nearer to Christ and serving one another faithfully, then the Framework will have done something right.
If you would like to explore the Framework more fully, the Resources page offers a simple path through its principal pages and guides.
Christ is the Head.
Scripture is the norm.
No human being is indispensable.