Fellowship

Ok , so what is Christian fellowship all about? Could it be that as christians, we have gotten so used to it, that we take it for granted? I remember my old church...how they used to have different thoughts on certain issues. (that now, i don't agree with them). What is true community? I'm going to call my old church "the shack". ( I don't know; that's the first thing that came to mind). It seems as if I have so much resentment towards the shack, but why? Well I think it's because I never knew what a true christian meant; I never expierenced what fellowship was all about. In the "shack" they let me do whatever I wanted. Even once, the pastor argued with my mother to let me have a relationship with an eighteen year old! (at the time I was 14) What was he thinking? I ask myself, where was the love? Why did my "sisters" and "brothers" at the Shack didn't stop me? Even my dance leader, why didn't she reach out and exhort me? Why didn't she "stop me in my tracks"? These are all questions of resentment, all questions that I hate to be reminded of. At the time I probably would not have listened, but it would have been my own rebellion and my own fault that led me to those ungodly relationships. I am not trying to blame it all on them, but now that I know what true fellowship is about, I am enraged. It is not just that specific church, but all who claim to have the "love of Christ".

I first came to IBDR(iglesia bautista del redentor) like a year and a half ago. I really did not know what to expect, I was probably thinking that it was going to be the same kind of relationships as the ones in the Shack, but I was definitley wrong. At first it seemed that everyone took Jesus seriously, much more seriously than my old church. Now I laugh, because if I would have known how much IBDR was going to grow in a matter of months, my jaw would have dropped. However, I can honestly say that it first started with one person. It just took one person to reach out to me and invite me to church. It just took one person to give me a ride to church. It just took one person to keep on asking. That first person was a girl named Bonnie. She was a senior in high school with me, and I greatly appreciate what she did for me that day. So I kept on going to church, even though at first it was hard to fit in....it was a bit different, but not entirley. What just took me by surprise though, was the fact of how serious the youth was, and how serious they were about God. Maybe that is when I started being more serious about Him ( I had been serious before, but not like this year). And then I met Barb; actually I had met her already but did not know it until i saw her again. So after those few months of going, I started developing a friendship with her as well as all the youth. It was as if God had planned it all. I had left my church because of spiritual hunger, and I came to find my "food" at IBDR. It is sad to say that I had been a "baby christian" all along. For five years I had been one, and I thought I was a major christian. My mentality was a prideful one; a selfish one. I did not know the meaning of Love until I came to IBDR. However, I did not realize the importance of fellowship until I met Sophia. Actually, I did not realize how much poeple needed love, until I met Sophia (or until i came to Chi alpha). She was like a waterfall of love! It was just weird at first, but I easily got attached to her, and started following her footsteps. I think sometimes I imitate her too much, but for me, she has been like my teacher and someone that the Lord put in my path to guide me. (She def. gives out the love that Jesus represents, so in reality I am only imitating the one and only Jesus Christ!)

I learned that a fellowship cannot exist withouth Christ. He is the founder, he IS love. How can there be fellowship withouth the head? I truly believe that people today need to be filled with Love, the love that only the Spirit can give. We, as humans, it's our nature to be selfish. But only through the Spirit can we love as Christ does. Community is needed for accountability, to build strong friendships, for consolation....it is a miracle that happens every day in a christians life, yet we take it for granted. So today, I thank the Lord for fellowship. I thank Him for the people he has put in my life, for the people who has given me love, for Jesus Christ who came and died for us so that we may have eternal life. So that we many have ETERNAL fellowship.