T H E O P H I L U S

 ⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. – Acts 2:42-47

Something I’ve been pondering about when it comes to leading a church or a ministry is the idea of “Fellowship” – how and what should that look like in the church? In many of the Korean-Canadian contexts in which I’ve served and been part of, it has often been typical in the way it is formed. I am not certain what it might look like in most other contexts, but my experience has been that it has been interpreted through segregation more than it has in togetherness; Needs based versus biblically based.

What I mean by that is in most churches today, we see the typical church family system in this manner: Children’s ministry, youth ministry, college fellowship, singles, married, married with kids, empty nesters, seniors, etc etc. In immigrant churches throughout North America, we see even larger segregation between language and culture. We often see “small groups” and church “fellowships” based on needs of language, life-stage and even sub-cultural appeal – to help people be around people who are more like them. Some of the glitches in this sort of church system is that if there is not enough of one group, there is a gap, and with the gap comes the possibility of people falling off the edge, leaving, or feeling alienated and left out of the system.

This is not a blog post to criticize or say that these types of fellowships are in any way wrong, but a reflection on the state of our current times and the heart check of the church.

The early church displayed that “all the believers were together and had everything in common” (v.44). Everything. What is that “everything” I presume? the gospel, their faith, their conviction that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again. This is all that mattered to them. This is what brought them together and had their hearts so on fire.

In some ways, the kind of fellowships the evangelical church today produces and models has a severe impact on our discipleship. Are we producing disciples that make disciples of those who are only like them? or are we teaching our congregations to love, be compassionate and disciple those who are different from ourselves, who are especially different, outside of our comfort zones and familiar circumstances.

Paul preached not only to a Jewish audience, but especially to the Gentiles – this was both controversial and often put him in uncomfortable situations.

Maybe it is time we as the church start being more uncomfortable. Be a little less about who we are, and much more about who Christ was, is, and is to come.

Cover Image by: Nina Strehl on Unsplash