Focusing In on Fellowship
It has been two weeks now since I stopped working. I am really enjoying these days with more time to thoroughly care for our home, spend with friends, and prepare for the arrival of the baby. It has been windy and pouring rain for the whole last week so we’ve been doing a lot of reading! Our good friend Brad Smith is in town staying with us for the week. He and Bobby have spent numerous hours planning and executing an amazing new design for their site godsongmusic.com.
I’ve been thinking quite a bit this week about fellowship. Almost everyday we have people at our home for dinner, movies, a game, a long conversation…it always seems that someone is over. I am thankful that we can experience such blessing from the Lord in His provision of some of the most true and meaningful friendships I have ever had. Tonight I was talking with my friend Missy and was telling her that I’ve really enjoyed how we’ve had so much time to spend together these last couple of weeks. We both commented that it is nice to have the time to do so. As I thought about this I became convicted about my own interaction with others. Do I settle for surface conversation and distant interaction with others? I’m sure that I am not alone in my longing for and seeking out of true and godly fellowship, but I wonder if there are more reasons why we don’t have fulfilling fellowship than just time.
The lack of fellowship in people’s lives today is a problem. I know many people who do not have a close group of friends to share time with. In order to have dinner with these kinds of people they have to pencil you in a month and a half before the date. People like this always seem to me to be too busy and distant. And I think that if time were the only barrier to genuine and uplifting fellowship we would find a way to make it work. This leads me to see that maybe another part of this problem is that we don’t have a clear perspective from Scripture on what fellowship really is. I am sad that so many of us just try to get by in the busy rush of life and don’t take time for something that God has created to be a key area of the Christian life.
Maybe we’ve become so accustomed to the church-term “fellowship” that we have come to think it means the ten minutes before and after the Sunday service, an occasional potluck and mingling over food before Wednesday’s Bible study. But fellowship is meant to be much different. It is a companionship characterized by love and truthfulness, a partnership of edifying belonging. True fellowship happens when people come together in like-minded unity to selflessly and lovingly build others up. One of my college professors taught me that true fellowship embodies the New Testament’s one-another’s…confess your sins one to another, rebuke one another, exhort one another, edify one another, comfort one another, pray for one another, teach one another, admonish one another. True fellowship is not something that a group of acquaintancess do in the church family center over stale cookies and punch once a month. True fellowship is common unity and oneness of life in Christ and 1 John 1:5-7 is one of the most defining passages on this fellowship.
and declare to you, that God is light
and in Him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him,
and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanses us from all sin.”
If we do not have this fellowship with one another, then what are we doing? We really need to change how we spend our time so that fellowship is a daily priority. And when we do spend time together, we need to focus in on the kind of fellowship described in the Bible that builds one another up in the Lord.
January 4th, 2006 at 8:47 am
True biblical fellowship is such a blessing, as you so richly pointed out, but we often settle for counterfeits. After a recent move, I am committed to building relationships where true fellowship will flourish, as I have been missing it!
January 4th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
True biblical fellowship is so hard to find especially within our age range of people in their 20′s. I know the Young-Married group Phil and I apart of at our church could really use an eye opener in true biblical fellowship. There are so many times when we both have craved this type of fellowship. Thank you for putting it into words!
January 4th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Mom- Thanks so much for reading:). I can imagine that after a move, this kind of fellowship would take time to develop. I pray you will find that soon!
Kristen- I’m so excited that you’ve started a blog too! I agree that there is confusion about this among our age group. It seems that alot of people our age want to spend time socializing and doing fun stuff, but not going very deep. Then there are those of us who long for true fellowship but cannot manufacture it if other people don’t want to be a part of it. I’m glad you have a group though, I hope you can build some true friendships there!:)
January 5th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
Sis- thanks for this convicting post, it gave me a lot to think on.. I am so happy for you, now having more time for the fellowship you love so much, it’s hard to believe the end of work finally came and now here you are.
I’ll be happy to see you soon, I am looking forward to that fellowship, even though I will be working 
Keep on thriving, see you soon. 
January 9th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Christa-
I found your blog through a comment you left on Matt & Kara Rehrer’s blog. My husband and I are friends with Matt & Kara through our Sunday school class and our weekly home fellowship group (here in Houston), and they are precious to us.
Anyway, when I read that you are expecting a baby, I had to tell you how happy I am for you (even though I don’t know you!) I have a seven-week old baby girl, and being a mother is absolutely wonderful! I feel so amazingly blessed, and it thrills me to hear of other women who are about to experience what I am experiencing. Whenever I look at my baby girl and ponder the intricate details of her perfect little body, I wonder how people can deny the existence of a Creator. Whenever I have a hard day or a hard night (or several in a row), and I feel like I am about to crumble, God reminds me that He is taking me through this to make me stronger for the next thing…and I am overwhelmed with love for Him, and love for my daughter.
Sorry this is so long, but thank you also for your post on fellowship. My husband and I have been having many discussions over the past months about true, intimate fellowship. We long to get past the surface conversations, and we struggle with why it seems so difficult! Anyway, your post went straight to the heart of the matter, and it encouraged me to try harder!
God bless you in your remaining weeks of pregnancy and as you enter motherhood.