DownshoreDrift

A few of us are learning what "fellowship" means and are putting it into practice. It started a month ago when my wife told me a few people in our community wanted to go in with us in buying shares in a cow. I said, "Thats what 'fellowship' means. It means to have half shares in a cow". This is what Kiwi Viv Grigg told me years ago at a Fuller Seminary class. He also suggested the word "fee" comes from the same word in old English. I did some research on the roots of the word and found out that the English word "fellowship" comes from the Nordic word "fēlagi". Interestingly, that was pretty much the language spoken up here in Orkney during that time.

That's really fascinating, and it goes far beyond the Baptist vision of fellowship that has us sharing punch and cookies in the church basement. If fellowship really means that we have thrown in our lot with one another in the terms of economic ownership, sharing of life and purpose, etc., then doesn't that reactivate our understanding of the Biblical term? In the Old Testament, fellowship is shown over 80 times in the context of "fellowship offerings" before God. Fellowship always cost people something as they came before God, whether it was a bull, a goat, a heifer, or something else. I'm wondering if the Biblical example of our fellowship with one another is that it should cost us something as well?The New Testament examples of fellowship also show there being a co-mingling of relationship, a cost, and a communion with God where we join in with Him.

As I thought about this, I remembered a paper that I had to read in seminary by Vernard Eller called The Outward Bound. In Chapter 1, Three Models for the Church, he uses the idea of the church being a Caravan instead of a Commissary:

Essentially, the New Testament pictures the church as a caravan. This "caravan" understanding seems to have been normative until the time of Constantine, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. This acceptance of Christianity by the world brought with it a different concept of the congregation--a concept that has dominated the church scene to the present day. According to this understanding, the church is pictured basically as a commissary.

A commissary is an institution that has been commissioned to dispense particular goods, services, or benefits to a select constituency. The commissary church, then, sees itself primarily as an institution, a divine institution franchised by God. God has stocked the institution with a supply of heavenly graces (Bible truths, correct theology, the sacraments, etc.) which the clerical proprietors, through proper transaction, can disburse to the customers. The measure of a commissary, it follows, lies in the legality of its franchise, the warranty of its goods, and the authorization of its personnel.

A caravan, on the other hand, is something entirely different. It (and a walking caravan best fits our idea) is a group of people banded together to make common cause in seeking a common destination. (Cur emphatic use of the word "common" makes it evident that we are speaking of a community rather than an institution) The being of a caravan lies not in any signed and sealed authorization but in the way it functions. Its validity lies not in its apparatus but in the performance of its caravaners--each and every one of them. A caravan is a caravan only as long as it is making progress--or at least striving to make progress. Once the caravaners stop, dig in, or count themselves as having arrived, they no longer constitute a caravan.

When I travel, it costs me something. I have to give time, energy, and resources to reach a destination. As Christians, we are to be travelers, or pilgrims. We are travelling toward a destination and are not looking for an earthly home, but we await our heavenly home and travel there together, dispersing love and good deeds to others along the way. And this makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, we are supposed to be following Christ, aren't we? Doesn't the idea of following Jesus imply that He is moving, and as a result, so should we? Maybe a better term would be follow-ship, instead of fellowship. But, if we are following Christ, it seems that He has some kind of purpose in mind, like the Mission of God to advance God's Kingdom everywhere we go. That is what He came to do, isn't it? The picture at the top of this post is from the movie Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. Now, that was a fellowship in the Biblical sense.

So, it seems that Christian fellowship is to cost us something as we co-mingle our lives together, following Christ on the great quest of extending His rule and reign across the planet. This is why you always grow closer with people that you go on mission trips with, than you do with people that you just eat cookies and punch with in the Fellowship Hall. Actually, we probably should retire the term Fellowship Hall, because unless you are bringing your possessions there to share with the church in need, then not much fellowship goes on - unless you count a casserole a possession.

One other thought: Whenever I engage in church discipline, I have this concept of a caravan following Christ in mind. In other words, if you are travelling in the same direction that we are, following Christ, then you can come along. If you are following unrepentantly after sin and going in your own direction, then let's just recognize that and let you go your own way. We aren't kicking you out, you are choosing to go your own route. We're headed north and you're headed south. We aren't changing course, so unless you do, we will have to say good-bye. At any point that you want to rejoin us, we will welcome you, but we will not stop following God to follow you, because you are clearly not following God (insert Scripture here). That makes a lot more sense than kicking someone out of a static institution to me. What do you think?