Over exam period, my life group has had a lot of dinners rather than small group discussions. I didn't go to them. I have some severe food requirements that make eating out not exactly the easiest thing in the world, but mostly I just didn't see the point. Because it wasn' fellowship. It was socialising. And to be perfectly honest, if I want to socialise, I have all of my secular friends to do that with.
That got me thinking. What exactly is the difference between fellowship and socialising?
Socialising is getting together with friends. It's catching up with them, on their news. It's fun. It often involves food.
Fellowship is much, much more. It involves building yourself and others up in God. Strengthening the weak. Building bonds of friendship that can change the world for the glory of God.
Fellowship isn't easy - that's why we so often settle for socialising. But the church is not a social club. It's the Kingdom of God, which is on the march, and forcibly advancing. And as Christ's soldiers, we need to see fellowship as a training opportunity to help us to do God's work as we carry the Good News to all the ends of the earth.
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