AS FAMILY WE GO

A global network of believers gathered to champion the cause of the church everywhere.

Before Rend Collective was a band or made music. Before we left our homes along the coast of Northern Ireland, we were a group of twenty and thirty somethings huddled in a church gym. We met to seek God, to wrestle through the parts of faith we could make sense of, and find peace with the things we couldn't. We were artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, students, athletes, young professionals and primarily misfits dependent on grace. We longed to rend our whole hearts for the sake of the Gospel. As we've toured the world as a worship band, we've never lost our belief in the power of community. Only now that community has grown. On the road we continue meet people who are living in intentional community, and with the mission to grow in faith and in love with Jesus. As Family We Go is a movement for these people. A collection of kindred spirits who are living out the nitty-gritty joy of what it means to be in the family of Christ. We're not stagnant, we aren't localised, we're normal folk straining toward a type of missional community that embraces the arts, includes the outcast, and pursues the heart of God. We are family, and as family we will go.

WHO WE ARE

Gareth Gilkeson

As founder of the Rend fellowship in 2002, and band leader of the worship band Rend Collective, missions and reaching the marginalised have always been a part of Gareth’s calling. The vision to start As Family We Go came from the desire to champion unity, while celebrating the diversity of God’s church. He coaches and mentors community leaders and while encouraging others to explore what it looks like to build God’s kingdom in their own immediate context.

Dustin White

Church-planter and teaching pastor of Radial Church in Canton, Ohio, Dustin has been a long-time advocate for equipping churches and individuals with the encouragement they need to reach the world around them with the Gospel. As a leader of As Family We Go, Dustin works connecting church communities with one another, while mentoring young church-planters and community leaders across the globe.

Gabriella Llewellyn

Gabby has been involved in missions and church planting most of her life. First in Central Asia, and now on the road working as the written voice for Rend Collective. In As Family We Go, she works as the Creative and Communication director, collecting stories and connecting churches on the road.

Jamie White

As one of the pastors of Radial Church, Jamie has worked as a church-planter and community builder for almost ten years. As a leader of As Family We Go she is Editor-In-Chief of our online content and one of our key story-tellers, providing content and resources from and for communities. If you have a story you’d like to submit you can email at jamie@asfamilywego.com.

Chris Llewellyn

Lead singer of the worship band Rend Collective, Chris has been leading worship for the church across the world for almost ten years. He led worship at Rend Fellowship and worked as a youth and small group leader. In As Family We Go, he works as a mentor to worship pastors and community group leaders, helping them create times of worship that are Gospel-centred and inclusive of everyone.

Ali Gilkeson

Before leading worship with Rend Collective, Ali worked as a youth pastor for four years at her local church in Northern Ireland. Her heart for reaching the young, weak, and marginalised have been key to the vision and creation of As Family We Go. She continues to speak and mentor leaders who are trying to reach the vulnerable in their own communities.

Patrick Thompson

Apart from leading worship with Rend Collective, Patrick is a leader at King’s Church in Bangor, Northern Ireland. He’s a long-time advocate of the importance of local church, and works in As Family We Go as a mentor for those who are being sent out by their home church to start faith communities of their own.