Cultivating Fellowship

CULTIVATING COMMUNITY

TEXT: JAMES 3:18 / ACTS 222:42

INTRO: Last Sunday we discussed things about the real and the fake type of fellowship. If you’re tired of fake fellowship and you would like to cultivate real and loving fellowship, you’ll need to make some tough choices and take some risk.

CULTIVATING COMMUNITY TAKES HONESTY. Real fellowship, whether in a marriage, a friendship, or your church, depends on frankness. In fact the tunnel of conflicts is the passageway to intimacy in any relationship.

CULTIVATING COMMUNITY TAKES HUMILITY. Self- importance, smugness, and stubborn pride destroy fellowship faster than anything else. Pride builds walls between people; humility builds bridges. Humility is the oil that smoothes and soothes relationships.

CULTIVATING COMMUNITY TAKES COURTESY. Courtesy is respecting our differences, being considerate of each other’s feelings, and being patient with people who irritate us.

CULTIVATING COMMUNITY TAKES CONFIDENTIALITY. It means that what is shared in your group must stay in your group, and the group needs to deal with it, not gossip to others about it.

CULTIVATING COMMUNITY TAKES FREQUENCY. It takes frequent, regular contact with group in order to build genuine fellowship. Relationships take time. Community is built not on convenience but on the conviction that I need it for spiritual health. If you want to cultivate real fellowship, it will mean meeting together even when you don’t feel like it, because you believe it is important.

COMMUNITY REQUIRES COMMITMENT.