Fellows
These members meet regularly in Fellowships with roughly a dozen participants seeking to become all they are called to be as kingdom scholars.
Fellowship Meetings
1Frequency of Meetings
Any rhythm has to be regular enough to be meaningful, yet reasonable enough to be do-able (recognising that the pursuit of a bi-vocational calling is time consuming in its very nature). Thus, participating in a fellowship involves:
• One major retreat a year (minimum 36 hours)
• One half-day or evening gathering a year
• Two other zoom/local gatherings a year for smaller clusters within each fellowship
• One major retreat a year (minimum 36 hours)
• One half-day or evening gathering a year
• Two other zoom/local gatherings a year for smaller clusters within each fellowship
2Content of Meetings
Those in the network are already likely to have a lot of demands on them, thus KSN
gatherings come primarily with a sense of ‘restoration’, ‘input’, ‘refreshment’, ‘life’… rather than simply another commitment that drains us. Think more ‘retreat’ rather than ‘conference’.
Each fellowship has its own character and there is space for meaningful difference between fellowships here. For example, some fellowships may be formed with specific content in mind – a group of people who want to think together for the church in a particular area; others may be more geographic in their rationale and have a greater emphasis on nurturing the separate and diverse interests/labour of those who compose it; still others may be more focussed on personal formation as kingdom scholars, and look to engage with content that furthers that goal. Some may want to combine two or more of these emphases!
Given this possible variety, each fellowship is launched committed to a set time-period related to its focus, at the end of which the fellowship can review and consider making changes. This allows for good endings and protects against the risk of fellowships becoming ineffective.
Each fellowship has its own character and there is space for meaningful difference between fellowships here. For example, some fellowships may be formed with specific content in mind – a group of people who want to think together for the church in a particular area; others may be more geographic in their rationale and have a greater emphasis on nurturing the separate and diverse interests/labour of those who compose it; still others may be more focussed on personal formation as kingdom scholars, and look to engage with content that furthers that goal. Some may want to combine two or more of these emphases!
Given this possible variety, each fellowship is launched committed to a set time-period related to its focus, at the end of which the fellowship can review and consider making changes. This allows for good endings and protects against the risk of fellowships becoming ineffective.
3Leadership of Meetings
Some level of leadership is provided by those who lead the KSN, but each fellowship also
includes one or two who take particular responsibility for the organisation and facilitation of
the fellowship. Each fellowship is also supported by an invited senior scholar. The mutuality
of these different kinds of leadership aims to provide the meaningful mix of consistency and
difference that allow fellowships to flourish.
4Cost of Meetings
The KSN aims to provide these gatherings at minimal or no expense to members. This
represents a deliberate posture – to value and bless what is often neglected and to invest in
people rather than drain them. It is also a pastoral decision, insomuch as many pursuing bi-
vocational ministry do not have much money, often, at least in part, as a result of pursuing
that calling.
That being said, there may be some members whose financial circumstances mean that they choose to cover the costs of their own membership and invest in the vision of the network.
That being said, there may be some members whose financial circumstances mean that they choose to cover the costs of their own membership and invest in the vision of the network.
Membership Details
1Who can become a Fellow of the KSN?
The network is for those who have a call to a fusion of scholarly and pastoral vocation for the
sake of the Kingdom. Therefore the KSN has both vocational and confessional delimitations.
Vocational:
• You must have a reputable PhD and still be consciously pursuing the intellectual vocation. Essentially, you have to see this as an important part of who you are called to be.
• You must be substantially invested in ministry. You do not necessarily have to be a paid church worker, but you must be church or mission-orientated in a tangible way.
Confessional:
Institutionally, the KSN is (in this order): orthodox (as defined by the historic creeds of the church) protestant and evangelical. We are aware that ‘evangelical’ is a contested term in our current context and often refers to a cluster of beliefs and priorities. We do not attempt to offer a comprehensive definition, but it is helpful to be explicit that for the KSN being evangelical includes a doctrine of scripture, whereby we hold that the whole Bible is the written word of God, divinely inspired and authoritative for faith and conduct. The culture we seek to develop will gladly accept generous and humble disagreement on all secondary issues, and recognise that we are enriched in our diversity.
This does not preclude non-evangelical scholars from joining the network with the following provisos:
• You must at least be orthodox.
• You must accept that evangelical presuppositions form the framework within which the network operates and hold a generous willingness to participate with these terms of engagement.
