Usually, when people rehearse the Church of Acts 2, focus gets especially paid to teaching, breaking bread, and prayers, but it is important that we don’t forget the fellowship component. It is not too strong to say that a Church without fellowship is not a church at all. That isn’t to say that a person can’t be a disciple of Jesus in isolation (though I think one can only follow Jesus so far by themselves), but rather to say that a church that doesn’t foster relationships between and for its members is a church that is failing to live into the fullness of gospel.
Jesus built community. He invited people to follow him, he sent them out two by two, and he invited them to make new disciples in order to start the process over again.
During the Community Conversations we held at Saint Paul’s, one of the key phrases that we heard again and again was fellowship. As one member said, “I want to know that the people I worship with on Sundays are my friends during the week.” We’re taking that call seriously and seeking ways to bring people together, with various levels of success, and do in the midst of a really busy week and on the back of a really successful parish picnic, my question today, dear reader is, what does fellowship look like for you?
Draughting Theology 