Some Thoughts on Fellowship and Outreach

By Rick Wilkinson

Unity as Fellowship

The most powerful, and most essential, expression of our faith to the public is our unity, and our solidarity.  It is of course a unity in Christ.  Outreach is an invitation to participate in this unity, to begin and build human relationships.  It is the kind of relationships God created us for and designed us to have.  It is what scripture means by “created in his image.”

In the course of every day life, everything is expressed and accomplished through relationships: God’s love for us, our love for God, our love for each other, the strengthening of our faith, spiritual growth, identity, purpose, and completeness.  We recognize an inescapable need for each other even while we realize all the difficulties and challenges this will bring.

Relationships begin with familiarity and moves toward intimacy through change driven by the Holy Spirit as we endeavor to follow Christ.  We all want growth and growth by definition means change.  Relationships change as they strengthen and deepen.

Relationships building require efforts.  We should continually be mindful of where there is harmony and where there is discord and work to understand this dynamic through the collective thought and study of God’s word.  Also, we should not mistaken relationships for polite, well-mannered, friendly company.  Loneliness and despair can abound in such a pleasant atmosphere.

A Theological Understanding of Fellowship

Being practiced at verbally articulating ones beliefs to another communicates a genuine seriousness and importance about ones faith.  Yet how can we expect anyone to take our theology seriously when we don't appear to take it seriously enough to bother understanding it or to be knowledgeable of it ourselves?  By being practiced I don’t mean to imply being accomplished.  We do improve over time but we will continually be bothered by dissatisfaction with our current level of understanding.  Fortunately this is a source of humility as well as an opportunity to appreciate God’s grace. 

Scripture tells us that God intends his word to be the very fabric of our lives.  But we have a nature that reduces it down to an incidental part of our lives.  We should be mindful of this and find it troubling, even disturbing.  Our Christianity should express a struggle with it as well as a sympathizing with others for having the very same nature. 

Support and encouragement as well as discernment from each other are vital to our pursuit of God’s truth for direction in our lives.  Ones effort in study is not just for the benefit of oneself but a contribution to the collective unity.  Understanding theology is a struggle.  Being a Christian is a struggle.  But then, outreach is to us as struggling, humans a looking for fellowship with other humans who share this common struggle. 

Witnessing as Intercourse

We are ambassadors for the gospel not marketing agents for the church.  Outreach is not a solicitation for more offering givers and church supports.  It is more of a search and rescue effort.  Yet, even that description is inadequate.  It is when we offer our hand in friendship to the lonesome soul.  This is a mutual friendship realizing as much a want for relationship with them as they for us. 

Though we are the privileged partners in this relationship in that ours is the treasure, which is, the kingdom of heaven, it is not an opportunity for condescension.  We are not spiritual therapists busied with fixing spiritual deficiencies of those “weaker” or less advantaged than ourselves.  As a wise author once wrote: “For each must find for oneself that pearl of great price.”

So, I ask, then, what does intercourse void of agenda look like?  This is a good starting point for a discussion.  It is my observation that a great weakness of contemporary Christianity is our tendency to avoid this kind of intimacy and these kinds of questions.  When it is attempted it too often is unproductive at best, or worse, counterproductive.  Perhaps, this area is what should merit our best efforts and focus in unraveling the task of Christian fellowship and outreach.