Furthermore, as we are a relational network that operates as fellowships, our behaviour must reflect our confession. Hopefully what this means will be fairly obvious, but it may be worth making explicit in three areas:
1. The way we treat one another is really important and we expect fellows to pursue the virtues of humility, honesty, grace, kindness, generosity, justice, etc., which make fellowships the fruitful places they are meant to be.
2. This must be reflected in a refusal of any form of dishonesty in our speech or writing, including any kind of plagiarism, unpermitted sharing of one another’s work or breaches of confidentiality.
3. Finally, because it is contested, we must be clear that all fellows are expected to uphold in their own conduct and ministry what we take to be an orthodox biblical sexual ethic, summarised as “faithfulness inside of marriage, abstinence outside of marriage”, where marriage is between man and woman, and our sex is given rather than chosen.
Vocational:
• You must have a reputable PhD and still be consciously pursuing the intellectual vocation. Essentially, you have to see this as an important part of who you are called to be.
• You must be substantially invested in ministry. You do not necessarily have to be a paid church worker, but you must be church or mission-orientated in a tangible way.
Confessional:
Institutionally, the KSN is (in this order): orthodox (as defined by the historic creeds of the church) protestant and evangelical. We are aware that ‘evangelical’ is a contested term in our current context and often refers to a cluster of beliefs and priorities. We do not attempt to offer a comprehensive definition, but it is helpful to be explicit that for the KSN being evangelical includes a doctrine of scripture, whereby we hold that the whole Bible is the written word of God, divinely inspired and authoritative for faith and conduct. The culture we seek to develop will gladly accept generous and humble disagreement on all secondary issues, and recognise that we are enriched in our diversity.
This does not preclude non-evangelical scholars from joining the network with the following provisos:
• You must at least be orthodox.
• You must accept that evangelical presuppositions form the framework within which the network operates and hold a generous willingness to participate with these terms of engagement.
Furthermore, as we are a relational network that operates as fellowships, our behaviour must reflect our confession. Hopefully what this means will be fairly obvious, but it may be worth making explicit in three areas:
1. The way we treat one another is really important and we expect fellows to pursue the virtues of humility, honesty, grace, kindness, generosity, justice, etc., which make fellowships the fruitful places they are meant to be.
2. This must be reflected in a refusal of any form of dishonesty in our speech or writing, including any kind of plagiarism, unpermitted sharing of one another’s work or breaches of confidentiality.
3. Finally, because it is contested, we must be clear that all fellows are expected to uphold in their own conduct and ministry what we take to be an orthodox biblical sexual ethic, summarised as “faithfulness inside of marriage, abstinence outside of marriage”, where marriage is between man and woman, and our sex is given rather than chosen.
2What expectations come with membership?
Like with all networks, some people will be more engaged than others; we will be at different
life stages and face different circumstances. Nonetheless it is helpful to outline the minimum
expectations of fellows as follows:
Pursue your vocation:
The KSN is all about investing in you to become who you are called to be, in the company of others who share a similar call. So go for it! And bring others with you.
Be present:
Fellowships only work well if we show up consistently. So although unexpected circumstances can always arise, we expect fellows to prioritise the fellowship gatherings in the year. If you don’t think you can make time for them, don’t join a fellowship.
Contribute:
Fellowship gatherings will have components that orientate around content – either our own writing or material we read and engage with together. You need to be prepared to put the work in to participate meaningfully.
Pursue your vocation:
The KSN is all about investing in you to become who you are called to be, in the company of others who share a similar call. So go for it! And bring others with you.
Be present:
Fellowships only work well if we show up consistently. So although unexpected circumstances can always arise, we expect fellows to prioritise the fellowship gatherings in the year. If you don’t think you can make time for them, don’t join a fellowship.
Contribute:
Fellowship gatherings will have components that orientate around content – either our own writing or material we read and engage with together. You need to be prepared to put the work in to participate meaningfully.
3How do I join KSN?
As the network is primarily about relationships, it must grow relationally. The best first step is
to get in touch and have a conversation. If you decide that you would like to apply for
membership, there are three stages to complete:
• You must be proposed and seconded by existing members. The aim is not to be elitist, but to try and maintain the central purpose, vision and culture of the network, and to ensure it is a good fit for new members.
• You must fill in an application form.
These two stages can happen in any order. When they are in place you must have an introductory conversation with one of the leadership team. Final decision for acceptance to the network rests with the trustees.
• You must be proposed and seconded by existing members. The aim is not to be elitist, but to try and maintain the central purpose, vision and culture of the network, and to ensure it is a good fit for new members.
• You must fill in an application form.
These two stages can happen in any order. When they are in place you must have an introductory conversation with one of the leadership team. Final decision for acceptance to the network rests with the trustees.
