Christian Fellowship – more than meets the eye!
Gil Cann
Many Christians today are looking for ‘good fellowship’. They search for it in one church after another. They consider it a primary need if they are to grow in their faith. There is no doubt that God intends his people benefit from up-building fellowship. But the fact that many Christians find this goal so elusive suggests our understanding of fellowship may be in error and that we are looking for it in the wrong place.
The elements thought to be important to good fellowship include a suitable venue, music and singing to our liking, welcoming, friendly, compatible people, and ‘good teaching’! The possible contexts vary greatly from worship services to after-service ‘fellowship times’, to groups meeting in homes or other places. Some churches attempt to guarantee good fellowship by including the word in their name: e.g. ‘Bloggsville Christian Fellowship’. But fellowship cannot be captured in a name – like the boy who tried in vain to take home the thunderous roar of Niagara Falls in a bottle!
Nor can fellowship be packaged or programmed as though good fellowship is the result of what we do at our meetings. While we do need to provide time and opportunity for fellowship to occur when we meet the heart of the matter is this: True Christian fellowship is not primarily the result of what we do when we meet. It’s the outcome of what we’ve been doing since last we met.
The robust nature of distinctively Christian fellowship has been deeply eroded in recent years by a consumer attitude amongst Christians. This is no surprise, as a recent survey of churches in the US showed that over 80 percent of church members believed the primary reason their church existed was ‘to meet my needs, and the needs of my family’.
Consequently ‘fellowship’ does not now always mean the fellowship the Scriptures describe. Paul, writing to his Philippian friends says, ‘I thank God for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now.’ He went on to thank them for sharing with him in the hardship of his imprisonment, and for being co-workers with him in the dangerous work of proclaiming the gospel in their region.
The Greek word we translate fellowship, ie, koinonia, has several related meanings, e.g., partnership, and participation. In other words, Christian fellowship does not exist in a vacuum. Neither is it an end in itself. It is not something we can achieve by getting the components of our meetings right. It is the outcome of doing something else, ie, trusting the same Saviour, following the same Lord, sharing the same gospel, facing the same difficulties, taking the same risks, enduring the same hardships, making the same sacrifices, having the same priorities, struggling with the same issues, opposing the same injustices, furthering the same Kingdom, knowing the same Father, being prompted by the same Spirit, marvelling at the same love and rejoicing in the same grace.
When two or more such people meet, irrespective of whether their circumstances are ‘conducive to fellowship’ or not – it could be in a gaol cell, and sometimes it is – they experience a fellowship as different from normal human interaction as chalk is from cheese.
Christian fellowship is unique. It is a relationship grounded in our following Christ. It is not dependent on the right setting. It transcends personal, racial and cultural differences. It can be experienced on a plane, in a bus or in a shop; with a Christian you've never met before just as much as in a church with someone you know well. It defies all human explanation. It is a preview of the Kingdom!
Fellowship results from ‘follow-ship’. Without ‘follow-ship’ there is no fellowship. As the apostle John said, it is as we ‘walk in the light’ (i.e., seeking to honour the Lord in all things) that ‘we have fellowship with one another’ (1 John 1:7).
Five minutes with someone who is following Christ wholeheartedly is more renewing than two hours with a noisy throng! We go on our way with a song in our heart and a spring in our step.
I have long been intrigued by the title of Elton Trueblood's book, ‘The Incendiary Fellowship’. What a marvellous description of truly Christian fellowship. It warms our hearts, ignites our spirits and sets us ablaze for God. This is what fellowship is about!
So, following the Lord wholeheartedly and good fellowship are certainly not mutually exclusive, but the former must always be our first priority.
Our focus must not be on what we feel is good for us but on what makes us good for others. Don’t just look for good fellowship, aim to become good fellowship.
So is ‘good fellowship’ our greatest need? No! Our greatest need is to follow Christ wholeheartedly no matter what. And as we do he will sustain us, exactly as he promises. In my travels I never cease to be amazed at the godly, vibrant men and women I meet in isolated places and in ‘almost dead’ churches. Jeremiah describes them exactly. ‘Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream and is not anxious in the time of drought, and never ceases to bear fruit’. (Jer 17:7-8)
We can all, by the grace of God be such people, the kind of people Christians need each other to be. We won’t be looking for ‘good fellowship’ for our own sake any more. But when we do meet others of like heart and mind we’ll benefit immensely, and so will they!
True Christian fellowship is not primarily the result of what we do when we meet. It’s the outcome of what we’ve been doing since last we met…
Christian fellowship does not exist in a vacuum. Neither is it an end in itself. It is not something we can achieve by getting the components of our meetings right. It is the outcome of doing something else, ie, trusting the same Saviour, following the same Lord, sharing the same gospel, facing the same difficulties, taking the same risks, enduring the same hardships, making the same sacrifices, having the same priorities, struggling with the same issues, opposing the same injustices, furthering the same Kingdom, knowing the same Father, being prompted by the same Spirit, marvelling at the same love and rejoicing in the same grace.