The Fremont Abbey is home to Church of the Apostles & The Fremont Abbey Arts Center.
In 2003, Abbess Karen Ward founded a non profit called 'Artwerks Fremont' to operate Church of the Apostles' former storefront arts cafe called Living:Room. Because Living:Room was well received by the neighborhood, we dreamed of expanding the vision beyond a storefront cafe, into a much larger, non profit, non religious community arts center open to all, and with it's own director and board.
Because Fremont is known as the arts district of Seattle, Church of the Apostles has discerned that providing space for a non profit arts and community center in our church building is a great way to serve the entire Fremont community.
Nathan Marion is the Director of Fremont Abbey Arts and the manager of the Abbey building facility. Fremont Abbey Arts is a non religious 501c3, separate from Church of the Apostles. Church of the Apostles owns the Abbey building and rents space to the Fremont Abbey Arts Center.
The name 'Fremont Abbey' is playful for the neighborhood but both playful and serious for Church of the Apostles because we have a 'neo monastic orientation' to our community life and ministry. Being neo monastic means we are inspired by traditional monks and nuns, who form small, intentional Christian communities, dedicated to a life of prayer, worship and service. Monastic communities self support via monastic enterprises such as brewing beer, making cheese, raising sheep, offering spiritual retreats...
Church of the Apostles is reimagining and reinterpreting traditional monastic practices to fit our own times, culture and context. We don't raise sheep, but we sometimes brew beer ;-). We host interns and missional residents who come to learn with us. We offer training events and workshops in emerging church and mission to the wider church. And we offer our abbey as a community center for all, which for us is monastic work. We set up and tear down our worship space each week to enable the building to be used for all kinds of arts and community events. We live in our space as if it were not our own, but a space we curate to serve our neighborhood.
Abbeys are know as centers of hospitiality. Ours is a 'new urban abbey,' a place of welcome and hospitality for all.
The Fremont Abbey Arts Center operates Monday-Saturday. Church of the Apostles curates building usage on Sundays. On Sundays we hold church group meetings, church education classes, church community celebrations and weekly church services: 'Breakfast Mass' (2nd and 4th Sundays) 10:30 am in the Abbey Cafe (Ground level), our main Mass, every Sunday (5 pm) in the Great Hall, and Wedesday Vespers (6:15 pm) in the 3rd floor St. Paul Chapel. All together, our church gatherings constitute about 15% of weekly building use. 85% of use is for our neighborhood via the Fremont Abbey Arts Center, a vibrant non profit, non religious community venue where people of all ages, cultures and incomes, are supported in artistic and social development through collaborative arts experiences.
Church of the Apostles' mission in two fold: 'To love God and share Jesus. To love neighbors and serve community.'
We love God and share Jesus in daily life and work, in spiritual life together (weekly Mass, daily office, spiritual practices) and by intentional welcome and invitation to others to join us in 'intentional, sacramental community in the way of Jesus Christ.'
We love our neighbors and serve the Fremont community in partnership with the Fremont Abbey Arts Center and via other community service activities.
Our faith in God motivates us to invite others into a love relationship with Jesus Christ, and to serve the Reign of God (which is much larger than the church). Serving the Reign of God calls us to help God renew, restore, expand and enrich human community for ALL people, so there is something for everyone at the abbey: religious, non religious, agnostic, atheist, friends, neighbors, artists, dancers, DJs, film makers, yoga instructors, musicians, poets, kids, seniors, people of all races and cultures, EVERYONE!