<\/p>\n
For many of us who grew up in the Church, \u201cFellowship\u201d was a common word used in our youths. You may have had a \u201cFellowship Hall\u201d where the church gathered for Wednesday Night Suppers, Jazzercise on Tuesday mornings, Vacation Bible School in the blistering summer heat, and AWANA games every Sunday evening. Your pastor may have used the term \u201cFellowship of the Believers,\u201d a reference to the early church\u2019s actions in the book of Acts. Or you may have heard it used for community interaction, or \u201cChristian fellowship.\u201d It was sung in hymns, used to name whole rooms in church buildings, and summoned to promote general unity amongst the believers within a church congregation.<\/p>\n
Regardless of how the word \u201cfellowship\u201d was used in your childhood (and it may not have been, depending on your religious variety), the term isn\u2019t used as frequently as it was during my childhood in the 90s and 00s. It is an antiquated or niche term\u2014something most people outside of Christianity simply don\u2019t use anymore, and many folks within the Christian world have substituted for other words like \u201ccommunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for many of us, this word was a huge part of our church childhoods. It may conjure the familiar smells of church picnics and potlucks. It may bring back specific memories with friends from Sunday School or elderly folks with peppermints in their pockets. For me, I think of Fellowship of Christian Athletes\u2014the ministry both of my parents worked for my entire life until they retired a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n
Some of these memories are sweet and others are painful. Most of us probably have a mix of both. But the word \u201cFellowship\u201d is actually really rich and meaningful in Scripture, especially as it\u2019s used in the New Testament to describe the early church.<\/p>\n
The New Testament was originally written in Greek, the language spoken in most of the Roman world during the first century, and the word for \u201cfellowship\u201d is one you may have heard before: \u201ckoin\u00f3nia.\u201d<\/p>\n
At its most basic, \u201cKoin\u00f3nia\u201d means being present with one another. In some places, its translated as \u201ccontact.\u201d When people would shake hands and make an agreement together, the contact between their palms was called \u201ckoin\u00f3nia.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Greco-Roman culture of Jesus\u2019 day, the word was also used for business partnership, and it\u2019s a little different from the way we partner to own businesses today. In our world, business owners have \u201cshares,\u201d which essentially amount to a percentage of the company someone owns. At any point, you can decide to sell your shares and effectively end your ownership in the business.<\/p>\n
In the first century Greco-Roman culture, it wasn\u2019t that easy. You didn\u2019t have \u201cshares\u201d\u2014 you actually \u201cshared\u201d ownership of the business. If two people owned a business, they didn\u2019t split ownership 50-50; they both owned 100%. They completely shared ownership. If something happened to one owner, it happened to all of the owners. Owning a business together was an intense commitment that took legal proceedings to get out of. It wasn\u2019t just co-owning a business as partners, it was more like being a part of a family.<\/p>\n
This is the kind of fellowship that defined the first church. They didn\u2019t have \u201cshares,\u201d they literally \u201cshared\u201d everything. They were one big family. In fact, the most literal translation of koin\u00f3nia into our language today is:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong>koin\u00f3nia: coming together and sharing<\/span><\/p>\n Because true fellowship isn\u2019t ever one-sided. We share\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0we are shared with. We give\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0we receive.<\/p>\n We give and receive love. Fellowship is where we\u00a0share<\/strong><\/em>\u2014 not just our resources, but our very lives\u2014 with each other. This is how Paul, the persecutor of Christians turned church planter, described it to the church he started in the Greek city of Thessalonica.<\/p>\n \u201cWe loved you so much that we shared<\/strong>\u00a0with you not only God\u2019s Good News but\u00a0our own lives<\/strong>, too.\u201d This \u201csharing of lives\u201d was one of the things that made the first church stand out against the culture around it. Listen to how the author of Acts describes their fellowship:<\/p>\n All the believers met together<\/strong>\u00a0in one place and\u00a0shared<\/strong> everything they had. They sold their property and \u00a0possessions and\u00a0shared<\/strong>\u00a0the money with those in need. Every day they continued to meet\u00a0together<\/strong> in the\u00a0 temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate\u00a0together<\/strong> with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. The first church came together and they shared. The church was designed by God to be a place of fellowship\u2014 a place where we come together share our lives with each other: the good, the bad, and the ugly. We don\u2019t just share the beautiful parts of life with each other; we also share the broken and burdensome parts, too. This is the way of Jesus. He said:<\/p>\n \u201cCome to me, all of you who are\u00a0weary<\/strong>\u00a0and carry\u00a0heavy<\/strong>\u00a0burdens<\/strong>, and I will give you rest.\u201d In Paul\u2019s letter to the church in Galatia, he says our fellowship should do the same:<\/p>\n Bear<\/strong>\u00a0one another\u2019s\u00a0burdens<\/strong>, and so fulfill the law\u00a0<\/strong>of\u00a0<\/strong>Christ. Jesus offered rest and help to anyone carrying heavy burdens, and we are called to do the same. That means we must be people who have the compassion to carry each other\u2019s burdens\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>the courage to ask for help when things get too heavy. Sometimes the second part is harder than the first, especially if you come from a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps culture.