fellowship...are we doing it wrong?

JCFantasy23

In a Kingdom by the Sea.
Jul 1, 2008
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what does the bible say about our social interaction? we are to encourage each other to do good works in Christ(hebrews 10:24-25) we are to take on the hardships of our brothers and sisters in the LORD in helping them to overcome(galatians 6:1-2) we are to make ourselves vulnerable in revealing our spiritual shortcomings to our brothers and sisters in Christ in order to battle sin(james 5:16) we are to share our resources with the brethren when they are in need(acts 2:44-45, hebrews 13:15-16, 1 timothy 6:17-18).

With my church I think they encouraged each other to do good works - almost all sermons focused on that and we were big on charity events monthly. By taking on hardships and sharing resources, we did have a large food pantry, ran a thrift store to raise money for the poor, and also gave money and items to a family in need (my mother watched their children for over a week as well). We also asked for people to announce their prayer requests at the beginning of services.

We didn't do this:

we are to make ourselves vulnerable in revealing our spiritual shortcomings to our brothers and sisters in Christ in order to battle sin(james 5:16)
 
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Episaw

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what does the bible say about our social interaction? we are to encourage each other to do good works in Christ(hebrews 10:24-25) we are to take on the hardships of our brothers and sisters in the LORD in helping them to overcome(galatians 6:1-2) we are to make ourselves vulnerable in revealing our spiritual shortcomings to our brothers and sisters in Christ in order to battle sin(james 5:16) we are to share our resources with the brethren when they are in need(acts 2:44-45, hebrews 13:15-16, 1 timothy 6:17-18).

I honestly think this is a huge blind spot within the Body of Christ for a few reasons.

cliques form within the church. you got the college people, the couples, the families, the elders, the theologians, the professors, gamers, the sports folk, etc. this shouldn't happen. it means we're not actually connecting with each on anything but superficiality.

conversations are superficial. no one actually knows each other. doing the things listed in scripture forces us to be transparent and vulnerable. we don't seem to want to go deeper with each other in conversation beyond current events, our weekly activities, and maybe a theological discussion.

we're actually very self centered socially. we only want to be around people who are like us. we seek out our personality clones. we don't really know how to or are not interested in being around someone who is different from us.

we don't value the social common denominator that we have in Christ. we value commonality in hobbies and interests more than we do our commonality in the Faith. while there's nothing wrong with seeking and being around people who have common interests and hobbies, we should not exclude other believers socially because they don't have these same interests and hobbies. we as believers should connect socially on the most common denominator which is our life in Christ.

This is an area where I believe much improvement is needed.

your thoughts?

My thoughts are this. I see the church as a family which follows the pattern of the normal family. From this point of view, we have got things the wrong way round. Instead of the Sunday morning meeting being the focus, the home group should be the focus.

I believe that there should be only two types of homes groups. One is locality and the other is interest. The church should allow people to form their own home group, rather than put people into groups that suit the church.

One home group that would be essential for me and that is one for men only. In mixed groups, it is usually the women that do all the talking. In a men only group, the men can say whatever they like and natter away till the cows come home.

And the other thing is that the church should not interfere with the activities of home groups. The group should do what they want to do and which feeds them spiritually and materially.

If a group wants to take on lawn mowing for elderly people they should be allowed to do that. If they want to go off together for a long weekend they should be allowed to do that.

If they want to spend all night studying the Word they should be allowed to do that. If they want to spend all evening worshiping then let them do it.

If they want to spend all evening telling jokes to let them do it.

In other words, let the group do what is best for it as a family, not what is best for the church. If the home group functions as a family the church always wins.
 
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