By Hannah Looper
Contributing Writer
“What are your plans for after college?” This is probably the most-asked question a college junior or senior is asked. The Briarwood Fellows Program may be the immediate answer to that question.
The Fellows Program is a 9-10 month spiritual and vocational leadership program that prepares recent college grads to live seamless lives of faith. It includes a part-time professional job in the student’s field of interest, theological coursework, Biblical study, mentoring and service, all while being in close community with other Fellows in one’s class. With this combination, the aim is for post college students to begin their lives out of school with a cohesive knowledge of faith and work, and how to apply their faith to their vocation.
“It is growing professionally and spiritually hand-in-hand,” Bethany Blount, Briarwood Fellows student class of 2018, said.
Briarwood houses one of many Fellows Programs, part of the larger Fellows Initiative which began in 2006 out of the original Fellows Program created and developed by the Falls Church Anglican Church near Washington, DC. The Fellows Initiative began in an effort to train, encourage, and support churches interested in applying the Fellows model to their local context. Now, the Fellows Initiative includes more than 20 churches seeking to equip the young generation of Christian leaders with a more astute knowledge and understanding of their faith.
Briarwood is just one of the many churches across America to house the Fellows Program and train young adults through discipleship, mentoring, and application. It helps new graduates find a job affiliated with their major, but also gets them involved in the community and in a local church. Every Fellow has a different part-time entry level position in their career field. It is real-work experience, all while being involved in intentional community, including seminary classes to grow one’s faith.
The mission/campaign goal of Fellows is to attract and teach young graduates how to live a seamless life for Christ, for the glory of God and that is consistent across all areas of life.
“Fellows is designed to teach the heart to long for what the heart years to long for,” Seth Richardson, director of Briarwood Fellows said.
By equipping graduates to live this seamless life for Christ alongside a community, all while using their vocation to glorify God, it teaches them to yearn for the calling that all Jesus’s disciples had, to know and make him known.
For more information, visit briarwoodfellows.org or email Seth Richardson at seth@briarwoodfellows.org
