3that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 1 John 1:3-4

“Koinonia.”

That’s Greek.

Koinonia is to share something in common: Common person. Common mission. Common work. Common interest. Common cause. In the New Testament the word “koinonia” came to represent the common life shared by followers of Jesus. This common life emerged from the Gospel and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

For John sharing the Gospel of Jesus expands fellowship. Our most common vision of fellowship is The Fellowship of the Ring. Could a more disparate “band of brothers” have been created by their common cause?

Yes. The Church.

The church is the Fellowship of Jesus. We are united by our common union with God through Jesus. We have been gracefully brought into the communion of God. And the product is joy. We have become family in Him. People united by Jesus the King and turned into kin. Brothers and sisters not by our choosing but by His. Our usual lens for such non-familial relationships would be friendship, but here’s the thing: we choose our friends. When I see the church I see a family I was born into by the will of God.