On Joining Community: Unity, Duty and Fellowship

I just finished working on a doc for Inner Metro Green re: joining. The doc is titled “One Body Built upon Christian Unity, Christian Duty, and Christian Fellowship: On Joining Christian Community.” Basically, it is a call to take seriously three unique aspects of Christian community, before one actually joins the community. Said another way, one should know full well what he or she is getting into before he or she actually jumps into it! In our case, we are intentionally focusing on Unity, Duty and Fellowship. The following excerpt is directed toward fellowship.

Fellowship is a subject articulated well by the Apostle John. John, in First John 1:1-7 (ESV), writes:

1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life - 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us - 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

The apostle is clear: Christian fellowship claims its genesis and sustenance in Incarnation and Trinity. This is the defining characteristic of Christian community; it is an immutably unique factor that blatantly marks Christian community as different. Christian fellowship is seriously different from all other forms of fellowship in the world. People are incurably social beings. We gather for all sorts of reasons. We can cite an endless list of varied forms of social fellowship. So, what makes what we do as a Christian community different from all of those listed on these lists? Is it the sort of music played in community? No. Is it the program? No. Is it the architecture? No. Is it the public speakers? No. None of these things makes Christian fellowship different from any and all other forms of fellowship. John proclaims the difference in Incarnation and Trinity. It is in these theological realities that we find the sharp difference between Christian fellowship and all other forms of fellowship. It is deep within these community realities that we find the Holy Light, in which we walk, and by which we have authentic fellowship with one another and with the world. Fellowship is beyond important to Christian community. The foundation (Incarnation and Trinity) upon which our Christian fellowship is built is incredible beyond words. These are distinguishing characteristics of Christian community.