This season we're sharing stories of life change at Forefront. We're calling it “Make A Joyful Noise”! Each story of life change is indeed joyful. These stories mark long journeys of leaving faith, dealing with pain, and living with doubt but finding beauty, community, and joy on the other side!

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Your investment creates more stories of life change, like this one from this from Booki.

Stories from our Congregation: Booki Vivatnamongkon

For me, going to church has largely been rooted in two things—my personal faith and the need for community.

These places felt easy to step into, but they didn’t always provide space or support for me to challenge my complicated experiences with religion.

In the past, I found myself attending churches where I already had existing relationships or settling in ones that resembled church communities I was familiar with. These places felt easy to step into, but they didn’t always provide space or support for me to challenge my complicated experiences with religion.

As I began to decolonize my relationship with the Christian institutions I grew up around and question some of the church’s stances—and oftentimes, silence—I found myself feeling distant and unsettled in those once comfortable spaces.

I wasn’t ready to give up on the idea of church, but I wanted to find a place that was fully inclusive and more aligned with where I was at with my faith.

I wasn’t ready to give up on the idea of church, but I wanted to find a place that was fully inclusive and more aligned with where I was at with my faith. I wanted a church that allowed my relationship with church to be complicated, but wasn’t sure what that actually looked like.

To be honest, going to Forefront was intimidating at first. I didn’t know what to expect! It felt different from churches I grew up with and I wasn’t sure I’d find a place there. But when I decided to just lean into those uncertainties, the community I was looking for (and needed) ended up finding me.

Forefront challenged and reshaped my ideas of what church (and church community) could look like in my life.

At Forefront, I saw a community of faith that encouraged questioning and didn’t always expect to resolve those questions in a simple way. I found people who deepened my understanding of equity and justice and grace. Forefront challenged and reshaped my ideas of what church (and church community) could look like in my life.

I began to realize that maybe finding community was less about fitting myself into a space and more about building connections around the things I value and care about. By doing that at Forefront, I was able to open myself up to an even fuller sense of belonging and growth.

Please invest in stories like this

We’re raising $40,000 so that we can continue to be a church both online and in person - and we’re 80% of our goal as of today! We anticipate that day coming and are planning ahead for a new and bright future. Your gift not only allows Forefront to continue to pay the bills, you gift allows us to create a care team fund that continues to support members of our church. It gives stipends to your ministries and groups. It buys the equipment that allows some of you, our virtual community, to experience Forefront’s community and worship from anywhere in the world. It helps furnish the homes of refugees through our partnership with Ruth's Refuge. You could set up a recurring monthly gift during this “Make a Joyful Noise” Campaign.

Give today!