Living Out Faith Together: A Christ-Centered Family
Reported by Audrey Grice
Photographed by Mia Baukol
Located at the end of Carlton Way, the Fell House spends most of the week as an unassuming George Fox University (GFU) house. But on Saturday nights, it is flooded with lights and laughter as students stream through its door for a night of fellowship in Christ.
This semester, a group of five students took the initiative to start hosting a weekly group known as LOFT, which provides food, worship, a message, and an opportunity to be part of a consistent small group for the entire semester.
LOFT is rooted in a deep desire for a Christ-centered community focused on growing alongside each other in faith. Rose Hewitt, a senior at GFU, envisioned a Christian young adult group two years ago. Fellow GFU students Ella Torres, Maria Tubbs, Taylor Brumel, and Abby Clapp joined to help make that vision a reality.
“Some version of this was on [each of] our hearts, and we just needed to be put in the same room together,” Hewitt said.
Tubbs added, “This isn’t just something we were inspired to do; it’s something we’re convicted to do.”
So what exactly is LOFT? LOFT’s mission statement is “biblically grounded, Christ-centered, and Spirit-empowered,” and the acronym stands for Living Out Faith Together. Hosted in the Fell House just off the GFU campus, the fellowship group meets every Saturday, guided by the five founders. Brumel describes it as “a place of community that [is] deep and intentional, that [is] rooted in Christ.”
When LOFT held its first meeting on Jan. 25, the group had no idea what to expect. “It’s been truly miraculous,” Hewitt said. “We said 10 people could show up, and we would be so overjoyed.”
Instead of ten people, 50 young adults piled into the Fell House for the first two meetings, and all 50 committed to joining small groups for the entire semester.
“It was pretty affirming seeing how our vision and our passion were also shared by so many other people,” Brumel said. “This isn’t just something the Lord has placed on our hearts but something the Lord’s placed on a lot of other people’s hearts too.”
A pivotal aspect of LOFT is the time, in the beginning, to interact with other young adults and share a meal. Hewitt said, “Jesus led his life and a lot of his ministry at the table, breaking bread with his followers and sinners… so we see it as an important aspect of our faith. There’s something about sitting down and sharing a meal that someone cooked… there’s an intentionality you get with it.”
Part of what makes LOFT special is that it’s hosted by students in their homes. “We love opening our house to people,” Torres said. “It’s a joy to have people. I’ve never been so grateful to have people come over before.”
In their desire for a fellowship of Christians, the group wants to clarify that they are just as much participants as everyone else. Brumel said, “As much as we’re leading and helping organize things, we’re coming forward with the same heart as everyone there as well… I don’t think any of us really view it as us leading; it's more us being a part of it.”
“We really participate in it as well,” Torres added. “It’s led by the body.”
Even though LOFT is hosted in a campus house by current students, Hewitt and the others imagine it as something much bigger than GFU. “We don’t want it to be a Fox event; we want it to be a young adult event,” Hewitt said. “We would love to see people [coming] who don’t necessarily go to Fox but are in Newberg or older graduates; we just want to build connections.”
Even after two weeks of running, it is clear that LOFT is here to stay. Although Hewitt and several other founders are graduating this spring, they hope to pass LOFT on to younger students in the community to continue creating a space for young Christians to embark on a radical journey of faith with their peers.
“At the end of the day,” Hewitt said, “it’s five college students opening their doors and trusting that the Lord will work through it.”