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What's the deal with "fellowship"?

Coffee Break
Coffee Break (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What's the deal with "fellowship"... Over the last 20 years I have either heard or read the word "fellowship" on a weekly basis.  "Join us for a time of fellowship after the service."  "Grab a cup of coffee or lemonade in the fellowship hall."  I currently serve on a fellowship committee. As I sat in church listening to announcements a few Sundays back, I wondered what visitors understand fellowship to mean. For Christians, this word is understood to reference any number of things where relationships are built.  The Lord of the Rings series may come to mind for many as well.  Does it still fit though?

Those of you who know me well might be surprised because you know I like staying as strict as possible to original languages and the intent of the author.  For those of you who don't know me as well, here's a taste: 1)As I was considering attending seminary, the prospect of learning Greek and Hebrew excited me, 2)I use the ESV to accompany my sermon and paper writing because I think it is the closest translation regardless of the NRSV being the desired text here and more politically-correct.  All that to say, it seems like I'm betraying myself to wonder why we use the term fellowship, a word I don't hear much outside the church.  

The biblical text I think most closely grasps what most of us intend when we think of fellowship is Acts 2:42, "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."  Koinonia is the Greek term used here, which according to my Greek-English lexicon means "Close association involving mutual interests and sharing, association, communion, fellowship, close relationship."  All of these words have conotations in our minds.  For me, association makes me think of unions or secret groups, communion makes me think of the Lord's Supper, and close relationship makes me think of parents, lovers, and friends (...and the "Close Relationship Hall" just doesn't ring right in my ear).  I think fellowship can probably stick around for awhile, but let's think through how we practice it in the spaces and times to which we give that title.

Are there other titles that churches you've been to use?  What's the reasoning behind those names?  What are other titles that you would recommentd?

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