What is Biblical Fellowship?

Hi everyone! We wanted to start a four part series on the necessity of encouragement through fellowship!

As many of you all know, my almost six month old will be going in for open heart surgery soon. It’s hard to really process this. Honestly, I’ve felt so tired and worn out recently, and I think it’s in response to the constant stress of dealing with it both mentally and financially.

It’s a hard situation!

It’s easy to go through this and draw into myself. It’s actually my instinct to do just that. 

“I’ll figure it out myself.” 

“I don’t want to bother anyone else with all of this.”

“No one around me will understand.”

If you google “biblical fellowship” you’ll find the Greek word koinonia which means communion or fellowship in Christianity. Google goes further and explains it as “the bond uniting Christians as individuals and groups with each other and with Christ”

It’s a relationship that isn’t one sided. If anything, it’s multi-faceted. It’s between ourselves, and also pulls Christ into it. It’s something that we’re called to. 

In Genesis, God says several things are good. The creation of day and night, land and water, animals, and even resting. All of these things were good. The thing that wasn’t good? Adam being alone.

I know this usually ties into having a marriage relationship, but I think it’s in all things. We weren’t meant to do any of this alone, especially hard times.

Let’s talk about it.

Examples of Support in Scripture

The first example of support that always comes to mind for me is Luke chapter 1. Mary and Elizabeth. 

Now hear me out, if my husband went mute while I was pregnant and much, much older than I should be for that season? I’d be losing it. Losing it might be too calm a descriptor. 

But, she held it together. Not because of, but alongside the support from Mary. Mary, pregnant in a way that doesn’t make sense, was supported by Elizabeth. They both met and talked, they encouraged and stood beside each other. They were there for each other!

Another example of female friendship and support is Ruth and Naomi.

Naomi gave Ruth every opportunity to go home. To leave and start a new life. But, Ruth had other ideas (Ruth chapter 1). That often quoted verse: “For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live…” Ruth 1:16 (somewhere in the middle).

Naomi (then Mara because the Almighty had made her very bitter per verse 20) went further into the short book and played the best of the best wingwoman. She encouraged, and gave wisdom to the young woman, and ended up getting her sorted out.

There are many, many examples of women walking alongside other women in the bible, and these don’t even encompass “some” of them. But, now that I have proven that the concept is indeed Biblical, let’s talk more about it.

We’re meant to navigate together

As a woman, we have a lot of challenges happening daily. We have to worry about our jobs, our family, our relationships outside of blood. Nowadays, we have to worry about our identities as women, and we have to worry about societal pressures.

As women of the world, it’s easy to get bogged down. It’s easy to fall apart under the weight of it all, especially when there’s no hope in the situation.

Going back to my baby, it’s really easy to think the worst of her surgery. There’s no guarantee that she’ll make it through open heart surgery. Just like there was no guarantee that we’d ever actually get to meet our precious baby. It can be scary!

But as women of God, we have a unique hand of cards. We have understanding, hope, and empathy. We know God’s love, so we can share God’s love. We know who is in control (spoiler alert: not us) and can rely wholly on Him.

There’s a woman that God connected me to, and she’s lovely. She has a daughter about a year older than my own, and has gone through all of the craziness that we are currently going through. 

She has been a life saver. LIFE SAVER. Not only is she an incredible prayer warrior, but she is able to share her own experiences and encourage us.

In a world that is so competition/comparison minded, it’s incredible to be built up by a fellow woman. It’s nice to remember that while every situation we go through isn’t mandated by God, it can be used to build up someone else. It can be used to share wisdom, to share another point of view. 

Just recently, a horrible car accident that we were in came in handy. We were able to give advice on how we let go of the anger towards the person who hit us. It wasn’t easy, and all of the years definitely helped, but it’s helpful to talk to someone who has been through similar events.

It helps us navigate life together.

Countering Isolation

Now, it isn’t easy to find and make those genuine connections. Sometimes hurt makes us a little pricklier towards new relationships. Sometimes, we find ourselves in a season where we don’t have the time or ability to find friends.

I spent years praying for community. We moved to a new town just a few months before COVID hit. It isn’t always easy to make friends, but God hears our prayers, and in time, I was blessed by the most encouraging and incredible support system in a community. Just last Sunday, a group of ladies took the time to pray over our family before the upcoming surgery.

Things like this can’t happen if we accept isolation. If we decide that we’re okay doing life alone.

Even after God helps us find our connections, we have to actively choose to be good friends. 

We can’t isolate ourselves when things get hard, it’s the opposite point of community. We can rely on others and allow them to rely on us, right? 

The next few posts will cover what that looks like, and why it’s important. 

God has gifted us so many things, one of which is fellowship. Let’s spend the coming weeks praying for this gift, that we won’t bypass the opportunities that God has given us, and to help us actively be a part of a community.