Category: Kingdom Community

Fellowship and koinonia

Forces That Ruin Fellowship – Lesson From Second Century

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Why did koinonia and dynamic church life fade in Christianity? Many of us sense that church should be more relational and that everyone should be able to develop and exercise their spiritual gifts. Without this church seems more like a spectator experience (or a “busy-ness” experience) than a participation experience. By the end of the 2nd century several forces began to combine to reduce koinonia, or fellowship, in the Christian church. Fellowship became less important in the Church’s spiritual theology (the theology of spiritual growth.) Understanding these forces will help us to avoid the same problems today and recommit ourselves to true koinonia. As you read this list you might ask yourself if there are similar forces today that interfere with koinonia. Here is a list of some of the forces: 1. The Church was focusing on teaching proper doctrine so believers would not be led astray. Christianity was experiencing Continue Reading →

Three High Impact Ideas For Developing Community And Gifts In A Fellowship

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The Great Commandment to love God and love others has been emphasized in churches over the past fifteen years or so. Thus churches should be places where real community happens and where people can exercise their gifts for one another. Here are some ways churches can start redesigning their fellowships so that we can fulfill the Great Commandment. 1. Whole Person Inventory. This would be for churches that are committed to building relationships. It would be a set of written inventory “tests” that would help people know their personality, strengths, and weaknesses. Many quality tests exist for this. If a church gave each leader a Whole Person Inventory it would go a long way to helping people understand themselves and how they can be a part of a community. Pastors would be able to decide how best to help this person grow. Leaders would also discover any significant disorders they Continue Reading →

Is Our Highest Calling Worship or Evangelism?

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Subtitle: The Great Commission, the “Great Catechism”, and the Great Commandment Sometimes we hear people debate a Christian’s greatest calling. A couple of professors from Liberty University (one teaches at the seminary) posted an article that reflects this debate very well. They ask: “So is it worship or evangelism? Which one is our greatest calling that deserves our most fervent effort?” They go on to say that the two are so closely connected that both deserve our top attention. (The article is about two pages and can be found at http://www.lifeway.com/Article/great-commission-worship-witness-evangelism.) In my experience worship and evangelism have been the activities most mentioned in American Christianity as the most important things we do. But is this what we find in the New Testament? Are worship and/or evangelism taught as the most important things that all Christians are called to? Strangely, the authors of the article don’t actually cite any verses Continue Reading →

7 Tips To Developing the Discipline of Listening

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One of the most important elements of loving people is listening. For me this is a skill that always has room for improvement, but it is worth the effort and discipline because often it is the one thing that tells someone I care. In other words, it is essential to Christian love and Kingdom community. How we listen is a great indicator of how much we value relationships. Listening is a kind of death to self and a commitment to someone else’s well being. When I talk I love it when I can see someone is really listening and considering what I am saying, so that is the least I can do for others when they speak. True listening may be one of the highest of virtues, but many people are very weak on listening and unfortunately leaders are especially prone to being poor listeners (unless they are introverts). Here Continue Reading →

“Spiritual” Ways we Avoid Biblical Fellowship

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We naturally fear revealing ourselves to others and showing weakness, but scripture makes fellowship a top priority. And biblical fellowship means revealing our burdens so others can help carry them, and revealing where we are discouraged so others can encourage us. Leaders are not exempt. Yet it is very easy to let other spiritual activities drown out our efforts at biblical fellowship and relationship. We may be sincerely looking for fellowship with God and transformation but we find it very slow going on our own. Some of the ways we avoid biblical relationship are: worship, prayer, bible study groups, talking about spiritual things, more talking, busyness, ministering to others, and meetings. If we commit ourselves to finding true “friendship fellowship” we will find what we are looking for much faster. See John 13, Rom 12, Ephesians 4, Col. 3, I Cor 12-14, and more. True Happiness Is Found In God’s Continue Reading →