Community is Strength
We need a return to "fellowship" now more than ever.
Public Theology is based on the work of Zach W. Lambert, Pastor of Restore, an inclusive church in Austin, Texas. He and his wife, Amy Lambert, contribute to and moderate this account. Zach’s first book, Better Ways to Read the Bible, is now available wherever books are sold.
All of the content available at Public Theology is for those who identify as Christian, as well as those who might be interested in learning about a more inclusive, kind, thoughtful Christianity. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
We’re glad you’re here.
For many of us who grew up in the Church, “Fellowship” was a common word used in our youths. You may have had a “Fellowship Hall” where the church gathered for Wednesday Night Suppers, Jazzercise on Tuesday mornings, Vacation Bible School in the blistering summer heat, and AWANA games every Sunday evening. Your pastor may have used the term “Fellowship of the Believers,” a reference to the early church’s actions in the book of Acts. Or you may have heard it used for community interaction, or “Christian fellowship.” It was sung in hymns, used to name whole rooms in church buildings, and summoned to promote general unity amongst the believers within a church congregation.
Regardless of how the word “fellowship” was used in your childhood (and it may not have been, depending on your religious variety), the term isn’t used as frequently as it was during my childhood in the 90s and 00s. It is an antiquated or niche term—something most people outside of Christianity simply don’t use anymore, and many folks within the Christian world have substituted for other words like “community.”
But for many of us, this word was a huge part of our church childhoods. It may conjure the familiar smells of church picnics and potlucks. It may bring back specific memories with friends from Sunday School or elderly folks with peppermints in their pockets. For me, I think of Fellowship of Christian Athletes—the ministry both of my parents worked for my entire life until they retired a couple of years ago.
Some of these memories are sweet and others are painful. Most of us probably have a mix of both. But the word “Fellowship” is actually really rich and meaningful in Scripture, especially as it’s used in the New Testament to describe the early church.
The New Testament was originally written in Greek, the language spoken in most of the Roman world during the first century, and the word for “fellowship” is one you may have heard before: “koinónia.”
At its most basic, “Koinónia” means being present with one another. In some places, its translated as “contact.” When people would shake hands and make an agreement together, the contact between their palms was called “koinónia.”
In the Greco-Roman culture of Jesus’ day, the word was also used for business partnership, and it’s a little different from the way we partner to own businesses today. In our world, business owners have “shares,” which essentially amount to a percentage of the company someone owns. At any point, you can decide to sell your shares and effectively end your ownership in the business.
In the first century Greco-Roman culture, it wasn’t that easy. You didn’t have “shares”— you actually “shared” ownership of the business. If two people owned a business, they didn’t split ownership 50-50; they both owned 100%. They completely shared ownership. If something happened to one owner, it happened to all of the owners. Owning a business together was an intense commitment that took legal proceedings to get out of. It wasn’t just co-owning a business as partners, it was more like being a part of a family.
This is the kind of fellowship that defined the first church. They didn’t have “shares,” they literally “shared” everything. They were one big family. In fact, the most literal translation of koinónia into our language today is:
koinónia: coming together and sharing
Because true fellowship isn’t ever one-sided. We share and we are shared with. We give and we receive.
We give and receive love.
We help others and accept help from others.
We offer kindness while also hoping to encounter kindness.
We demonstrate compassion and accept others’ compassion.
We host and attend.
We donate when we have extra and accept help when we need it.
Fellowship is where we share— not just our resources, but our very lives— with each other. This is how Paul, the persecutor of Christians turned church planter, described it to the church he started in the Greek city of Thessalonica.
“We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.”
1 Thessalonians 2:8
This “sharing of lives” was one of the things that made the first church stand out against the culture around it. Listen to how the author of Acts describes their fellowship:
All the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
Acts 2:44-47
The first church came together and they shared. The church was designed by God to be a place of fellowship— a place where we come together share our lives with each other: the good, the bad, and the ugly. We don’t just share the beautiful parts of life with each other; we also share the broken and burdensome parts, too. This is the way of Jesus. He said:
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28
In Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia, he says our fellowship should do the same:
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2
Jesus offered rest and help to anyone carrying heavy burdens, and we are called to do the same. That means we must be people who have the compassion to carry each other’s burdens and the courage to ask for help when things get too heavy. Sometimes the second part is harder than the first, especially if you come from a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps culture.
The “Law of Christ” Paul references above is what we call “The Great Commandment.” When Jesus was asked what the most important thing was, he said:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40
Love God and love your neighbor. That’s what is most important. One of the ways we fulfill this “Law of Christ” is by bearing one another’s burdens. Love isn’t just being supportive when things are going well. Love doesn’t just bear the good things. Love bears all things.
