Infinitus Ministries

Welcome to Infinitus!

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Subscribe to our newsletter, “Boundless Expeditions” on Substack! (or be.infinitusministres.net)

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infinitusministries.net and www.infinitusministries.net redirect to here. For our online forums, go to forums.infinitusministries.net.

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Infinitus Ministries is a collective brand referring to three distinct things: Infinitus Explorations, Infinitus Media & Resources, and Infinitus Community. This documentation site outlines the overarching vision, missions, and aims of Infinitus, as well as the common foundational elements such as distinctives and values. Beyond those, this site will focus primarily on our community initiatives and how you can participate in and be part of this new community. As Infinitus Community grows, this will be where we will be publishing governance-related documents, policies, and manuals (we eschew bureaucracy so we’ll be light on those, though!) for the sake of transparency. Since the docs are recorded on Github, one can review past changes and history. Contents specific to Infinitus Media & Resources will be hosted elsewhere on other platforms, such as Substack and Spotify.

Introduction

Infinitus Ministries builds up the spiritual life of neurodivergent people of faith through personal spiritual direction practice, resources for church leaders, educational media, and an emergent faith community by and for neurodivergent folks.

How it began

The seeds of Infinitus Ministries were sown in 2019 when I saw the dearth of spiritual life resources for autistic adults who are often alienated by conventional religious environments and by emotion-driven pop spirituality.

At the time, nearly all the resources that related to autism and religion were geared toward pastors and parents who needed to put up with their autistic children. There was one that served adult autistic Christians, but it was primarily for Roman Catholics only.

According to the estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, approximately 2.8 percent of the U.S. population may be autistic (a 2023 estimate). Based on the 2020 decennial census, this makes the autistic population a sizable minority group comparable to the Native Americans and Alaska Natives in size (2.9 percent) and a much larger group than Chinese Americans (1.58 percent).

So I reasoned: There are many Native American-centered churches and even more Chinese churches in the U.S., bringing their distinct cultures and lived experiences to faith and worship. For that matter, there are also deaf churches and LGBTQ+ churches. Why can’t we have a church that is rooted in the distinctively autistic life, then?

For much of 2019, I played with this idea. I couldn’t decide whether I should start a one-on-one spiritual direction practice and serve clients from all faith backgrounds or if I should plant a church that could be our own safe and empowering space. In September 2019, I branded the former “Mind Geographic” and prepared to test-market the spiritual direction service. But I soon entered an episode of severe autistic burnout, and then the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic began, putting all this on the back burner.

In 2021, I returned to school to train in ministry and to earn diplomas in ministry and divinity.

On Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2024, I officially present the vision, missions, and upcoming work of Infinitus Ministries.

Willow.

Vision

The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me. He sent me to preach good news to the poor, heal the heartbroken, Announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners. God sent me to announce the year of his grace - a celebration of God's destruction of our enemies - and to comfort all who mourn, to care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, Messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. Rename them "Oaks of Righteousness" planted by God to display his glory. They'll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage. They'll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make it new. -Isaiah 61:1-4 (MSG)

Infinitus Ministries is here to ignite the fourth wave of the Holy Spirit where justice, liberation, healing, happiness, and beauty flourish – in a world where nobody will be marginalized anymore, and everyone will shine as splendid reflections of God’s image.

Mission

Infinitus Ministries is a prophetic mission of the Holy Spirit focused on community-building, advocacy, edification, education, and discipleship. We uplift the voices and lived experiences of neurodivergent people of faith, building up autonomous and self-propagating churches by and for the neurodivergent community, as well as working toward greater inclusion and equity for neurodivergent individuals in other faith communities of all traditions and theological backgrounds.

What we do

Infinitus Ministries is a joint brand of three distinctive work components:

  1. Infinitus Explorations (ix) (formerly Mind Geographic) is a (sliding scale, trades welcome) fee-based spiritual direction practice helping clients clarify, discover, and expand their belief systems and grow in their faith. This service is open to everyone regardless of their religious beliefs and affiliations and does not proselytize. It is important to note that spiritual direction (also called spiritual companionship) is neither counseling nor personal coaching.

  2. Infinitus Media & Resources (im&r) is a media and resources ministry creating educational content for the general public, as well as producing resources for church leaders helping them create a more inclusive and equitable environment in which autistic and other neurodivergent persons can flourish in the life and leadership of their churches.

  3. Infinitus Community (ic) is a newly formed, independent, and post-denominational church led by neurodivergent people for neurodivergent people. Initially, Infinitus Community will be meeting in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area but it is also our goal to organically multiply the church everywhere by cultivating local leadership!

Connect

Digital newsletter

Boundless Expeditions is the digital newsletter of Infinitus Ministries.

Social media

We apologize for being inactive on these platforms lately. We recommend following/subscribing to our Substack, “Boundless Expeditions,” and Substack Notes @willowinfinitus.

Online forums

The online forums on TapaTalk has been discontinued as of Nov. 11, 2024. Join us on Matrix, or at our new Infinitus Fireside group on Signal.

Matrix

Matrix is a decentralized, open-source (and more private and secure!) group collaboration platform similar to Discord. Members and prospective members of Infinitus Community will have an access to this, as most member communications will take place there.

Infinitus Fireside, a private and secure group chat on Signal

Now open (Nov. 12, 2024)!

This is our new private, encrypted group chat (also allows voice and video calls!) on Signal. To join, you will need a Signal app on your smartphone (Android or iOS), but there are also desktop clients for Linux (Debian-based systems only, e.g., Ubuntu, LinuxMint, and Chromebook’s Linux Environment) and Windows (you will still need a smartphone and an active mobile phone number to create an account).

To join, go to fireside.infinitusministries.net

Your membership request must be approved by an admin, so we may ask you a few questions one-on-one (on Signal) before we let you join.

Email

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This project is under active development. Last update: 2024-11-12

https://infinituscommunity.goatcounter.com/count?p=/test

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