In class yesterday we were discussing the topic of fellowship and our responsibility to one another. For so long in our tribe fellowship has been deemed as eating together or hanging out together and sadly we have lost the true meaning of fellowship. Part of what was discussed under the "Brother in Need" blog topic is incorporated into this fellowship. The term we call fellowship comes from the Greek word Koinonia. (NOTE: I am not a Greek scholar)
It was in the study notes that koinonia comes from a word meaning spouse or business partner. Quoting from Wikipedia ""Koinonos" in classical Greek means a companion, a partner or a joint-owner." This companion can be the same as a spouse. This got me thinking that I need to reshape how I approach fellowship. From that vantage, I need to treat my brothers and sisters as I would my own spouse. They are my partners, not a part of some loosely associated fraternal organization. If I would begin to look at them as a partner rather than an acquaintance then maybe I can finally get to what the church is supposed to be.
Again from Wikipedia: "To create a bond between comrades is the meaning of koinonia when people are recognized, share their joy and pains together, and are united because of their common experiences, interests and goals. Fellowship creates a mutual bond which overrides each individual’s pride, vanity, and individualism, fulfilling the human yearning with fraternity, belonging, and companionship. This meaning of koinonia accounts for the ease by which sharing and generosity flow. When combined with the spiritual implications of koinonia, fellowship provides a joint participation in God’s graces and denotes that common possession of spiritual values."
I wonder how much more has been lost in translation. It makes me ashamed of how little I truly know and how much I am missing out on in what the church should be. Is it possible to have the Church as Christ intended in the 21st Century?
In Him,
David
3 comments:
Yes it is possible to have the church as Christ intended. It just might not look like we expected. :)
Great post...glad the conversation is being held among brothers there.
Ah the ponderings of what is fellowship. I really hope that we can aim to be what Jesus intended...
About a week ago, I was turned on to a book that has brought about a bit of discussion around church, with me really wondering about its ramifications with regards to fellowship. I wrote a bit about it here (along with some quotes from the book that I found particularly well-suited).
The guy who I noticed it from (Jim) wondered about this also here. I'll snip part of it since he can be a bit "long-winded" :)
I know now that I don't need a house church nor a small church nor a startup church nor any other kind of community that is arranged and organized by man. I don't need a new program, a 12-week study course or a committee. I do need friendship, fellowship and community, and the funny thing is how I've started recognizing how that happens and has been happening in my life all along, without any help from humans but a lot of help from God. Friendship. Real, honest friendship. That's all any of us need. And not "friendship to then get together to build this organizational thing in our own image", because that isn't friendship. That's substituting activity, busy-ness, for community. So what I am praying for now is to be open to friendship as people cross my path every day. Open at work. Open at home. Open when I am at the store. Open, open, open. I want to be paying attention when He places people in my path with whom I am to share part of our walk together with Christ, for Christ and about Christ. That's all.
Thank you for the comments and ccjjharmon, thank you for the links. The quotes you gave really spoke to this and I am highlighting two so other readers might follow your link and re
ad for themselves..... “What I hope you’ll do is simply let God connect you with those brothers and sisters he wants you to walk with for now.”
“No institutional arrangement will ever contain all that the church is. Don’t look for it institutionally; look for it relationally.”
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