Its clear that nearly every aspect of church life offers the opportunity for fellowship. Three people cleaning the church pews or digging a pensioners garden are able to chat and share together. However, fellowship must be more than being together to do things.
The Greek word koinonia which churches usually understand as ‘fellowship’ is all about sharing things in common in a community. The origin of the word community comes from a 14th century French word meaning ‘to share in common’. Furthermore, someone with whom we spend a great deal of time used to be called a companion. ‘Companion’ is a Latin word meaning ‘to eat bread with’ ie share your meals with. I don’t know about you, but my favourite relaxation is to have meals with people I know and love. During my time in the RAF I had to stand around at cocktail parties or receptions and make light conversation with people I hardly knew. Whilst these occasions were great for witnessing to people and making new friends, they were hard work and rarely fun. We couldn't wait for the guests to go so we could get on the real party.
I get my batteries recharged by sitting around a dinning table with my wife and four or five other couples for good food, drink and conversation about anything and everything, especially when it leads to laughter. That is more akin to concept of koinonia than many church house/cell groups. Perhaps its because churches so often gather their people from long distances and the members are not living near one another, that this kind of fellowship is no longer the norm. Or maybe it’s because churches think that eating and drinking and chatting are not very Christian activities, but one thing is sure, we need to have a lot more fun than we do. Just have a look at the gospels and see how many times you find Jesus eating at someone’s house or at a party or picnic. Jesus knew how to koinonia and I believe he spelt it F U N.
Next time I will describe how this leads us into that dreaded word, evangelism.
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