Fill out the interest form under "Gatherings"!
For now, the best thing you can do is to spread the word! Tell your friends about Infinitus, especially if you know of an autistic Christian who is looking for something like this. Additionally, we are looking for volunteers to help organize our gatherings and other events in the community.
No. We are a fully independent endeavor. We take no money or orders from any denomination or mission agency. We strongly believe in the importance of a self-governing, self-propagating, and self-supporting community that is locally governed by the consensus of its members.
Infinitus envisions itself as "post-denominational" and "post-evangelical." While we welcome people from all religious (or no) backgrounds, we also decided that distinctives are important since if a church does not stand for something, it will fall for anything, and statistically, such "open-minded" and "anything goes" churches simply do not grow and won't be sustainable. We are rooted in the low-church, anti-authoritarian traditions within Protestantism, and embrace the heritage of Independent General/Universal Baptists and various Anabaptist streams, as well as the spiritual wellspring of the Charismatic/Neo-Pentecostal movement, and are Christian Universalist in orientation. We do, however, also appreciate the beauty of liturgical and monastic practices from other traditions, and we seek to incorporate many of them as appropriate.
Infinitus aims for the best practice in biblical hermeneutics informed by tradition, history, and modern scholarship, and encourages a greater biblical literacy. This means that we take the scriptures seriously and actively engage with them, but we do not idolize the Bible. We prefer to strike a good balance between literal-historical approaches and mystical-metaphysical approaches.
From a persecuted underground sect that secretly met in homes and catacombs, to a multinational imperial church run like feudal kingdoms (eventually amassing so much power and wealth that it lorded over the actual kings and princes), and to the modern American form of church that operates mostly like a non-profit business corporation with career executives and professionalized staff, the Church has changed many times in how it is run throughout its history. In the 21st century, the Christian church has seen at least two inflection points. During the first decade of this century, many churches either downsized or converted their buildings into community spaces or social enterprises (examples of this in Portland included Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church/TaborSpace, the Oregon Community/Oregon Public House, and the Red Sea Church/Xenos House of Culture). This phenomenon began as church membership and attendance sharply declined, and many congregations began thinking about what to do with their real estate. Then the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 further accelerated the transformation of the Church as congregational leaders were quickly forced to pivot to online services. As with past pandemics in human history, COVID-19 led to a massive shift in the zeitgeist, inspired rapid innovations, and changed the ways we think of society.
While it was before the first known case of COVID-19 when we first envisioned a church that would be now called Infinitus Community, experiences of the post-pandemic recovery years, and seeing how most churches have never returned to the pre-COVID level of activity, we propose a new way of doing church: the entrepreneurial church. By "entrepreneurial" it does not mean the churches should focus on money-making through gimmicky marketing; rather, we propose to take innovative, creative actions flexibly while taking measured risks associated with them, unburdened by the ossified corporate structures and non-profit and denominational politics (cf. Mark 2:21-22) to empower the Holy Spirit to move freely through our creativity and organic relationship-building.
Initially, the Community will be supported in part by the revenues from the fee-based services of Infinitus Explorations, and largely by volunteer work and in-kind contributions from our members.
Infinitus Community is being organized as a free church not dependent on the regulatory powers of the state and governed organically based on member consensus and direct participation, inspired by the ethos of Independent Baptists, Quakers, Catholic Workers Movement, and Christian anarchists. To us, the church is neither a building nor a corporation, but rather a chosen family united in the Spirit, relating organically to one another to build up one another. Under the current political environment, in which the federal government intentionally weaponizes the non-profit tax-exempt status and other entanglement with the government that many non-profit religious corporations may have as a way to advance its partisan extremist agenda, we feel that this decision has been more important than ever before.
According to recent scientific studies, it is estimated that somewhere around 3 percent of the population is autistic, and we think it is actually an undercount due to the fact that ASC can also be misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all due to clinician biases and lack of access to care. Autistic individuals often find it difficult to fit into the existing faith communities for a variety of reasons.
Yes, in an ideal world. But in reality, our human diversity leads to manifold expressions of the universal Church in many, many localized forms. In any major U.S. city, there are churches that worship in different languages -- Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, and so on. There are also historically Black churches. There are also Deaf churches that worship exclusively in the sign language. While they may appear to be "reverse-discriminatory" or "exclusive," the "Body of Christ" has historically been enriched by the cultures and experiences they bring to the table. For that matter, many of North America's Protestant denominations originally were "ethnic churches": for example, the Christian Reformed Church has its roots in the Dutch Reformed churches planted by the immigrants from the Netherlands; the Episcopal/Anglican Church was mainly English, the Presbyterian Church was Scottish, and the Lutheran Church was Swedish and Norwegian. We build on this rich tradition by co-creating a welcoming space where neurodivergent people can take an active part in the life and leadership of the Church.
This does not, however, mean that this is the right choice for every autistic person. Maybe they live in a small town with only one or two churches. Maybe they prefer attending the same church as their family. And we do not necessarily recommend that those who fellowship in a conventional congregation leave their church and join us. It is also part of our mission to create resources that help other churches become more inclusive of autistic and other neurodivergent people so they can flourish wherever they are planted!
No. Just as you can visit and even join a Chinese church, a Korean church, or a Black church regardless of your ethnicity, anyone can become part of Infinitus. However, we do church in the "language" and culture of neurodivergent folks. A sincere desire and openness to learn is a welcome trait we ask of you.
As we are brand new, we have not solidified this yet. Please fill out the interest form if you are interested in joining us!
Not yet. If there is enough demand, we are open to hosting a separate virtual gathering.
We are still a new community, and we have not reached the point where we could possibly support programming for kids. Even if we have, however, we believe that a church should not sequester children into a Sunday school or youth programs where potentially bad things could happen (for liability reasons, to say the very least).
We also believe that youth should be empowered to freely explore religions and their spirituality, which should be done without coercion and pressure by their parents or by a church (we are not at all interested in indoctrinating or proselytizing minors). For these reasons, minors under the age of majority (18) are not permitted to attend any of our functions unless accompanied by their parent(s) or legal guardian(s), and are attending of their own volition.
Another reason why we do this is that our ministries focus on neurodivergent adults and their needs, which differ from those of autistic children and youth.
As an heir to the Baptist tradition, we believe that baptism is a symbolic ordinance, rather than a "sacrament" with any supernatural power. What that means is that baptism is a symbolic act that reminds the newcomer to the faith community, as well as that community as a whole, of the death of one's old self and a new, resurrected life in Christ. What is more important, therefore, is whether that symbolic ritual has been meaningful to you in your Christian walk, rather than whether the baptism was done "correctly." There are many reasons why baptism by immersion may not be feasible. We do not exclude people from membership just because they may have been baptized elsewhere using a different format. At the same time, we also believe that a decision to be baptized should be a conscious, informed, and educated choice you make when you are intellectually and spiritually mature enough. As such, we encourage those who may have been baptized as an infant to have a meaningful baptismal experience as an adult believer (regardless of how that may be done).
As a community of faith that seeks Christ's way of peace and justice, we reject all forms of violence and aggression as purported solutions to the world's problems, whether or not such violence and aggression are state-sanctioned under the guise of democracy and color of law.
In practice, this means two things:
We do not knowingly admit into membership those who actively engage in violent crimes, are affiliated with an organized criminal group or a violent hate group, or have a known history of violent criminal activities (unless we have reliable witnesses that such individuals have since changed and have not committed violent crimes in recent years).
We also do not admit into membership those who are current and active members of the armed forces, police forces, and paramilitary forces (or gendarmerie), including prison guards, coast guards, border patrols, national guards, reservists, and employees of any government agency that exercises police powers with weapons. This also includes private-sector employees who engage in similar activities either on behalf of a government or as a private substitute for government police forces (for example, armed security guards and mercenary forces).
While we do not maintain a formal membership roll, we ask those who seek to take active roles as part of our community to first familiarize themselves with who we are (our visions and missions, our beliefs and values, how our community operates, and so forth) and then commit to upholding our community covenant. This would entail a period of discernment, fellowship, and discipleship (also called formation). Please note that subscribing to our newsletters or attending our events does not automatically obligate you to membership. To be part of this growing and unconventional community, it is expected that you become an active participant, not a passive consumer.
We believe that a vegan diet, as a logical extension of our beliefs in anti-violence, connects to both the original creative blessings of this world as well as the eschatological visions of the Hebrew prophets. Additionally, considering the impact of industrial animal farming on the environment and global food insecurity, it aligns with both our sacred responsibilities as stewards of the created world and the prophetic calling for a more just society in which everyone has access to food. It is also worth noting that a vegan diet fulfills the dietary requirements of the Hebrew Scriptures, and even today, the Orthodox Jewish rabbinical authorities consider most vegan food to be kosher, with specific precautions and conditions (it is best if you find items that are both certified vegan and certified kosher, as kosher certifications ensure that the food has been proven clear of insects, which may be found most notably on leafy vegetables and certain berries). More importantly, being vegan elevates our spirituality as we reject death from our daily food intake.
While we do not judge our fellow Christians who do not agree with this point, and also recognize that for some people being vegan is not feasible due to various medical conditions, in all of our gatherings and events, we adhere to this standard and also request those who become a covenanted member of this community to commit to a vegan diet (and we also encourage others to do so to the maximum extent possible).