Fellowship Requires Action

Articles

Antoine N. Holloway
04/27/14 - Church Bulletins

Since the beginning of this year, with the exception of our recent Spring Gospel Meeting, the articles in this bulletin were written with the idea of increasing our awareness about the individual Christian’s responsibility to the local church. This past week while leading a Bible Study on the subject of “The Gospel Of Grace”, I came across this quote in the book written by Chad Sychtysz, by which he articulated in a few words what I have been sharing over the past 3 months.

To provide some context to the quote, brother Sychtysz is addressing the subject, “The Doctrine Of Grace”. This brings him to have to discuss the link between grace & fellowship. He talks about how fellowship – religious or secular – always has 3 essential components:

A Common Goal Or Objective – As Christians, our common goal is salvation.
Collective Action Toward That Common Goal – As Christians, our collective action is faithfulness toward the covenant agreement.
Individual Participation – As Christians, our participation is whatever faith demands of us.

Fellowship cannot exist & will have no meaning if these 3 essential components are not all present & active during the entire course of the covenant relationship, which is until the objective of the covenant is achieved. Now enjoy the following quote! J

“Notice that fellowship requires action in order for it to exist. For example, a person who pledges membership – fellowship, by definition – with a particular congregation is expected to be actively involved in & with that congregation. However, if he refuses to attend its assemblies, communicate with its members, & contribute (financially or otherwise) to its cause, he betrays the very basis for his identification with that group. His inactivity renders useless (or functionless) whatever fellowship he had originally promised. Such activity, if left unchanged, actually negates his membership with that congregation. At best, he reverts back to visitor status; at worst, he is a liar, having only feigned loyalty to the group.”