The Old Testament book of wisdom called Ecclesiastes has a beautiful passage depicting what bearing one another’s burdens looks like.
Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
I want to offer something to you: healthy community is a buffer to trauma. This is the power of koinónia fellowship. This is what we come together and share.
Sometimes this kind of fellowship looks like gathering around tables in celebration, but other times it looks like climbing down in a hole with someone who is struggling. We bear one another’s burdens by listening, by being a shoulder to cry on, by advocating alongside of them, by pushing back against the things that hurt them.
True fellowship, being together and sharing all things, means that we don’t have go through the hard parts of life alone. We don’t have to be down in the hole by ourselves. It means that when something hurts one of us, it hurts all of us. When one of us is facing a tough situation, we all show up.
This is true on an individual level—like when someone’s kid gets sick or when they lose a job or are struggling to make rent. And it’s also true on a communal level—like when groups of people are being marginalized because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or anything else about them.
How can we replicate this kind of community in our day to day lives? Showing up for people on an individual level is pretty simple. It’s not always easy, but we generally know how and when to do it. The problem for many people is that they can no longer abide the hypocrisy of the churches they were once a part of and we may be struggling to find others who feel a similar conviction that faith should influence our lives in ways that cost us power, influence, and money.
So how can we support people (or families) in tangible ways?
If someone has a baby, send them a meal.
If someone gets sick, visit them in the hospital.
If someone can’t pay a bill, give them some money.
Is someone is grieving, show up and grieve with them.
Supporting people on a communal level is much more complex and, often, polarizing. We can all agree (hopefully) that “all people are created equal and endowed by their Creator with with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
(That’s the Declaration of Independence, by the way.)
But we start to disagree when we actually work to implement “liberty and justice for all.”
(From the American Pledge of Allegiance.)
And what usually happens is that we end up arguing about theology and politics or the role of government rather than the role of the church in serving those who need help. When this happens, vulnerable groups of people continue to be marginalized as groups of Christians argue about what Christians should do.
But being serious about practicing Fellowship means we don’t have to operate this way. Diverse and healthy communities of faith can come together and share our stories and perspectives. We can learn from each other, pool our resources, and collectively make a much bigger impact than we could ever make alone.
It all starts with a commitment to come together and share. I pray that God will continue to show us how to let this truth really sink in and give us the courage to live it out. If you find yourself in a place where you want Christian community but care about things like inclusion, justice, and caring for the poor and vulnerable, we would love to have you join this online community. It isn’t the same as in-person community, but it’s a close second. No matter your story, your background, or your understanding of God, you are welcome here. We hope to see you around!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, please like, share, restack, leave a comment, or subscribe! If you are interested in a personalized copy of Better Ways to Read the Bible or art inspired by the book, check out our new store.
Lastly, we are happy to cover subscription costs for anyone who needs it but can’t afford it at this time. If you would like to join the Public Theology community and gain access to our paid subscriber content (which we keep behind a paywall for the privacy and connection of our community) but cannot afford to do so, please message Amy Lambert directly.
When I first began attending church in 1975, I was a very broken, young (23) woman who had just lost her brother to suicide. I found myself in a tiny church (maybe 70 members), which (in those days) gathered on Sunday mornings and again in that evening, Tuesday morning for Bible study, and Wednesday night for "family night." Many Saturdays, we gathered for a softball or basketball game and a picnic, and on some Monday or Thursday evenings, for "Koinönia." That's what our pastor called it. There were many issues with the theology of this body of believers, but they had love. Those people helped to heal me. We all knew each other well, knew the inside of each other's homes, and when someone had a need, we all knew about it and helped. When my father also committed suicide, my pastor noticed something as he stood up on the platform and looked out over the congregation that following Sunday morning. He noticed that the majority of the parishioners were sitting as close as they could to me, in the middle pew on the left of the church. He described it as antibodies, all rushing to heal a wound. So much has happened since I was attending that tiny church, and for a while, I haven't attended anywhere. But recently, my husband and I found a tiny church (built in 1901) in a tinier town close by that, although this one is different in may ways to that first church I attended, and they only meet once a week, there's a sense of Koinönia as we gather in the back room after service for coffee and snacks.
my church is called Koinonia Fellowship! our church culture is very heavy in the “fellowship” area! the thing i have learned most though is that true fellowship while it causes a lot of pain sometimes it also leads to so much growth and beauty. the vulnerability it takes to create genuine fellowship can really tear people apart. we are all fallible humans. but when there is a need, great or small…i could list story after story of people stepping in for one another. its amazing to witness the love of God through Christian fellowship!