I didn't much like being around people when I was a kid. I much preferred being myself, alone with a good book. Even with my family I was often distant, and I had very few friends during my years in school. Once I got in college, things got worse for a while, but I finally joined a college fellowship group at church. For the first time, I actually enjoyed other people's company. I felt finally that I belonged, rather than feeling like an outsider.

Later, as many of you will recall from earlier newsletters, I attended a small church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There, I felt like family. I spent a lot of time in the homes of several members of the church, went on long trips with them, and even served as babysitter with some of their children. My own family was far away, so those people were my family. Here in Pikeville, the story has been much the same; although I have a wife and child, my brothers and sisters in Christ are also part of my family.

The early church was a close fellowship of believers. They shared all of their material possessions in common, and held prayer meetings in each other's homes. When problems threatened their harmony as a body, as disputes arose between local believers and those from abroad, they turned to their leaders, who prayed and received an answer. They appointed the first deacons, to "wait on tables," to minister to the daily needs of the people. When faced with persecution, they were strong enough as a body to face it, and ultimately overcome it through prayer.

The key to Christian fellowship is unity. The book of Acts describes the disciples in the days of prayer leading up to Pentecost as being in "one accord." (KJV) The Apostle Paul, who earlier did his best to destroy the church, went to great lengths in his first letter to the Corinthian to warn against divisions and factions. Many of us have been in churches that were deeply divided, often over a pastor or a matter of doctrine. We have experienced that kind of division at First Baptist Church on more than one occasion. With so much anger and hurt around, it's impossible to have real fellowship with the whole body. The groups involved often turn in on themselves, shutting out anyone who doesn't hold their views. A church that has broken the fellowship of believers loses its power to accomplish anything.

Why is this so? Because the Holy Spirit is the unifying force in the body of Christ. When we break fellowship, we cut off the flow of the Spirit's power in our midst. It is no accident that our Lord says that "whenever two of you agree" in a prayer request, the Father acts. He also said that whenever "two or three of you" gather in his name, he is in our midst. It's not that God isn't present with us when we're alone, or that he doesn't answer our prayers as individuals, but there is great power in unity.

Just as I discovered, the fellowship we enjoy with each other brings a sense of belonging. We know that other people care about us, and about what happens to us. When one of us feels pain, we should all feel pain, just as our physical bodies hurt all over when one part is injured. When one of us rejoices, we should all rejoice. When the Enemy attacks one of us, he's attacking all of us. We lavish great care on our physical bodies, from the hair on our heads to the shoes on our feet. We should do no less for each other as fellow believers.

Fellowship involves worshipping together. It involves talking together, eating together, and laughing and crying together. It includes all of those things. Most of all, though, it involves maintaining a right relationship with each other that springs out of our relationship with Christ. If we don't have regular and intimate relationship with our Father, we can't expect to have true Christian fellowship with our brethren in the faith. Fellowship should be sweet, a time of building up and growing close. That's true whether the fellowship is with other believers or with our Abba.

Please forgive my being a bit personal. Leaving family, whether of blood or spirit, is painful. I've had that experience twice before in my life, once in leaving my church family in North Carolina, and again in leaving my natural family in West Virginia. However excited and thrilled I am to return to West Virginia, confident that I am obeying God, the prospect of leaving so many close brethren in Christ here is not a pleasant one. Not so long ago, I could walk away with dry eyes, no matter what I felt inside. I no longer can do that, nor do I want to. Whatever the pain of parting, I would for a minute have missed any of the experiences I shared here with my brethren in Christ. I treasure each one, and all of you here in this place.

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