Life Goes On

On Labor Day our church had a fish fry. More people attended than have attended church or Bible Study on any given Sunday in the past three months. This got me to thinking about the place that fellowship occupies in the life of the church. In Acts 2:46 we find the new church members meeting together daily in the temple and then "breaking bread" (having fellowship over food) from house to house. This reminded me of something I once heard; "it is hard to put on airs while eating". We are more apt to be ourselves over a meal or refreshments than in most other settings. The only problem I see is that many churches have elevated fellowship to a position above worship, evangelism, discipleship and ministry. At one point the Sunday School was known as the "outreach arm" of the church. In the early 1970s, that changed to being the Bible Study FELLOWSHIP, or Small Group FELLOWSHIP. The drop in baptisms can be traced back to that change in philosophy. I thin...

Every person who aspires to be a disciple of Jesus Christ would benefit from three key relationships in addition to their relationship with Jesus. We each need a "Paul" in our life. A "Paul" is one who has at least a little more life experience with the Lord, and who is willing to pass that along to us . Then we need a "Barnabus". A "Barnabus" is one who is on the discipleship journey with us and serves as an encourager. And finally, we each need a "Timothy"; one with whom we are sharing the things we have learned in our walk with the Lord. In my personal experience, most of my "Pauls" have come via books, tapes, and conferences. On many occaisions the person(s) did not even know they were my Paul. My encouragers (or Barnabuses) have been both family members and friends who have prayed for me, listened to me and given me counsel that helped me on the journey. My Timothys have been those into whose lives I have poured ...