THE IMPORTANCE OF FELLOWSHIP

THE IMPORTANCE OF FELLOWSHIP
What is Fellowship?
According to the dictionary, fellowship means the friendly association with others. Notice; the key word there is friendly. Some people may feel that just talking to someone is fellowshipping but if you’re not talking to the person as a friend then all you’re doing is talking-not fellowshipping.

How does People Fellowship?
If you look at the world today, you will see a lot of fellowshipping. If you go to those clubs on a weekend you will see a lot of young people fellowshipping? What it is that drives these young people to those clubs? Is it because of the cool music or those beers? I think the main reason why young people flock to those places is because of the wonderful opportunities to fellowship over there. I mean, think about it. You can meet new friends, hang with current friends, you can probably pick up a girlfriend, boyfriends etc. Imagine a club that may have the best music and the best alcohol but they don’t allow you to speak to others. If you’re caught speaking to someone they will throw you out. I’m sure you will realize that such a club won’t last very long because they are taking away the fellowship from everyone.
Look at families that have lots of family gatherings with lots of alcohol, secular music etc. Some Christians may look at such families and criticize them for their way of celebrating but if we as Christians take a closer look at such families we will realize that even though they may be celebrating in the wrong way those families tend to have a lot of bonding, a lot of healthy relationships, they are united and where there is unity there is strength. I believe that such a family will be more effective than a Christian family in which no one really communicates with each other. So you can see that fellowshipping is a vital thing.

Why do people Fellowship?
As you can see there are lots of reason for fellowshipping? But why do we fellowship? Why don’t we just keep to ourselves and let others keep to themselves? I thing the answer to that question can be found in the book on Genesis. When God created Adam, he gave him everything that he could possibly want. He had dominion over the animals, he had access to all the fruit trees, he had the rivers and seas to swim in but he was lacking one thing. God realized that Adam didn’t have someone he could relate to. He didn’t have someone he could fellowship with. Thus God created Eve. The reason why we love to fellowship is because we were created wanting someone we could relate to. Its only human nature. We all depend on each other. We are interdependent. So now when you see people flocking to the wrong places, know that they are just acting normal.
Look at how fellowshipping as changed over the years. We spend so much time fellowshipping in chat rooms, just by typing to someone who we’re not sure if they are a boy, a girl, a killer etc and talk to them for hours. What about text messaging. There are some people who are always texting someone. What about the time we spend on the telephone. We spend hours talking to people on the telephone and when the phone bill comes well- we blame the telephone company for robbing us….lol

Christian Fellowship
As you can see, we all love to fellowship. God intended it to be so. But what does fellowship as to do with us as Christians. I believe that we should fellowship for 2 reasons.

1. To grow in our walk with God

2. To grow in our relationship with others


We grow in our relationship with God by going to church on a Sunday, by going to youth groups, to prayer meetings etc. when we go to such meeting we meet people just like us, who are going through the same thing as us, who are trying to live the same life we are trying to live and when we come together as a body our souls are strengthened because of this knowledge that we are not alone in our quest for reaching the promised land. We know that we aren’t the only ones who are traveling the road less traveled. People who call themselves Christians and aren’t in any local church usually don’t have much strength to continue pressing on for the prize and when trouble comes their way it is easier for them to backslide than someone who is already involved in a church and has the support of its members.

How do we grow in our relationship with others? I believe that there are times when as young people we need to come together outside of church related stuff e.g. going on a field trip, having a cook, playing some games etc. When we do these kind of things we get to understand each other more, and when we understand each other more we can relate to each other more and when we can relate to each other more we can serve each other more. There is too much backbiting and gossiping among us Christians today that I believe it is hurting the church on the whole. If there is a certain youth who you do not like I would like to encourage you to start fellowshipping with that person and maybe you will begin to see that you had the wrong opinion of that person. Maybe there was a total misunderstanding between you and that person and you can resolve that and start a whole new relationship. There is nothing to gain by having an enemy but there are tremendous benefits in having a friend. Why not turn that enemy into your friend?

Those are the 2 reasons I believe we, as Christians ought to fellowship. The church today basically focuses on the 1st reason I gave you all but I believe that both are just as important as each other. If young people only see the pastor as the pastor and does not seem him as a friend who they can relate to then I think that defeats the whole purpose of the pastor, which is why I believe the second type of fellowshipping is just as important as the first. We need to stress on both. I believe that if we as young people start focusing on those 2 reasons for fellowshipping and start putting it into practice, we will achieve a lot of tremendous results in our lives. As someone once said- ‘my popularity, my happiness and sense of well being depend to small extent on my ability to deal with people.’

Thank you and have a good day. Please reply and tell me what you think about this article. Feel free to print it out and share it with others. If you can get other people to join this newsletter please tell them to email me requesting to be in the newsletter.

Your friend

Brian Ramdhan