TRUE FELLOWSHIP

Church Orientation & Recruitment of Elders

"We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." — 1JO 1:3 (NLT)

What images come to mind when you hear the word fellowship? Rarely do we think of fellowship in terms of fulfilling the God-given purposes of the church, but that is what true fellowship accomplishes. As we read in Acts 2:42-47, Christians of the first century church didn't just have fellowship, they devoted themselves to it. Fellowship was a priority in their lives — right along with prayer and the Word.

One gets the sense from reading Acts and 1JO 1:3 that fellowship, or koinonia, means a lot more than getting together over food and talking about the events of the past week. True fellowship goes far deeper than this and has a much richer meaning. In fact, there are four main aspects of fellowship that were apparent in the early church. Perhaps we have lost sight of them in the church today.

1. RELATIONSHIP

Fellowship is sharing a common life with other believers — and with God the Father and God the Son. It is a community relationship, not a social activity. Luke tells us that "all the believers met together constantly" and "worshiped together at the temple each day, met in homes [much like a small group] for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals …" (ACT 2:44, 46). They understood that their fellowship with God logically brought them into fellowship with one another.

2. PARTNERSHIP

True fellowship (koinonia) also refers to a partnership. In spiritual terms, it is a partnership created with the objective of bringing glory to God (see MAT 5:16). This is accomplished by means of discipleship and evangelism (two purposes of the church). God is glorified when Christians grow in Christlikeness and when unbelievers are brought into the kingdom. Biblical fellowship, then, incorporates this idea of an active partnership in the promotion of the gospel [evangelism] and the building up of believers [discipleship]." PHI 1:6 Note: small groups are key in accomplishing this.

3. COMMUNION

This communion refers to the idea of communicating intimately or sharing with one another on a close personal and spiritual level (as opposed to partaking of Communion at the Lord's Table). Communion may take the form of mutual sharing among believers of what God has taught from the Scriptures, what God is doing in their lives and/or simply a word of encouragement from one believer to another. This only happens as we spend time together developing our relationships, because vulnerability and trust are required.

4. SHARING

Koinonia was often used in the New Testament in the context of sharing material resources. The willingness to share our possessions with one another is a very important aspect of true biblical fellowship. Koinonia is more than just showing compassion or benevolence — even unbelievers do that. The true fellowship of sharing possessions within the Body is a tangible recognition that when one member of the community suffers, we all suffer together (1CO 12:25-26). It's because we share together a common life in Christ that we are called upon to share with one another whatever we have — both spiritual and material.

This is the way of life to which God has called His church — to relationship, partnership, communion and sharing. If we practice true fellowship following the Scriptural model, we will find that our experiences as part of God's kingdom on earth will be much more rich and wonderful. Like those early believers then, let's devote ourselves to fellowship — and let's get started right now!