2003 Lectureship Book: “Do You Understand Fellowship?”
Dedicated to G. K. and Lillian Wallace
By Brian R. Kenyon

Fellowship is a tremendous theme. When Christians truly understand the nature of fellowship, the objects of fellowship, and the eternal condition of fellowship, they are compelled to praise God and appreciate even more their brothers and sisters in Christ. Fellowship involves sharing, joint-participation, and communion, as can be seen from the definition of the word and its synonyms (2 Cor. 6:14-16). This fellowship is first with God, and then with all who are faithful to God or have been faithful to him unto death (1 Jn. 1:3, 7). How awesome is the thought—sharing, joint-participation, and communion with the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14)! Jesus shed his blood at Calvary to make possible eternal fellowship between God and humanity. The Gospel is proclaimed so that this offer of eternal fellowship might be accepted. God has not failed, nor will He ever fail, in providing the means to make this fellowship possible (1 Cor. 1:9).

Members of the church of Christ, now more than ever, need to reflect upon the true meaning of fellowship, and evaluate their response to the obligations necessary in maintaining this beautiful relationship with God and one another (Eph. 4:1-6). The potential of losing this precious fellowship is real, and the consequences are certainly undesirable.

This lectureship book will serve as a unique resource of study on the vital topic of fellowship. Other good brotherhood lectureships have dealt with fellowship. There are also several good books and articles written by members of the church on this topic. However, this book will realistically address controversial aspects of fellowship which are distinct in many ways to the twenty-first century. Each of the thirty-one writers has sacrificed much time and labor in helping those who read this book of 635 pages to better understand fellowship.

The majority of the book contains the oral presentations which will take place January 20-23, 2003. For these topics, see the lectureship ad in this issue of the Harvester. In the book, the oral presentations are arranged in three parts. The first part will address fellowship questions, the answers of which will provide valuable insight into the meaning of fellowship. The second part will address consistency questions, the answers of which will provide valuable insight into the proper application of fellowship. The third part will contain the afternoon forums, which will examine autonomy as it relates to fellowship and develop key Biblical texts on fellowship.

The remaining section of this book will be an appendix which contains articles that are not part of the oral presentations of the lectureship, but which relate to the subject of fellowship. The following articles appear in the appendix: (1) May One Congregation Withhold Fellowship From Another?; (2) “One Unusual Night;” (3) “Sacred Cows” And Fellowship; (4) Should One’s View of Marriage, Divorce, And Remarriage Be A Matter of Fellowship?; (5) May One Scripturally Hold to False Doctrine Privately As Long As He Does Not Teach It Publically?; (6) May Hand Clapping In Worship Be A Matter of Fellowship?; and (7) the review of two books written by brother G. C. Brewer: Contending for the Faith and Forty Years on the Firing Line. These books, though written over fifty years ago, both encourage and fortify the Christian in maintaining fellowship. There will also be an extensive subject index at the end of the book which will maximize the usefulness of this book as a study resource. Below are some excerpts from the book which will give the reader an idea of its content.

Autonomy

While developing the principle of individual freedom, Stephen Eddy writes,

“God is the source of our freedoms. We rightly sing these words by Henry Carey, ‘My country, ‘tis of Thee, Sweet land of liberty’...However, it takes more than patriotic songs to keep alive the freedom for which so many have dared and died. Good men and women know that service to the needs of our nation and responsibility for protecting the innocent millions of succeeding generations is a duty that transcends family, fortunes, and future. Freedom is never bought, rather we have it by lease, paid in righteousness to God above.

“In like manner, the great freedom Christians enjoy by virtue of being children of God requires the doing of our duty as soldiers of the cross and the fulfillment of our responsibility to him as faithful stewards...every individual that sins forfeits any claim on true freedom.”

Encouraging Brethren In A Splintered Fellowship

While exploring the condition of the church brought about by the extremes of liberalism and anti-ism, Tom Holland writes,

“With this sad state of affairs in the brotherhood, what can we do? First, we can accept the reality of what has happened. This is more difficult than one might imagine. It was difficult for good, trusting brethren to believe that the ‘Change Agents’ had an agenda. This agenda would lead to the formation of a new denomination and offer an approach that would embrace the denominational view of grace, faith only, praying the sinner’s prayer, and having fellowship with denominational ‘worship’ services and evangelistic campaigns.

“Second, we can look for ways to reach out to those caught in the compromise of the new denomination. Some of these brethren may not yet be aware of what has happened. With them we must be patient.

“Third, we can commit ourselves anew to the ideal of being undenominational and restoring pure New Testament Christianity.”

Romans 14

While discussing what Romans 14 does not teach, Allen Webster writes,

“Romans 14 does not teach tolerance for doctrinal error...Some have used this [Rom. 14:1-3] to ‘justify’ practically anything they want to do in religion...[Some have] used it to rationalize using mechanical music in worship...Others have concluded that those who oppose missionary societies, handclapping, and drama in worship are the ‘weak’ brethren and that when they become ‘mature,’ they will accept these practices.

“Romans 14 does not treat such doctrinal deviations as indifferent or inconsequential... Jesus never placed right and wrong side by side and preached tolerance. Paul is not saying that the strong and intelligent are never to voice their convictions. (Paul voiced his in verse 14.) To the contrary, we are commanded to help others see deviations from the Master’s will so they may change to please him (Acts 18:26; Jas. 5:19-20).”

Speaking On Programs Where Questionable People Appear

On this subject, Terry M. Hightower writes,

“Despite his belief that the Bible speaks explicitly or implicitly to every area of life (2 Tim. 3:16-17), experience teaches the sensitive seeker of the Lord’s will that, due to the kind of world in which he lives, many decisions are sometimes in the ‘gray’ area, and are not necessarily clear-cut decisions between ‘black and white.’ It is quite unfortunate that we seem to have a few individuals who believe they are free from this constructive tension simply because of seeing everything through a simplistic, reductionist viewpoint whereby even problems not directly or explicitly discussed in the Bible are handily answered by them—sometimes on the basis of perhaps only one or two verses of Scripture. The positive-minded ‘liberal’ does it when he says: ‘God wants us to love everyone!’ The more negative-minded ‘anti’ does it when he says: ‘Protect your self and your reputation by staying out of harm’s way, after all, where there’s smoke there’s fire.’ Yet, I think most Christians would agree that what one should do when asked to speak on programs where questionable people appear involves a deep analysis of various Bible principles involved and a careful application to varying situations.”

Conclusion

This book will be a wonderful addition to anyone’s library. The publisher will have the books ready by mid-December. Why not order your copy today?