FONDREN CHURCH – Jackson, MS
Website: https://www.fondrenchurch.com
HISTORY
About twelve and a half years ago, a group of people met at Brent’s Drugs, a landmark and now a Fondren restaurant, to plant what would be Fondren Church. This would be a church rooted in a historic, yet vibrant part of Jackson that has seen an urban revival in recent years. Like many church plants, we soon moved into a non-traditional facility having rented space at Duling Hall Auditorium, a historic school that had been converted to a concert venue. For over three years, Duling Hall served Fondren Church well attracting a diverse crowd with its unconventional meeting space. As the church grew, the need for more space in a more permanent home became readily apparent.
In 2014, Fondren partnered with Woodland Hills Baptist Church to share space in a beautiful facility with a gym on the campus. Situated directly behind Duling Hall, the new facility provided more space for family ministries, gathering spots, and an 800-seat auditorium. No time was wasted in remodeling and updating spaces. Ultimately, a wonderful job was done of merging modern design with traditional architecture creating a truly interesting and inviting space to worship. In May 2020, Fondren Church became sole owners of the entire campus and has accelerated additional renovations throughout the campus. Fondren Church likes to describe itself as “a non-denominational church with stained-glass windows” because the church honors the past with great hope for the future. On the weekends, Fondren Church hosts two worship services at 9:30AM and 11:00AM in the main Sanctuary.
Today, Fondren Church continues to be led by its founding pastor, Robert Green. Originally from Mississippi, Robert spent years in southern California and south Florida before returning to minister in his home state at Pinelake Church and eventually planting Fondren Church. He is an engaging communicator and teacher with a heart for people permeating everything he does. Under Robert’s leadership, the church has seen much growth over the years, from a handful of people gathered at Brent’s to, now, 700-800 people gathering each week for community and worship.
LOCATION & DEMOGRAPHIC
Fondren Church is located in the Fondren neighborhood of Jackson, the capital and largest metropolitan area in Mississippi. With around 450,000 residents, the Jackson metro area is filled with history and southern charm.
Known as “The City with Soul”, Jackson has been home to numerous musicians prominent in blues, gospel, folk, and jazz. Live music is found all over the city, from festivals like the Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival, to live venues such as Hal & Mal’s, Thalia Mara, and Fondren’s Duling Hall Auditorium. Musical roots in Mississippi run so deeply that the state itself is known as the “Birthplace of American Music.” This is largely because so many musical genres trace their influences back to the blues, which were born in the Mississippi Delta.
Music and hospitality aren’t the only things for which Jackson is known. Jackson is filled with museums and historical sites. Legendary authors like Eudora Welty, Richard Wright, and Margaret Walker Alexander also called Jackson home. It is a hub for medical care and research in the region as well, with the three largest hospital systems in the State all located within 5 miles of Fondren Church. Further, the University of Mississippi Medical Center – the State’s only teaching hospital – is located just down the street, and many physicians, physicians-in-residency, med-students, physical, occupational, & speech therapy students, nursing students, and dental students worship, serve, and lead at Fondren Church. The superior level of medical care and specialists available in Jackson draws people from all around the region.
The Fondren neighborhood is also known as a destination for arts, entertainment, retail, fine dining, urban living, and higher education in the Jackson area. In addition to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, there are a number of colleges and universities located in or near Fondren, including Belhaven University, Jackson State University, Millsaps College, Mississippi College, and Tougaloo College.
Affordable housing options abound, as the median price of a home in the Jackson Metro area is $170,000. This, coupled with the relatively low cost of living, makes this a great place to call home and raise a family.
MINISTRY PARADIGM
Fondren Church is a metro church “in the city, for the city.” Hundreds of people drive into Fondren each week, while hundreds more live in and around the Fondren area. The church is Gospel-centric, valuing community and mission. These values permeate everything we do. We believe that the Church is not primarily a place, but a people. The pace of the world makes it easy to become isolated and disconnected. So we desire to not only proclaim the message of the Gospel, but to provide a warm community. We try to simplify life to facilitate margin in the lives of the church, so we can be a welcoming people who embrace one another with the hospitality of Christ.
People are highly valued at Fondren Church. “People over programs” is a value we champion, and we work to utilize programs to develop people and not the other way around. We firmly believe that individuals are stronger in community with one another. We even design our facilities to encourage people to “hang out, not hurry out.” Further, adult small groups meet throughout the week in homes across the area for community, Bible study, discussion, and prayer.
LEADERSHIP & CULTURE
“Leaders get to lead” at Fondren Church. As a Staff Team, we live that out through this value-set: Enjoy Community, Equip Leaders, Establish appealing Environments, Execute Essentials, and Eliminate Excuses. We lead with action, ownership, responsibility, and we have a good time along the way!
We are staff led with oversight provided by a team of 9 Elders. Senior Pastor Robert Green has served the church since founding it in 2011 and provides leadership to the Elders. The Senior Team leads the Staff Team, which is a tight-knit team that values collaboration and battles against ministry silos. This value is supported by the layout of the ministry offices that feature open work areas and several conference tables. The atmosphere in the office is fun, casual, and laid back. The staff works hard and enjoys what we do.
Since we have more of a relational culture than a bureaucratic one, there are some aspects of our culture that are more felt than said. But here are a some of the markers of belonging to the Staff Team:
Worship on Sundays
We believe God has and will move through the gathering of worship. Worship is ultimate. Therefore, Sundays are primarily about worship for believers. Mission exists because there are still places where worship does not, and because there are yet more worshippers to gather.
So, we want to love to worship with our church. Our roles should feel like a calling rather than a job and should bring about a delight to worship together. This means that each of us tries as much as practical to gather when and where the church gathers to participate in worship opportunities and events. On Sundays, we try hard to “worship one, and serve one.” Although we may have duties for one or more worship services, we still find a way to be a worshipper for one of those services. That said, while this may not be possible each and every Sunday, we do our best to raise up leaders to cover our Sunday duties in one service so that we can be fully present to worship in the other.
Life in Community and on Mission
The three values that drive Fondren Church are: gospel enjoyment, intentional community, and prayerful mission. We believe that the gospel word draws people into the community of God and sends them out on mission to people. In other words, the gospel is the catalyst to both community and mission.
Life in community is a defining attribute of the people of God. He purchased us to a family that is on mission. The community context must be the theological thread that runs through everything we do. As we gather in community, we form our communities around these core attributes: make friends, make disciples, and make a difference.
Discipleship and servant body
The Staff Team is passionate about “equipping leaders” in line with what we view as the universal job description of all ministry leaders in Ephesians 4:12. In line with that mandate, our church is served by leaders and led by servants. We must be a discipleship structure before we are an organizational structure. We don’t hire people to be ministers, we hire people “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ.” This means that we don’t use people to complete tasks, but we view tasks as a context for making disciples of people to make more disciples.
VISION, VALUES, & STRATEGY
Our strategies flow from our vision and values. Our vision is simply to be a church where faith is found and expressed in love, and we get that straight from Galatians 5:6b: “the only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love.” Our values are gospel enjoyment, intentional community, and prayerful mission, and we seek to enculturate these as we pursue the mission of fulfilling the Great Commandment and Great Commission.
Every area of ministry aligns to that vision by seeking to make disciples through the following discipleship strategy:
For more information regarding the vision, values, and beliefs of Fondren Church, please visit:www.fondrenchurch.com.
