Good Time With Friends

Yesterday, being Memorial Day, was a time of remembering and hanging out with some good friends.  We were invited by some of our faith family to come over and enjoy some good eating and swimming.  We excitedly accepted the invitation.  All day, I was looking forward to going over there and hanging out with this family.

When 4pm rolled around, we began the never boring task of getting our three boys together and heading over to this fellowship.  We were welcomed with open arms and didn't take long to make a splash as the temps were edging close to 100. As we swam, more and more people showed up bringing goodies and smiles.  It was a great time around that pool as the conversations carried on and memories were made.

It was as this wonderful afternoon was winding down that it struck me: this is why fellowship is so important in the church. If we just get together to sing some songs and listen to a sermon once or twice a week, can we really call ourselves a family?  Can we really say that we are living in "community" (which is what the definition of fellowship is in the Bible) if we aren't living life together with one another?  This is an area that we are looking to build up and make a major priority within our faith family at New Life Fellowship. If we are going to be all that Christ has called us to be, we have to build one another up in community (Ephesians 4:25-32).

What do you do with your local church family to build community?