• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Recent Issues
      • November/December 2023November/December 2023
      • September/October 2023September/October 2023
      • July/August 2023July/August 2023
      • May/June 2023May/June 2023
      • January/February 2023January/February 2023
      • March/April 2023March/April 2023
      • More…
  • Authors
      • Stuart OlyottStuart Olyott
      • Peter BakerPeter Baker
      • Tony BrownTony Brown
      • Wayne ProbertWayne Probert
      • Sophie KillingleySophie Killingley
      • Kerry OrchardKerry Orchard
      • Tom OlsonTom Olson
      • Gwen MontgomeryGwen Montgomery
      • John SnyderJohn Snyder
      • Ceri DouglassCeri Douglass
      • More…
  • Sections
      • Bible
      • Church
      • Comment
      • Faith
      • History
      • Life
      • Mission
      • My story
      • Prayer
      • Remembering
      • Reviews
      • Theology
  • Subscribe

Fellowship

Part 2 of the The Prototype Church series

James SercombeJames Sercombe2 minute readMarch/April 2022, page 26

The Prototype Church

  • Devoted To Teaching (1)
  • Fellowship (2)
  • The Breaking Of Bread (3)
  • Beyond Dull Prayer Meetings (4)
  • Filled With Awe (4)
  • Many Wonders And Signs (6)
  • Having All Things In Common (7)
  • ‘O Lord, Let Our Community Flourish’ (10)

Have you noticed that when it comes to discussions about fellowship we always talk about the food? It’s not always like that of course, but is that biblical fellowship?

Biblical fellowship

In Acts 2, the church of 120 grows by thousands overnight, and what a diverse and international gathering it would have been. Verse 42 says, ‘they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer’ (Acts 2:42). This may have been a description of their worship, but is more likely a summary statement of their way of life. The following verses amplify this, with verses 44-45 describing the ‘fellowship’.

‘All the believers were together and had everything in common’ (v 44), goes far further than the most optimistic expectations we might envisage, and what a committed learning and loving community! This is a new family, as diverse and dysfunctional as any, but supremely bound to Jesus and to each other. They exercised costly care, bore each other’s needs and prayed.

Committed fellowship

There are opportunities for fellowship before and after our services, where we catch up with how the past week has been for our widowed sister or single dad with teenagers. We can’t exhaustively know how life is, or sometimes even empathise, but we can love them, can’t we? Rather than nodding and saying we’ll pray, why not take a moment to reassure them that they are precious to the Lord and to us, and pray briefly with them, calling on our Father there and then, to give them the grace and the strength they need for the day (2 Cor. 1:4).

When we ask our socially awkward friend how they are and inwardly sigh when they say, ‘It’s been a bad week…’, don’t let’s say, ‘I’m so sorry to hear that, let’s catch up soon,’ because we’ve had ‘that’ conversation before. Shouldn’t we pause, and give them time? Let us engage and foster the fellowship between us and any brother or sister for whom Christ died, and to whom we are united for now and eternity. We should reflect the love and care of Christ, who always found time for those in need.

Let us go to church praying that we experience meaningful fellowship. Let us be those who are willing to engage and open the Bible and invest in conversations. Let us be like Malachi’s friends who ‘feared the Lord and talked with each other’ (Mal. 3:16) or Paul’s companions who taught and admonished one another by quoting psalms or spiritual songs (Col. 3:16).

Costly fellowship

Of course, the Acts 2 believers weren’t only sharing their testimonies and quoting the Old Testament when they met; their mutual burden-bearing impacted their bank balances too. Acts 4:32-34 builds on the earlier generous fellowship of chapter 2, with the believers voluntarily sharing with those in need, as Barnabas did in selling his field and bringing the money to the apostles (Acts 4:36-37). This mutual concern was costly, but they loved one another as family.

How do we address the need, or even obligation, to care for our sisters and brothers today? Would we reduce our treats, summer holiday budget or even our place on the housing ladder for the sake of someone else?

Before you ask the exegetical question of whether Luke is being descriptive or prescriptive at this point, that is, whether Luke is simply recording the events of the day or somehow binding us to the same principled behaviour, let’s be careful and check our hearts that we aren’t avoiding the Holy Spirit’s tackle with an Ananias or Sapphira swerve.

As for me, I still remember Sinclair Ferguson’s illustration of the shepherd who sends out the sheepdog to collect the sheep. When the sheepdog rounds up the sheep and brings them down from the fields and close to the shepherd, the sheep are at one and the same time brought nearer to each other too. May that be our experience of fellowship in the church as well.

Next in this series: The Breaking Of Bread »

Found this helpful? Like, share or tweet

Want more like this? Get the latest articles direct by email every week:

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Your personal details are safe. We won’t spam you, or pass your details onto anyone else. You can unsubscribe at any time.

About the author

James Sercombe
James Sercombe is the pastor at Crickhowell Evangelical Church.

Read next

Devoted To Teaching
by Mark Barnes (part 1 of The Prototype Church)
The Breaking Of Bread
by John Funnell (part 3 of The Prototype Church)
Beyond Dull Prayer Meetings
by Steve McLean (part 4 of The Prototype Church)
Filled With Awe
by Tom Clewer (part 4 of The Prototype Church)
Many Wonders And Signs
by Jonny Raine (part 6 of The Prototype Church)
Having All Things In Common
by Ben Slater (part 7 of The Prototype Church)
‘O Lord, Let Our Community Flourish’
by Ian Parry (part 10 of The Prototype Church)
Reaching into our community
by James Sercombe
38 likes

Primary Sidebar

Like us on Facebook

Evangelical Magazine

Latest issue

Other popular articles

  • What is ‘praying in the Spirit’ and how do we pray in this way? by Stuart Olyott
    97 likes
  • Golgotha - Why was Jesus crucified outside the city? by Mark Barnes
    32 likes
  • The Resilient Leader by Peter Baker
  • Until we meet again by Alun Ebenezer
    182 likes
  • Sharing Jesus with Mormon Missionaries by Tony Brown
    48 likes
  • Sharing Jesus with a Jehovah’s Witness by Tony Brown
    107 likes
  • Why was Jesus baptised in the River Jordan? by Mark Barnes
    76 likes
  • Door-to-door with a difference by Sheila Stephen
    18 likes
  • Mount of Olives: The Suffering and Glory of the Messiah by Mark Barnes
    30 likes
  • From bare-knuckle fighter to Sunday school teacher by Wayne Probert
    461 likes

The Evangelical Magazine is published by the Evangelical Movement of Wales.
Waterton Cross Business Park, South Road, Bridgend CF31 3UL.
Registered charity number 222407. View our privacy policy.