<\/p>\n The \u201cLaw of Christ\u201d Paul references above is what we call \u201cThe Great Commandment.\u201d When Jesus was asked what the most important thing was, he said:<\/p>\n \u201cLove the Lord your God<\/strong>\u00a0with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is\u00a0equally<\/strong>\u00a0important:\u00a0Love your neighbor as yourself.\u00a0<\/strong>All the Law and the Prophets hang on these\u00a0two commandments<\/strong>.\u201d Love God and love your neighbor. That\u2019s what is most important. One of the ways we fulfill this \u201cLaw of Christ\u201d is by bearing one another\u2019s burdens. Love isn\u2019t just being supportive when things are going well. Love doesn\u2019t just bear the good things. Love bears\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>things.<\/p>\n The Old Testament book of wisdom called Ecclesiastes has a beautiful passage depicting what bearing one another\u2019s burdens looks like.<\/p>\n Two are better than one,<\/span> I want to offer something to you: healthy community is a buffer to trauma. This is the power of koin\u00f3nia fellowship. This is what we come together and share.<\/p>\n Sometimes this kind of fellowship looks like gathering around tables in celebration, but other times it looks like climbing down in a hole with someone who is struggling. We bear one another\u2019s burdens by listening, by being a shoulder to cry on, by advocating alongside of them, by pushing back against the things that hurt them.<\/p>\n True fellowship, being together and sharing\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0things, means that we don\u2019t have go through the hard parts of life alone. We don\u2019t have to be down in the hole by ourselves. It means that when something hurts one of us, it hurts all of us. When one of us is facing a tough situation, we all show up.<\/p>\n This is true on an individual level\u2014like when someone\u2019s kid gets sick or when they lose a job or are struggling to make rent. And it\u2019s also true on a communal level\u2014like when groups of people are being marginalized because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or anything else about them.<\/p>\n How can we replicate this kind of community in our day to day lives? Showing up for people on an individual level is pretty simple. It\u2019s not always easy, but we generally know how and when to do it. The problem for many people is that they can no longer abide the hypocrisy of the churches they were once a part of and we may be struggling to find others who feel a similar conviction that faith should influence our lives in ways that cost us power, influence, and money.<\/p>\n So how can we support people (or families) in tangible ways?<\/p>\n If someone has a baby, send them a meal. Supporting people on a communal level is much more complex and, often, polarizing. We can all agree (hopefully) that\u00a0\u201call people are created equal and endowed by their Creator with with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n (That\u2019s the Declaration of Independence, by the way.)<\/p>\n But we start to disagree when we actually work to implement\u00a0\u201cliberty and justice for all.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n (From the American Pledge of Allegiance.)<\/p>\n And what usually happens is that we end up arguing about theology and politics or the role of government rather than the role of the church in serving those who need help. When this happens, vulnerable groups of people continue to be marginalized as groups of Christians argue about what Christians\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0do.<\/p>\n But being serious about practicing Fellowship means we don\u2019t have to operate this way. Diverse and healthy communities of faith can come together and share our stories and perspectives. We can learn from each other, pool our resources, and collectively make a much bigger impact than we could ever make alone.<\/p>\n It all starts with a commitment to come together and share. I pray that God will continue to show us how to let this truth really sink in and give us the courage to live it out. If you find yourself in a place where you want Christian community but care about things like inclusion, justice, and caring for the poor and vulnerable, we would love to have you join this online community. It isn\u2019t the same as in-person community, but it\u2019s a close second. No matter your story, your background, or your understanding of God, you are welcome here. We hope to see you around!<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0First published on\u00a0Public Theology with Zach W. Lambert<\/em>\u00a0on February 26, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For many of us who grew up in the Church, \u201cFellowship\u201d was a common word used in our youths. 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We help others and accept help from others.
We offer kindness while also hoping to encounter kindness.
We demonstrate compassion and accept others\u2019 compassion.
We host and attend.
We donate when we have extra and accept help when we need it.<\/p>\n
<\/span>
\u00a01 Thessalonians 2:8<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span>
Acts 2:44-47<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span>
Matthew 11:28<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span>
Galatians 6:2<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span>
Matthew 22:37-40<\/span><\/p>\n
because they have a good return for their labor:<\/span>
If either of them falls down,<\/span>
one can help the other up.<\/span>
But pity anyone who falls<\/span>
and has no one to help them up.<\/span>
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.<\/span>
But how can one keep warm alone?<\/span>
Though one may be overpowered,<\/span>
two can defend themselves.<\/span>
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
<\/span>
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12<\/span><\/p>\n
If someone gets sick, visit them in the hospital.
If someone can\u2019t pay a bill, give them some money.
Is someone is grieving, show up and grieve with them.<\/p>\n