Fellowship
“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” – Acts 2:42
While fellowship is a very common word among Christians, the intentional practice of fellowship as a discipline is not so common. The discipline of fellowship involves purposefully engaging in community building activities with other believers. Many of these activities are also other disciplines, such as worship, study, prayer, celebration, and service.
While fellowship can be experienced as part of a large group, the inner dynamics of fellowship are best experienced when the group is small enough for you to be known by everyone else in the group. Therefore, involvement in a small group, bible study, or something like this is very instrumental to the practice of fellowship.
The practice of your spiritual gift(s) is also important to the realization of true fellowship. Dallas Willard says:
The diverse gifts or graces of the Spirit – all of which are needed in some measure by each person from time to time – are distributed among the separate members of the body of Christ, the church. The unity of the body rightly functioning is thus guaranteed by the people reciprocating in needs and ministries. There are no “oughts” or “shoulds” or “won’t-you-pleases” about this. It is just a matter of how things actually work in the new life.
- If you are not already part of a small group of believers who meet consistently for the purpose of fellowship, find a group that you can join. Share with this group your desire to be intentional about fellowship.
- Spend some time meditating on the “one another” verses from the New Testament. Choose one or two that you would like to practice more regularly, and spend some time doing it in the context of fellowship.
- Read and meditate on 1 Corinthians 12:7-11. Consider a new way in which you might use your spiritual gift that will enhance your experience of fellowship.