The
Church Fellowship
Fellowship means community
The
local church is to be a fellowship in that we are to love one another, be at
one with one another, and to walk in harmony with one another. Someone defined
fellowship as “two fellows being in the same ship, going in the same
direction.” In order to be a Christian,
you must commit yourself to Christ, and in order to be a church member, you
must commit yourself to the fellowship.
To
be a Christian without being a part of a fellowship is like a man who wants an
intimate relationship with a woman, but not willing to commit to marriage. In a marriage, commitment is not only going
through a ceremony, signing a license or wearing a ring. It is also seen in a
daily devotion to joyfully show loyalty to the person to whom you are
committed.
Both
the wedding ceremony and the daily devotion are necessary to build a committed
life together. In a church fellowship, you cannot have true interdependency
among the members of the fellowship if there is no commitment. Commitment
begins with uniting formally and officially through church membership. It
continues with unity.
Fellowship means unity
In
addition to commitment, the Bible says if you have divisions and quarrels and
disagreement, you do not have fellowship. Paul said he would not praise the
Corinthian church because there were divisions among the people (1 Cor. 11:17).
Membership in the local church is to be characterized as having one mind and
judgment.
Repeatedly the Bible calls to church to
“that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined
together” (1 Corinthians 1:10). Second Corinthians ends with the command to “be
of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”
Paul wanted to hear the church at
Philippi was of one mind and one spirit, a conduct which would be “worthy of
the gospel of Christ.” If there is to be “any consolation in Christ, if any
comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and
mercy” (Philippians 2:1-2), we should
have a good fellowship together.
Philippians 3:16 says a unified
fellowship comes with the maturity “to the degree that we have already
attained.” The church fellowship can have disagreements without divisions and
without losing its call for unity. There should be no sharp bitterness or
divisiveness. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul underscores the necessity of different
ministries within the church, a topic we will discuss in Week 6 “Membership
Means Individuality.” Unity does not mean uniformity and Christians can have
differences without being divisive.
Ephesians
4:3 says “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of
peace.” A good fellowship promotes unity and appreciates differences as sources
of strength.
Fellowship means continuity
We also have the
responsibility to continue in fellowship together as an encouragement to one
another (Hebrews 10:24, 25). This is not anything new, as the early church was
characterized by its fellowship of harmony, joy, worship, witness and numerical
growth (Acts 2:46-47).
The
Apostle John is often called the Apostle of Love, since he wrote so much on it
in his letters and in his gospel. Yet he boldly stated that church members
“went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us,
they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be
shown that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19) Again in his second letter,
he wrote, “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of
Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has the
Father and the Son.” (2 John 9)
Clearly
we are to continue in fellowship. Once you leave the fellowship of one church,
members should immediately seek to be united with another fellowship as soon as
possible.
