Christian Furry Fellowship 

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F.A.Q.

The pastor and elders have collected what they think is a complete list of questions that need to be answered for visitors to this site. If you have any further questions, please contact the pastor or one of the deacons, and they'll do their best to answer.

Q: What is the Christian Furry Fellowship?
A: We are a group of Christian furries and fans who have assembled together to worship God and encourage one another.
Q: So what's a furry?
A: "Furry" is more of a shorthanded way of saying "anthropomorphic" by the fans of the community, but can also mean fans of anthropomorphism; for this explaination we'll use "furry" in the terms of the first definition. It is a word applied to creatures that have both animal and human characteristics.

In the context we use it here, it generally means an animal with at least the mind of a human - that is, the ability to think, reason, and talk. It is also often, but not always, accompanied by bipedalism and a generally otherwise human appearance save for fur, scales, etc.. There are plenty exceptions: quadrupeds with the mind of a human still count as a "furry" creature. But as a rule of thumb, here it means a creature with the mind of a person.

Good visual images for a wide variety of sample furry characters are well present in media: characters such as Chip and Dale, Bugs Bunny, Bambi, Lady from Lady and the Tramp, all the characters in Disney's Robin Hood, Mickey Mouse, the Redwall characters, Arthur Read, Starfox, Garfield, the rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and plenty more characters from your favorite childhood stories, various video games, and probably several sci-fi and fantasy books you might read as an adult.
Q: So how does that apply here?
A: Most of us tend to portray ourselves online as various furry characters of our own creation. It helps us give others a mental picture of ourselves and our personality. It gives us a mental image from which to visualize the chat room as a church that our furry character, and those of others can be inside. Also we just find it fun - who doesn't like pretending they're someone or something else? Even if it's pretending you're a fashion model, or the CEO of your company. It's the same concept, just a different thing to pretend to be - a metaphor of one's own self.
Q: How does furry factor into your spirituality?
A: It doesn't really. We're just Christians that like the same sort of thing. It's about the same as if you had found a Korean church in America, or a cowboy church, or a church quilting group, or if you discovered a collection of Christians who were also anime fans, or found a Christian athletes' association. Or a writers group of people that love to play tennis. It's a case of one special interest group ("furries") of which a few happen to exist in another, but unrelated (and larger) group (Christians). We are the overlap.
Q: But don't you guys believe you're animals or something?
A: No. As stated above, it's just metaphor. Furries don't believe they're really animals. Those people are called Therians, not Furries, an entirely different group of people. We have characters which may be animals that we play out online, but we don't claim that we are that character as the person behind the keyboard. No "totem animal" or stuff like that. Just people that like an idea.
Q: But what's with all this art of Bible characters as animals?
A: Again, it's metaphor. The Bible itself uses plenty of visual metaphor. The major difference is the medium: text vs. visual art. Jesus has plenty of metaphorical visual images. The Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God... a good search of the scriptures shows many animal metaphors for other persons as well. Were they actually those animals? Of course not. But they were that kind of character. That's the sort of thing we mean by the art on the bulletin covers.
Q: Then what's a furry - I mean "fan of anthropomorphism?"
A: That's just someone who likes anthropomorphim. It may be someone who enjoys the concept of furry characters, like a fan of sci-fi enjoys science fiction as a genre. It may be someone who likes art containing characters of that type. It may be someone who enjoys pretending to be a furry character. It may be someone who enjoys furry character costumes like you might find at a theme park or as a mascot for a sports game. It may be someone who is a fan of these things but doesn't participate themselves. It may be an artist that enjoys drawing these sorts of characters. It may be a combination of any of these, or more. People in the furry fandom differ a lot, so there's lots of different kinds of furry fans.
Q: So why did you form the CFF?
A: Many people, including some Christians, don't understand what furries are. They're convinced that we're crazies or sexual deviants or satan worshipers. At the very least, this makes it hard to open up, and disrespect and abuse from Christians who don't understand them has turned many furries off to Christ. This fellowship is a place where we can be ourselves and encourage one another in genuine love, and when apart, demonstrate the true love of God as we bring the gospel to unsaved furs.
Q: Do I have to be a furry to attend?
A: Not at all! We accept all species here. On a silly note, if you think you'll feel awkward about being a human in a roomful of furries then you can call yourself something else, like a "north american hairless ape" instead of "american human" if it would make you more comfortable; if it would make you uncomfortable, don't worry, because we wouldn't call you that unless asked. But seriously, the concept of furry fully embraces ethnic, race, and even species diversity. You'll be included and welcomed regardless of any sort of furry persona or lack thereof.
Q: What denomination are you guys?
A: Our denomination is called "Fishers of Men". We focus on reaching the world for God by using love, respect and reason. The denomination is very small, and relatively new (read: we made it up to describe us.) We are baptistic in origin, doctrine, and practices. Though members of all denominations are welcome to worship with us, our congregation includes quite a few protestants.
Q: So are you a church?
A: We are in the sense that we are a body of believers. However, we do not intend to take the place of the local church. We ask that our attendees also attend and support their own home churches. This is why we meet on Saturday night, so as not to interfere with local Sunday morning services, but to help provide the attitude of worship earlier than just as you're walking in the door to your own local church.
Q: Do you really have a monastic order, like in the comics?
A: No. Well, sort of. We do have a few Nazarites among our numbers. No full monks or nuns, though.
Q: Do you guys support missionaries?
A: Yes, we do. We support one missionary family in China and we also fund an annual clothing drive / missions trip to the Lakota reservation.
Q: Do you take an offering?
A: We accept whatever is sent to us and put it toward missions and aid for the poor. We ask, though, that folks tithe to their own church before sending their money to us. If you wish to support this ministry, you can use the paypal link on the bulletin, or send a check or money order to
CFF
400 E 4th st.
Julesburg, CO 80737
Q: Who's in charge?
A: That would be Pastor Oren Otter. Oren is a licensed and ordained baptist minister who is currently studying under his father, Pastor Lee Vary. He has taken courses at the Moody Bible Institute, but has not yet graduated due to a lack of finances. There are also Ann Vole, Jake Otter, and Xyie Fourseasons.
Q: Is the pastor paid?
A: Not through this church. In order to maximize funds to missions and the needy, Pastor Oren relies on support from his comics and his local church.
Q: Is St. Fred's an actual building?
A: No, but it is an actual website.
Q: I heard this place referred to as "St. Fred's Internet Church". Is that the same as the Christian Furry Fellowship?
A: For the moment, yes. The name you mentioned exists so that should another fellowship move in some day, we can exist as a single body while maintaining our distinctive ministries.
Q: Who is St. Fred?
A: Reverend Fred Rogers, a Presbyterian minister in Pittsburgh, and a saint well known for his ability to teach children. Most of us grew up on his teachings. You may have seen him on PBS. He was the host of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.
Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
A: As many as God wants to put there.