Christian Community.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

What is the image you conjure up when you think about the body of Christ? What do you picture when you hear the word "fellowship"? I was reading an article today which said this:

Today, churches have fellowship halls, fellowship dinners, and fellowship retreats, but very few have real fellowship.

This quote really caught me off guard. I, like many, have taken up the idea of fellowship as meeting once in awhile to have a lunch, movie night, game time, etc. Those are all nice, and can be part of the fellowship experience. However, if our community is limited to a game night once every few months, or a dinner every few weeks, doesn't it seem as if we are missing out on something?

I've seen both sides of the coin, regarding this issue. I have been in churches where there was no community. I look at those churches today, and I see them struggling to hold on as members pass away, or other move on to other churches. At the same time, I have been blessed to have been involved in ministries where my brothers and sisters in Christ are as close as my biological brothers and sisters. I was very blessed to have become a follower of Christ and accepted into a body of believers who I lived with, worked with, played with, ate with, lived with, shared my entire life with. Even now, a few years after leaving them, I am still touched by their willingness to love me and accept me. I love them more than any of them will ever know.

Yet, I realize I cannot live in that past, as nice as it was. Since then, I have both struggled and flourished. There were months of darkness, when I gave up on going to church and being with believers. Sin crept back in. It destroyed me. It destroyed my hope. It destroyed my relationships. I changed from one who know their purpose in Christ, to one who barely knew how to move on. Yet, in that darkness, I was able to find light. I re-established old friendships, and even met new people. Three dears brothers helped pick me up out of the dirt and showed me what it means to be a body of believers. I am forever indebted to Eric, Billy, and Blake. They helped me see the love that Jesus told us to have for one another. That love rekindled the fire in my heart, and soon after I was in full fellowship once more.

And here I am now. I thought I would move out to DC and have a hard time finding a place to connect. Yet, I have found a church that I adore. I have been connected to a group of teens that I think I would honestly die for, to protect. I have people who I barely even know, who are bringing me into their home. I have others who will invite me to breakfast, to pray with me, to mentor me, to help me find my place in the world....only after two talks! I am so blown away by the generosity, the love, the support, the willingness to help and mold. They are simply living out Christ's command to us all; love another, as He has loved us. This love will show the ENTIRE world that we are different from any other group. We are the elect in Christ. Nothing can break the bond that we have. Our bond is Christ, who reigns forever. Death could not stop Him. Hell could not overcome Him. If we are bound in him, together as one, then who can stand against us and prevail? Jesus himself said that the gates of Hell could not prevail against His Church!!!

If you are like I was, and are avoiding connecting with your brothers and sisters, then I HIGHLY suggest you get out and mingle with them! Hebrews 10:25 says;

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

I know that some churches are totally lame. I know there are places where they judge you, or where cliques are formed. I FULLY understand those places. I have been to plenty. Don't let that stop you from meeting regularly with a group of Christians though! Make those relationships, water them, and watch them blossom. I promise that the effort is worth it in the end.

I will leave you with part of the prayer that Jesus prayed in the garden, according to John's Gospel:

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.