The 5280 Fellowship is a 5-month learning community of spiritual formation, theology for work, and professional development that equips early- to mid-career Christian professionals to more faithfully engage their work.
Applications open September 1, 2025.
Curious about the impact of the 5280 Fellowship? Read about past fellows and the way the program renewed their imagination for their work.
We compare cultural narratives about work to Biblical narratives, framing our public work within Kingdom values.
We root our identity in Christ while pursuing wisdom and purpose for how we work excellently.
We navigate the tensions of being faithful Christians who winsomely work towards a common good in public spaces.
We engage practices and reflections that support our own formation while better equipping our service and leadership of others.
Applying an adult education philosophy, we seek to engage diverse learning styles by utilizing different learning environments and methodologies.
The program includes in-person experiences (a retreat, Saturday Sessions, and regular cohort discussions) as well as independent reflection opportunities (readings, learning artifacts, and practices). All of these components are directed at developing fellows who live with God, for the city, through their work.
Crafting a personal mission statement for work that unites faith motivations and professional responsibilities
Practicing tools for listening and discernment that can translate from one’s relationship with God to the meeting room later that day
Creating a capstone Vocation Integration Plan with personal practices and next steps to extend this 5-month experience into rhythms to shape a career of work with God
As potential candidates consider the 5280 Fellowship, they often ask about the personal characteristics of participants. What makes a good fellow? What types of people will I learn alongside? What should I know before committing to the program?
Explore our candidate profile to learn more.
The 5280 Fellowship is designed to fit the lives of full-time working professionals, outside of traditional workday hours.
The Spring 2026 cohort will run from January to May 2026.
For a comprehensive outline of time commitments and programming dates, click below.
Tuition for the 5280 Fellowship is $1200 and covers all program expenses (reading materials, meals, retreat lodging, and more).
Do not let program cost be a barrier to learning more and applying. To date, we have offered partial scholarships to every applicant with demonstrated financial need.
For more information on tuition deadlines and scholarships, click below.
Interested in the 5280 Fellowship and want to learn more? We want you to have the information you need. Join us at an upcoming event to get a feel for the type of content covered in the program, watch an informational webinar, email us with a question, or set up time to meet with someone involved in the program!
You can also check out the FAQs at the bottom of this page.
After the priority deadline, we may need to be more selective depending on application numbers. Please don't let this deter you from applying!
The opening retreat (1/23-1/25) and final dinner (5/16) are required attendance to participate this Spring. If you already have known travel on one of the Saturdays, you can still apply and note that date on your application. If you would need to miss more than one Saturday, consider applying for the next class.
Tuition covers 100% of the program costs per Fellow, including hospitality costs for leadership. In other words, this experience costs $1200 per Fellow. The vision and generosity of our donors covers the staff time of Denver Institute employees.
We have several strategies we can talk with you about to help offset part of the tuition. Contact us to talk more about those. But we also offer a limited number of partial scholarships to applicants, awarded based on demonstrated financial need and with preference given to those industries that traditionally are lower compensated for their work (e.g. nonprofit, education, frontline work, etc.).
The 5280 Fellowship is a fully in-person experience for both our weekend and midweek discussion sessions. We occasionally create Zoom-based group discussions for inclement weather OR to include a fellow who has occasional work travel, but we do not offer this as an online or remote experience. Fellows have come from Ft Collins south to Colorado Springs in the past, and the only limitation upon geography is the applicant’s full commitment to the schedule and commute. For those outside of the Denver Front Range, see this list of our friends running similar Fellowship experiences in other cities around the US.
We accept Fellows who have a mature and maturing personal relationship with Jesus who actively participate in a variety of Christian traditions. The majority of our Fellows are Protestant Christians, but come from a variety of churches–this ecclesial diversity is always commented upon as a strength of our curated community. We maintain a simple adherence to the Nicene Creed as a statement of faith, which applicants affirm in their application. The spirit for this limited statement of faith can be summed up from the familiar phrase, “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity.” This also means that there will be a wider range of belief on practical issues of church life (e.g. gender in church leadership, baptism, etc.), political beliefs, and some theological positions.
We’ll have one full weekend retreat, 4 Saturday half-days, and 9 two-hour midweek cohort discussions. Reading and reflection before group sessions usually takes about 60 minutes. Additional personal reflection and writing will total about 10-20 hours over the five months for several of the learning experiences. There will be an optional, though highly encouraged, day of silent retreat on an additional Saturday.
