The Counterculture Church, Part Two

In continuation from yesterday's blog, today we will look at fellowship as the second characteristic of life in the church community (Acts 2).

"They devoted themselves... to the fellowship." What did fellowship involve? Giving and sharing. In the sermon we learned the principle and practice of fellowship: the principle of believing that people are more important than things, and the practice of exhibiting a spirit of generosity.

We often think of fellowship simply as gathering, but the believers in Acts 2 were very intentional in the purpose of their gathering. They made sure to learn the word of God which Jesus revealed to the apostles, and the believers also made sure that the community was cared for in a practical way.

This morning I thought that it might be cool to give out keychains that had a little logo saying "remember the food pantry" or something like that. I don't know if maybe it would help people to get into the mindset of looking out for the community. As has been said, we can't do everything but we can all do something. Maybe reading this blog can be our reminder for today, to go out and buy one non-perishable item for the food pantry.

We are blessed to see Bronx Bethany growing in diversity, and are expecting both the diversity and the attendance to increase. My prayer is that it will not merely be more bodies in the room, but that our congregation will exhibit this wonderful characteristic of the early church: authentic fellowship exhibited by generosity in giving and sharing.