Fellowship is not only a covered dish dinner at church. While fellowship can take place at these dinners, much deeper fellowship is needed in our lives.
In the New Testament, the word fellowship is translated from the Greek term, koinonia. Koinonia is a lifestyle of living together, not in a compound or convent, but with one another in mind. It is caring for and including others in a covenant relationship.
We read of this koinonia fellowship in the book of Acts. The earliest church lived life together. They studied together, they prayed together, ate together, even sacrificed for one another. When you read the first few chapters of Acts with an inquiring mind, it is a very touching, desirous option for living. As I have traveled and worked with churches, I have seen pockets of this, usually four to eight people living at least with partial koinonia, but nothing like the young adult group in our church in Ohio.
Ready to respond
Whether it was an emergency, a crisis, a quick get together or a long-planned fellowship or ministry event, their care structure was efficient in keeping everyone in the know and ready to respond.
I was speaking with Kevin Martin one Sunday after church. Kevin’s classes had all the healthy, growing essentials in place. Kevin said, “Get this. Last night I called Tom and asked if he and Dee wanted to go eat with Amiee and me.” Tom replied, “Dee and I are headed to the lake with our jet ski. Why don’t you and Amiee come with us?”
Kevin responded, “Why don’t we make it a class thing?” Tom agreed.
The lake was 35 minutes away. This was before texting, instant communication and very few cell phones. Within one hour of that landline phone call they had over 30 adults — many with preschoolers in tow — at the lake along with two jet skis and burgers and dogs for grilling for an evening of fun and fostering relationships.
Koinonia
That my friend, is koinonia, doing life together intentionally and spontaneously.
These classes lived life with koinonia — biblical fellowship. Not only planned fellowship, as the example above demonstrates, spontaneous fellowshipping as well. What a testimony to the bonding relationships that take place amongst like-minded maturing disciples, living in koinonia. Koinonia is about living in the same heart not the same house.
Fellowship is an intricate yet overlooked measure of discipleship and fostering relationships. Little fellowship can take place during class time on Sunday morning. Therefore, it is important to structure in fellowships outside the church construct. These should take on a variety of venues and events, a cookout, taking in a sporting event together, local ministry endeavors, anything that multiple people in the group would enjoy. Due to fostering relationships, others will join in even if they are not particularly interested in that venue.
What will you do to foster genuine koinonia within your class structure?
Share with others: