Fellowship
Church of the Holy Spirit seeks to live in a fellowship relationship with people related to the church. In the early church, the Holy Spirit brought people into close fellowship. After Peter proclaimed the message of Jesus and the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, many believed and were added to the fellowship.
“Many of them believed his message and were baptized, and about three thousand people were added to the group that day. They spent their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers. Many miracles and wonders were being done through the apostles, and everyone was filled with awe. All the believers continued together in close fellowship and shared their belongings with one another. They would sell their property and possessions, and distribute the money among all, according to what each one needed. Day after day they met as a group in the Temple, and they had their meals together in their homes, eating with glad and humble hearts, praising God, and enjoying the good will of all the people. And everyday the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:41-47)
We want to share Christ, help people grow in Christ and give ample opportunities for spiritual growth and ministry to everyone connected to the church. If anyone is connected to the church through classes, worship, or through relationships with others, such persons are considered to be in “fellowship” with the church. The elders will be shepherds of those in fellowship and we will continue to offer growth, fellowship, and discipleship opportunities to everyone in fellowship.
In The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren we learn that fellowship is one of our primary purposes in life. As a church we should practice, encourage, and model genuine fellowship.
The entire Bible is the story of God building a family who will love him, honor him, and reign with him forever. “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.” Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)
We become a member of God’s family through baptism and second birth. God “has given us the privilege of being born again, so that we are now members of God’s own family.” 1 Peter 1:3b (LB)
“Jesus and the people he makes holy all belong to the same family. That is why he isn’t ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.” (Hebrews 2:11 CEV) What an amazing truth. We are part of God’s family, and because Jesus makes us holy, God is proud of us! The words of Jesus are unmistakable: “[Jesus] pointed to his disciples and said, ‘These are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!’” Matthew 12:49-50 (NLT)
“You are members of God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.” (Ephesians 2:19b LB)
“God’s family is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.”
1 Timothy 3:15b (GWT)
The Bible teaches that the church is like a human body. “In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:5 (NIV)
To Paul, being a “member” of the church meant being a vital organ of a living body, an indispensable, interconnected part of the Body of Christ. (Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 6:15; 12:12-27) As a church, we need to recover and practice the biblical meaning of fellowship. The church is a body, not a building; an organism, not an organization.
For the organs of a body to fulfill their purpose, they must be connected to your body. The same is true for us as a part of Christ’s Body. We were created for a specific role, but we will miss the fellowship purpose of our life if we’re not attached to a living, local church. We discover our role in life through our relationships with others. The Bible teaches us, “Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we?” Romans 12:4-5 (Msg.)
The New Testament assumes membership in a local congregation. The Bible says a Christian without a church home is like an organ without a body, a sheep without a flock, or a child without a family. It is an unnatural state. The Bible says, “You belong in God’s household with every other Christians.” Ephesians 2:19b (LB)
Reasons Why We Need to be in Fellowship with a Local Church
1. A church family identifies one as a genuine believer. Jesus said, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:35 (NLT)
When we come together in love as a church family from different backgrounds, race, and social status; it is a powerful witness to the world. (Galatians 3:28 (Msg)) You are not the Body of Christ on you own. You need others to express that. Together, not separated, we are His Body. (1 Corinthians 12:27 (NCV))
A Christian who is not committed to a specific group of Christians is living in disobedience and rebellion.
2. A church family moves us out of self-centered isolation. The local church is the classroom for learning how to get along in God’s family. It is a lab for practicing unselfish, sympathetic love. As a participating member you learn to care about others and share the experiences of others: “If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it. Or if one part of our body is honored, all the other parts share its honor.” 1 Corinthians 12:26 (NCV) Only in regular contact with ordinary, imperfect believers can we learn real fellowship and experience the New Testament truth of being connected and dependent on each other. (Ephesians 4:16; Romans 12:4-5; Colossians 2:19; and 1 Corinthians 12:25)
3. A church family helps us develop spiritual muscle. You will never grow to maturity just by attending worship services and being a passive spectator. Only participation in the full life of a local church builds spiritual muscle. The Bible says, “As each part does its own special work, if helps the other parts grown so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” Ephesians 4:16b (NLT)
4. The Body of Christ needs every member of the body. God has a unique role for each of us in his family. This is called your “ministry” God has gifted each of us for this assignment: “A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church.” Ephesians 2:10 (Msg)
Our local fellowship is the place God designed for us to discover, develop, and use our gifts. We may also have a wider ministry, but that is in addition to our service in a local body. Jesus has not promised to build our ministry; he has promised to build his church.
5. A church family will help keep us in balance and keep us out of consuming sin. None of us are immune to temptation. Given the right situation, each of us are capable of any sin. (1 Corinthians 10:12; Jeremiah 17:9; 1 Timothy 1:19) God knows this, so he has assigned us as individuals the responsibility of keeping each other on track. The Bible says, “Encourage one another daily…so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:13 (NIV) “Mind your own business” is not a Christians phrase. We are called and commanded to be involved in each other’s lives. If we know someone who is wavering spiritually right now, it is your responsibility to go after them and bring them back into the fellowship. James tells us, “If you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back.” James 5:19 (Msg)
In Acts, the Christians in Jerusalem were very specific in their commitment to each other. They were devoted to fellowship. The Bible says, “They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.” Acts 2:42 (NLT) God expects us to commit to the same things today.
God intends for us to experience life together. The Bible calls this shared experience fellowship.
It is experiencing life together. It includes unselfish loving, honest sharing, practical serving, sacrificial giving, sympathetic comforting, and all the other “one another” commands found in the New Testament.
When it comes to fellowship, size matters: Smaller is better. We can worship with a crowd, but we can’t fellowship with a large crowd.
God has made an incredible promise about small groups of believers: “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” Matthew 18:20 (NASB)
6. In real fellowship people experience authenticity. Authentic fellowship is not superficial, surface-level chit-chat. It is genuine, heart-to-heart, sometimes gut-level, sharing. It happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives. They share their hurts, reveal their feelings, confess their failures, disclose their doubts, admit their fears, acknowledge their weaknesses, and ask for help and prayer.
It is only as we become open about our lives that we experience real fellowship. The Bible says, “If we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other…If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves.” 1 John 1:7-8 (NCV) The world thinks intimacy occurs in the dark, but God says if happens in the light. Darkness is used to hide our hurts, faults, fears, failures, and flaws. But in the light, we bring them all out into the open and admit who we really are.
7. In real fellowship people experience sympathy. Sympathy is not giving advice or offering quick, cosmetic help; sympathy is entering in and sharing the pain of others. Sympathy says, “I understand what you’re going through, and what you feel is neither strange nor crazy.” Today some call this “empathy,” but the biblical word is “sympathy.” The Bible says, “As holy people…be sympathetic, kind, humble, gentle, and patient.” Colossians 3:12 (GWT)
8. In real fellowship people experience mercy. Fellowship is a place of grace, where mistakes aren’t rubbed in but rubbed out. Fellowship happens when mercy wins over justice.
We all need mercy, because we all stumble and fall and require help getting back on track. We need to offer mercy to each other and be willing to receive it from each other. God says, “When people sin, you should forgive and comfort them, so they won’t give up in despair.” 2 Corinthians 2:7 (CEV)
You can’t have fellowship without forgiveness. God warns, “Never hold grudges,” Colossians 3:13 (LB) because bitterness and resentment always destroy fellowship. Because we’re imperfect, sinful people, we inevitably hurt each other when we’re together for a long enough time. Sometimes we hurt each other intentionally and sometimes unintentionally, but either way, it takes massive amounts of mercy and grace to create and maintain fellowship. The Bible says, “You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” Colossians 3:13 (NLT).
Conclusion:
Church of the Holy Spirit seeks opportunities to fellowship with one another and with whoever is available for fellowship. We demand no commitment and we ask no pledge of membership. Instead, we pray for a Spirit led response including a deeper walk with God, a deep genuine fellowship with one another and the use of the spiritual gifts, time, and treasures which the Lord has entrusted to your care for the benefit of the church. We want to be a blessing to everyone to whom the church is related through fellowship. We stress learning fellowship through experience and not demanding it by membership.
