Fellowship

We broke into 3 groups for discussions on "fellowship": 1) a theology group; 2) a group that pretended to be a fellowship committee or a small group leader; 3) a group that pretended to be a church board member that was responsible for fellowship in a church.

The theology group was given the following questions to answer: Why fellowship? What is fellowship? Define “Agape”. Define “Koinonia”. What is the relationship between worship & fellowship? What is the relationship between fellowship & evangelism? The group unfortunately didn't get beyond the first two questions. As a large group we discussed agape as a Greek word meaning sacrificial love. It is possibly a Christian invention; rarely and disputably used outside of Christian writings. It is illustrated by 1 John 4:10 and Rom 5:5. Koinonia means community, communion or "joint participation". Jude 3 illustrates this with the Greek word "koine" for "we share" as in "the salvation we share". Rom 15:7 tells us that through the act of fellowship, it can also be an act of worship. 1 John 3:17 helps illustrate social concern which should be part of evangelism.

The second group had many good ideas on what a fellowship or small group does. Common things include bearing each other's burdens (Gal 6:2), encouragement (Heb 10:25a) and hospitality (Heb 13:2, 1 Pet 4:9). Acts 2:42 in NIV is entitled “The Fellowship of the Believers” and adds learning, fellowship, communion and prayer.

The administration of fellowship at the church level includes supporting the various groups in the church through leadership training and other means, identifying needs not being met by existing groups and potentially starting new groups or identifying fellowship opportunities outside of the local church.