2. The Fellowship of the Church

   As I mentioned earlier, the fellowship of the church is the fellowship that generally includes all the saints in each locality. This fellowship in each locality must contain every believer who is willing to take part and must not in any way be limited to a certain group of people. The fellowship of the church is the meetings of all the saints in their various localities to cooperatively enjoy and participate in the riches of Christ for the building up of the church. Without the meeting of the saints, the fellowship of the church is not taking place.

   The meeting of the saints is structured by the Lord to enhance our fellowship; for the church cannot have fellowship without meeting. In the church’s meeting, all the saints take part in fellowship. We share the spiritual values deposited in us with one another, the specially gifted brothers minister, and everyone operates in his spiritual gifts, thus, we all enjoy and participate in the riches of Christ together. In the meeting of the church, the Lord releases an abundant grace upon us and provides answers to all our needs. A brother’s prayer may be an answer to someone’s questions; a song sung may comfort the broken-hearted; the sermon preached may accelerate someone’s speed in his pursuit to take hold of God; the word of admonishing and exhortation shared may cure someone from carnal living; the testimony given may be an encouragement to somebody. Oh, how rapid will the church grow when all the saints are devoted to meeting!

   Concerning how the church meetings should be conducted, First Corinthians 14:26 says, “How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification,” (NKJV). In this verse, Apostle Paul emphasized the functioning of all the saints in the church meetings. He categorically stated that in the church meetings, everyone has something to contribute for the building up of the church. To have something means to possess something, and possession, as we know, comes out of labour. What Apostle Paul meant in the previous verse is that each individual of the church should labour on Christ in the word and be given to prayer in order to gain more of the riches of Christ into himself so that in the church meetings everyone can contribute or share the riches deposited in him with the saints. This reveals that all the members of the church are responsible and serving ones; each member has something to contribute for the building up of the church. Therefore, the church meetings should not be rigidly organized in a way that only the leaders will be given the opportunity to minister and the rest of the saints will become spectators. The church meetings should be open to the point that any brother can freely share what the Lord laid on his heart and will not be restricted provided he is in the flow of the Holy Spirit. Even though the specially gifted ones and the elders have to function in our meetings, they should take heed to themselves not to dominate the meetings and hinder the other members from making their contributions.

   The previous verse stated that every member has something to share in the church meetings. Some have psalms, some have teachings, some have revelation, some have admonishing and exhortation, some have a tongue, and some have an interpretation of the tongue. Take note: In the church meeting, tongue must be interpreted to edify the saints, unless it is spoken during the cooperate prayer of the saints (First Corinthians 14:13 to 17). Likewise, every contribution that anyone will make must lead to edification. We must take heed to ourselves not to share any base thing that will not edify the saints.

   Dear saints, we must encourage all the saints to function in the church meetings so that the church will attain to what Apostle Paul said in Romans 15:14. At this point, we will be full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, being capable of  admonishing one another. I want to state that although the church cannot fellowship without meeting, the church can meet and still not have [healthy] fellowship. We must therefore take this way to enrich our meetings.

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