There is a secret organization of powerful Christians in Washington. Only don’t call it “secret,” its defenders say. Call it “private.” Or “below the radar.” And it’s not an organization, more like a global informal network of friends, or, as one of its leaders described it, “a group of people brought together by a common love.” And please don’t use the word “Christian.” The common love that binds this group is the love of Jesus—the historical figure, the rabbi, the prophet, the shining example, the Son of God. All approaches to loving Jesus are fine. The Fellowship, as this group is called, has the slimmest scrap of a Web site. Nothing about its organizational structure is visible to the public: not its board of directors, nor its executive team, nor its mission statement, nor its 200 subsidiary ministries, nor its national or global membership. (For, as its surrogates tell me, there are no “members.”) Outsiders and the press can be forgiven, I think, for regarding this group with suspicion.
About The Author
Lisa Miller
Lisa Miller is a contributing editor at New York magazine. She is the former religion columnist for the Washington Post, former senior editor of Newsweek magazine, and author of “Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife.” She is a multi-year winner of the New York Newswomen’s Club prize for feature writing and has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award.