Past fellows have routinely affirmed that the 5280 Fellowship is usually more of a time commitment than a typical church small group, but less of one than a typical graduate class. We try not to create or encourage busyness for people, but intentional, personal adult learning does take reflective time. It is usually time that fellows have connected to the way they spend their devotional time with God, as the focus is very much on the life with God, through work. If you are too busy to pray and reflect carefully about your life, maybe this can be a 5-month invitation to a new pace for you. Busyness is one of the leading factors in accepting fellows or not, as fellows have affirmed that what you put into this experience directly relates to what you get out of it and what you give to others. Let this be a discernment conversation with the 5280 Fellowship Director or a past fellow he can connect you with.
Because the 5280 Fellowship is an in-person experience designed to build and utilize face to face discussions, missing more than one or two midweek cohort discussions will limit the experience of a participant and will impact the quality of the group dynamic. Reach out to Brian Gray to talk about this on a case by case basis.
Cohorts meet from 6:30-8:30 p.m. twice a month during the 5-month experience. Applicants will identify their preferences for both night of the week (M-Th) and the area of town for their cohort discussions. We have always been able to prioritize at least one of those preferences if not both as we form cohorts.
The 5280 Fellowship is an in-person program in the Denver Metro Area. If you're interested in a vocational discipleship program like this but don't live in Colorado, we encourage you to check out similar programs across the country using the tiles below!
Director of the 5280 Fellowship
Denver Institute for Faith & Work
The 5280 Fellowship is an initiative of Denver Institute for Faith & Work. We need a new cultural imagination for what Christian faithfulness at work looks like, and the Fellowship is a primary way Denver Institute prepares people to live out their faith through their work.
Since the inaugural class in 2016, over 150 early- to mid-career professionals have graduated from the program and are living with God, for the world, through their work.
If you have any questions about the 5280 Fellowship, please contact us by clicking the button below or emailing 5280fellowship@denverinstitute.org.
Stay up to date on the 5280 Fellowship and other opportunities by signing up for the Denver Institute newsletter below.
Director of the 5280 Fellowship
Denver Institute for Faith & Work
Brian is the VP of Formation at Denver Institute for Faith & Work and also leads our 5280 Fellowship program. Prior to landing at Denver Institute, he served in pastoral ministry for thirteen years and at Denver Seminary for four years. His vocation includes moving ideas out into life through relationships and conversation–whether that applies to God, work, the Church, good beer, or Liverpool Football Club. He married way out of his league, and spends most of his free-time being parented by his two daughters.
Program tuition is $1200, covering 100% of the program costs per fellow and hospitality costs for leadership.
This experience costs Denver Institute $1200 per fellow in hard expenses for the retreat, hospitality, and learning materials. The vision and generosity of our donors covers the staff time of Denver Institute employees.
We also offer a limited number of partial scholarships to applicants, awarded based on demonstrated financial need and with preference given to those industries that traditionally are lower compensated for their work (e.g. nonprofit, education, frontline work, etc.).
December 5, 2025: $400 Deposit Due
January 5, 2026: $800 Tuition Balance Due (or payment schedule arranged)
Past fellows have routinely affirmed that the 5280 Fellowship is usually more of a time commitment than a typical church small group, but less of one than a typical graduate class. We try not to create or encourage busyness for people, but intentional, personal adult learning does take reflective time. It is usually time that fellows have connected to the way they spend their devotional time with God, as the focus is very much on the life with God, through work.
If you are too busy to pray and reflect carefully about your life, maybe this can be an invitation to a new pace for you. Busyness is one of the leading factors in accepting fellows or not, as fellows have affirmed that what you put into this experience directly relates to what you get out of it and what you give to others. Let this be a discernment conversation with the 5280 Fellowship Director or a past fellow he can connect you with.
We’ll have one full weekend retreat, 4 Saturday half-days, and 9 two-hour midweek cohort discussions. Reading and reflection before group sessions usually takes about 60 minutes. Additional personal reflection and writing will total about 10-20 hours over the five months for several of the learning experiences. There will be an optional, though highly encouraged, day of silent retreat on an additional Saturday (date TBD).
Cohort discussions meet 1-2 times per month on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday evening from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. They will be arranged upon final class acceptance based on application preferences.
Below are the dates and estimated times for retreats, Saturday Sessions, and dinners for the duration of the program. These dates are firm, but the exact times may shift slightly.
January 8: Opening Welcome Dinner
January 23-25: Opening Retreat (Friday dinnertime to Sunday at 1pm)
Varies: Cohort Discussions
February 14: Saturday Session #1 (9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.)
Varies: Cohort Discussions
March 14: Saturday Session #2 (9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.)
Varies: Cohort Discussions
April 11: Saturday Session #3 (9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.)
Varies: Cohort Discussions
May 16: Final Dinner
Varies: Cohort Discussions
