The growing edge of spirituality. Founded in 1944.

Fellowship Church Vision

Interfaith | Peace and Justice | The Arts | Further Reading

Interfaith

Fellowship Church maintains formal and informal relations with representatives of various religious communities. Worship services, forums, seminars, and special events are held to probe and celebrate the richness, diversity and oneness of the spiritual quest. The present pastoral leadership, members and guest speakers from Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, and Indigenous religious traditions embody the "profound conviction that meaningful and creative experiences between peoples can be more compelling than all the ideas, concepts, faiths, fears, ideologies, and prejudices that divide them." We believe that such experiences when sustained over a sufficient period of time deepen the common ground of relationship with a sense of unity that can undermine any barrier that separates one person from another.

Peace and Justice

Inspired by the vision and practice of the founders of Fellowship Church, Dr. Alfred Fisk and Dr. Howard Thurman, and especially by Dr. Thurman’s seminal book on spirituality and social transformation - Jesus and the Disinherited - the Peace and Justice Committee holds forums on pressing issues that face humanity today, both at home and worldwide, from an interfaith perspective. The committee's plans include art exhibits, musical events, and forums on Black Reparations and Restorative Justice, among other issues.

Our 2005 Howard Thurman Convocation highlighted Restorative Justice. A set of values and principles, more than a specific practice, restorative justice asks that we fundamentally shift how we respond to human conflict and wrongdoing. Rather than rely solely on the threat of coercion and punishment, it seeks to heal and transform the wounds of victims, offenders and communities caused or revealed by the wrongdoing. From primary dependence on the state, it seeks greater self-reliance in the community by involving all those who have a stake in a specific offense to collectively identify and address harms, needs and obligations, in order to heal and put things as right as possible.(1) Rather than foster hostile interaction between the parties, it provides an opportunity for those who harm and those who are harmed to empathize with one other. It allows the person responsible for the harm, and the community, where appropriate, to take responsibility for actions that led to the behavior resulting in harm. In sum, rather than adversarial justice’s win-lose principle, restorative justice is based upon a win-win principle.

Through the vehicle of a restorative justice program, offenders are held accountable to victims and to communities, victims of crime are provided the opportunity to have a voice in the community’s response to crime, and communities are ultimately made safer by the resulting decrease in violent crimes. Through the vehicle of a restorative justice program, offenders are held accountable to victims and to communities, victims of crime are provided the opportunity to have a voice in the community’s response to crime, and communities are ultimately made safer by the resulting decrease in violent crimes.

Contemporary restorative justice practices arose in the early 1980’s out of the general frustration of victims, offenders, communities, and justice professionals that our justice system’s focus on blaming and punishing the offender creates more conflict than peace and deepens societal wounds instead of healing them. Restorative justice is a contemporary iteration of ancient reconciliation and conflict resolution processes, which were universal to most societies before 1200 C.E. Today, there are more than 900 restorative justice programs in the U.S., operating in the criminal justice context, as well as in schools, communities, and workplaces. New Zealand’s juvenile justice system is entirely restorative. Restorative justice programs have also rapidly spread throughout Canada and Europe. Additionally, Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, a form of restorative justice meant to heal wounds of war and mass social violence, have been used in almost 25 countries around the globe.

(1) H Zehr, The Little Book of Restorative Justice. Pennsylvania: Good Books, 2002.

The Arts

Services for worship and special programming incorporate the creative arts as an essential part of the life and ministry of Fellowship Church. Concerts, art exhibits, and theater productions celebrate the presence of the divine revealed in a diversity of expressions.

Since its founding, Fellowship Church has encouraged the expression of spirituality through performance -- a core idea of theater for 3000 years. Dr. Thurman's wife, Sue Bailey Thurman, was a strong supporter of performing arts activities in the early years of the church. A 1953 Atlantic Monthly article lists a variety of offerings including the Choir, Liturgical Dance, English Hand Bell Ringers, the Intercultural Workshop, and the Drama group. Some of the original Fellowship Players went on to form the legendary Actors Workshop in San Francisco. Other members included world-renowned dance performer and teacher Klarna Pinsky and painter Frances Catlett. Howard Thurman's daughter, Olive Thurman Wong, is now with New York's Lincoln Center.

In June 1990, the Fellowship Theater Guild (FTG) was officially formed by Felix Justice and Peter Fitzsimmons. For half a dozen years, FTG produced and hosted a variety of plays, music, and dance performances, with the aim of opening new doors for participation in church activities and programs. In December 2004, Felix Justice and Carol Verburg discovered a shared interest in the play "Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train" and revived FTG. Church support has been crucial to this production -- a testament to the synergy between art and spirituality, as well as an opportunity for artists of varied cultural and experiential backgrounds to utilize and develop their talents together.