“So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
—Acts 2:41-42 ESV

As a member of a Christian church, I find the idea of devoting myself to teaching and prayer normal. Devoting myself to fellowship and the breaking of bread are two areas I find slightly strange. In many traditions, substituting “fellowship” with “attending church” and “breaking of bread” with “communion” would feel more comfortable. But we as Christians are not called to comfort and I do not believe this to be a right handling of the word of God.

Church and Fellowship

Church, or rather the Greek ekklesia, translates as “gathering”. Jesus first directly refers to the church when talking with Peter. “you are Peter [Petros] and on this rock [petra] I will build my church [ekklesia]”, Matt. 16:8. Later in Matthew’s account, Jesus talks about how to handle a brother who sins against you (Matt. 18:15-20). The final escalation if the brother does not listen is to “tell it to the church [ekklesia]”. Did the Christian church exist at this time in Jesus’ ministry? I would argue no, not until Pentecost and Jesus’ ascension and the Holy Spirit’s dispensation. But ekklesia is not an original term.

Ekklesia was largely a political one at the time where a group of people (polis) could exercise their rights (see my review of “One Assembly” by Jonathan Leeman). I suspect but am not certain that in this context Jesus is referring to a Jewish religious gathering as religion and law were closely related in their culture. I would also say that it is likely appropriate to apply the Matt. 18:15-20 to the church even though Jesus likely wasn’t directly referring to it.

The next occurrence has the most relevance to us in Acts 5:11 where Luke writes that “great fear came upon the whole church [ekklesia].” I write all this to make a distinction between church (ekklesia) and fellowship (koinonia). Certainly church should include fellowship but I don’t believe the fellowship of believers is limited to the church. (I should mention that I am referring to the lowercase local church and not uppercase universal Church of all believers.)

Mutual Involvement

The ESV Expository Commentary Vol. IX writes about Acts 2, “they were devoted to meeting together (‘the fellowship’)… Taken together with fellowship around the apostles’ teaching, common meals, and prayer, the practice of free sharing is evidence of salvation through the power of the Spirit. Believers are not only to agree with teaching about Jesus; they are fundamentally changed in a way in which they live, demonstrated in extraordinary generosity and concern for the well-being of others” (pg. 361-363). The NET study notes add, “Fellowship refers here to the close association involving mutual involvement and relationships.”

Mutual involvement, I love that term. In fact I think that is how I am going to frame fellowship from now on. While Christian fellowship involves meeting together, it is much broader in scope and also requires agreeing about who Jesus is and being transformed into his likeness. These two elements of fellowship are expressed by extreme generosity and concern for others (including mutual concern for fellow believers). It is not enough for Christian fellowship to simply show up or to receive the blessing of concern from other believers. It requires a concern for other believers surrounding you—a mutual involvement.

Many Questions

Viewing fellowship as mutual involvement has an important ramification. It indicates that fellowship is not true fellowship unless all members are involved in each others’ lives. This distinction is important but leads to several hard questions. On one hand, what happens when one person is not mutually involved in people’s lives when everyone else in the group is? A simple answer is that the person should be asked to leave. But is this a loving or right response? Does one uninvolved person limit the fellowship (involvement) of the entire group? The answer to this question is not clear-cut.

On the other hand, what happens when you are not experiencing mutual involvement from a group. Should you leave the group or stay to try and make change? This too is tricky. Remember that Luke is not directly referring to a local church but rather a gathering of believers. Such a gathering is united not in church membership but in membership to the family of God (cf. 1 Cor. 1:9, Phil. 1:5, 1 Jn. 1:3). However, in a modern context it is often difficult to separate Christian fellowship from the local church. Church membership requires commitment to each other that should in theory supercede the lacks of others. But it also requires addressing these faults with other members and with leadership (Matt. 18:15-20). Again, the answer to this answer is not clear-cut.

In both cases (hands?) there is a call for fellowship among believers. But does a church gathering require all believers to have direct relationship with one another? Certainly modern churches are organized such that there are sub-fellowships with different “small”, “life”, or “growth” groups to name a few. It is rare that you would closely know everyone in the entire group. Is it appropriate for the Christian to navigate these different groups as a result of uninvolement from others while still maintaining their commitment to the local church as a whole? Or does this model allow for interpersonal issues to be ignored and swept under the rug?

Few Answers

I’ve unapologetically raised more questions than I’ve answered. Christians are called to “be sober-minded” (1 Pt. 5:8) and to “Look carefully then how you walk” (Eph. 5:15). These are some of the questions I have been wrestling with and am still wrestling with. But I believe walking with God is more than having the right answers. It goes beyond knowledge known and is expressed in knowledge acted-out by loving your neighbor and those around you—just as Christ did. I never claimed to have all the answers, this is after all “napkin theology”. Think of this as a starting point rather than the ending point. Are you involved in the lives of others? Are you going to church to give or receive? In the words of Dr. Lanning in I, Robot, “My responses are limited, you must ask the right questions.”

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” —1 Cor. 13:12 KJV