The One Anothers

Love one another.

1 John 3:11

The one another ministries in the body of Christ are extremely important to God, since he speaks of them so frequently in his word. The question we must ask ourselves is: Where in the usual, traditional church structure of the church is this kind of interchange possible? What provision is made by church leaders to encourage it and guide its expression through scriptural teaching and wise admonitions?

In many churches, you can find some expression of body life taking place in private gatherings of Christians, usually in someone's home. But then, all too often, the church leaders find out about it, brand the gatherings as divisive, and discourage body life from taking place! Authentic body life doesn't threaten the unity of the church — it is the very thing that the church is supposed to be about! In the early church, there was a rhythm of body life evident in the way Christians gathered together in homes to instruct one another, study and pray together, and share the ministry of spiritual gifts. Then they would go out into the world to let the warmth and glow of their love-filled lives overflow into a spontaneous Christian witness that drew love-starved pagans into the church like hungry children into a candy store.

This was exactly in line with the exhortation of Jesus to his disciples: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34,35).

The early church relied upon a two fold witness as the means of reaching and impressing a cynical and unbelieving world: kerygma (proclamation) and koinonia (fellowship). It was the combination of these two that made the church's witness so powerful and effective. Pagans could easily shrug off the proclamation as simply another teaching among many, but they found it much more difficult to reject the evidence of koinonia. The concern of Christians for each other, and the way they shared their lives, left the pagan world craving this new experience called koinonia. It prompted the remark of a pagan writer: How these Christians love one another!

The present day church has managed to do away with true koinonia almost completely, reducing the witness of the church to proclamation (kerygma) alone. It has thus succeeded in doing two things simultaneously: removing the major safeguard to the health of the church from within, and greatly weakening its effective witness before the world without. It is little wonder that the church has fallen on evil days and is regarded as irrelevant and useless by so many in the world.

Father, change our lives to reflect both fellowship and proclamation. Make the church attractive to the world with these attributes.