Devoted to One Another in Fellowship – 29 May 2008

The picture the bible gives us of the early church is of people committed to Jesus and committed to one another – meeting in each others’ homes for worship, prayer, eating and fellowship, and meeting one another’s needs – they were devoted to this.

It is a picture of people who recognised they had a common inheritance – they were brothers and sisters in Christ, and they had a common calling – to make Christ known. They were on an urgent mission, they knew they could not accomplish it alone; they needed both the power of the Holy Spirit and the support and encouragement of each other.

Being church is about a similar relationship. It is not a building we attend when it is convenient, it is a body of people (the body of Christ) to whom we are committed for weekly worship (don’t give up meeting together, the writer of Hebrews warned the early Christians); committed to supporting one another; committed to growing together in discipleship and in reaching out together with the love of Jesus.

In our church the place of Small Groups is vital for these levels of relationships and mutual support to develop and I am constantly encouraged by hearing stories of the body being the body here at St. Matthew’s, St. Oswald’s and Overslade Churches – I heard another one just as I was writing this – of a person in very real physical/practical need being provided with everything by another member of the body.

Thanks for being the people you are!