3 Bible Tips: What Is Fellowship?
God calls people into His Church to be brothers and sisters in a close and growing relationship. The Greek word koinonia, most frequently translated fellowship, describes this relationship of communication, sharing and caring.
1. Fellowship is an important way of obeying Christ's new commandment to love one another.
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another" (John 13:34).
2. Fellowship is a way of bearing each other's burdens.
"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).
3. Fellowship helps the Church grow and work together to become more like Christ.
"But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love" (Ephesians 4:15-16).
To learn more about fellowship, see "Contact With God's People: A Key to Spiritual Success or Failure."