The word for the week this week is koinonia (pronounced koy-no-NEE-ah). But wait - isn’t it supposed to be “fellowship”? Yes, exactly!
Koinonia is the Biblical Greek word that’s commonly translated as fellowship. It has a richer meaning than simply fellowship, however; it also means a close mutual relationship, participation, sharing in, or partnership.
In basically every church I’ve attended or Christian organization I’ve been a part of, fellowship is the Christian-ese word for people hanging out together. After Sunday service, we all stick around to fellowship. If you get to a church function early, that’s extra fellowship time. And my favorite - having a time for fellowship during the church service as a reason to greet people! Outside the church, people hang out or spend time together. Inside the church, we fellowship. It’s pretty much the same thing, but fellowshipping has a connotation of somehow being more “religious.”
The concept of fellowship was prevalent in the early church, but it was definitely much more than just people hanging out together. It was people sharing life together! We read about this in Acts 2:42-47. The koinonia they shared was more than just shaking someone’s hand and saying “good morning” to one another. It was being a true community and sharing everything with one another. Koinonia is what happens when people agree to share the good and the bad of life with one another, and to mutually support each other through thick and thin out of love as Jesus loves us. It doesn’t have to be a living together sort of community like the early church had in Acts 2, though it can be. True koinonia is when a group of people agrees to love each other as Jesus loved, for the sake of furthering the Kingdom.
Jesus showed us the ultimate koinonia when He was on this earth. He loved everyone, regardless of their status in society. He loved the outcasts and desired to share life with them; not only His life on earth but the eternal life He offers to each one of us.
What can you do in your life to model that koinonia?
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